Numerous portraits of Constantine of this type were produced to mark his victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 A. D. Coins of the period depict him as invictus (unconquerable) with a nimbus in the manner of the Sun, considered at that time to be the centre of the universe, like the Emperor.
This marble statue and other seven more (E000068, E000041, E000040, E000062, E000038, E000069, E000037) were unearthed in about 1500 in Hadrian´s Villa at Tivoli, where the decorated the stage of the Academy Theatre or Odeon. They were made at the end of the reign of Emperor Hadrian (c. 130 AD), by two Roman worshops, reproducing Greek models from the second century BC. In about 1670, they were ac
The portrait of Aeschylus (Athens, 525-456 B.C.), author of the Oresteia trilogy, among others, was also created more than a century after his death, during the 110th Olympiad (340-336 B.C.). At that time the Athenian politician Lycurgus decreed that statues of the three great tragic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, should be erected in the Dionysian theater in Athens. Similarities to th
Following the instructions of the Emperor Hadrian, Lucius Verus (130-169 AD) and Marcus Aurelius were adopted in the year 138 by Hadrian’s successor Antoninus Pius. Lucius, who was co-emperor with his brother (161-69 AD), was known in Rome for his licentious lifestyle. He was a renowned general, celebrated for his victories in the East, where he died of the plague. This bust may have been a diplom