3-083-211 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Roman Head of a Male Deity, Perhaps Aristaeus, 2nd century. Aristaeus was the son of the god Apollo and Cyrene. This head, from a colossal statue, portrays the god with a rather bland face surrounded by tousled asymmetrical curls, which are given dramatic life by being carved in high relief. On Aristaeus's head is a mural crown, a round flat-topped headdress with four vertical raised strips, perhaps intended to represent the defensive towers of the city walls. The enormous statue could have stood in a temple in Cyrene dedicated to Aristaeus.