Pericles with the Corinthian helmet
The statue of Pericles with the Corinthian Helmet is a lost, life-sized statue of the Athenian statesman and general Pericles. Today, only some of the base survives. Four Roman Imperial-era marble busts modelled after the head of the statue are known.
Portrait
The Roman copies of the bust of
Pericles is depicted as an adult man with a Corinthian helmet. The helmet symbolised his military role as strategos. The Berlin copy is especially carefully executed. The helmet is cocked back, with short curly hair bursting out at the temples. The beard is tightly cropped with many small, well-ordered curls. Broad, even eyelids ring the eyes and eyebrows are carved above. His full lips are slightly open. Behind the eyeholes of his helmet, further hair can be seen (as in two of the three other copies). This hair, far above where his head would be expected to end, might hint at Pericles' unusually shaped head, which is occasionally referenced in Attic Comedy by the abusive nickname "Leek-head." (Also see Plutarch's 'Life of Perikles') This deformity was said to be the reason why Pericles was always depicted in a Corinthian helmet, since this would conceal the height of his head. The presence of the hair in the eyeholes should probably therefore be seen as the addition of a learned sculptor.
Kresilas created a kind of symbol of the
Copies
- Berlin, Antikensammlung Inventory Number: Sk 1530 (K 127), found on Lesbos, acquired on the art market in 1901, height 0.54m
- London, British Museum (Townley Pericles) Inventory Number GR 1805.7-3.91 (Cat. Sculpture 549), found in the Villa of Hadrian, height 0.48m, Inscription ΠΕΡΙΚΛΗΣ (Perikles)
- Rome, Museo Barracco, Inventory Number 96, acquired in 1884 from the collection of Augusto Castellani, height 0.40m
- Vatican, Vatican Museum, Museo Pio-Clementino Inventory number 269, found in the Villa of Brutus at Tivoli, height 1.83m, Inscription ΠΕΡΙΚΛΗΣ ΞΑΝΘΙΠΠΟΥ ΑΘHΝΑΙΟΣ Perikles, Son of Xanthippos, Athenian
Bibliography
- ISBN 3-8053-1187-7, pp. 152f.
- Ralf Krumeich, Bildnisse griechischer Herrscher und Staatsmänner im 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. 1997, pp. 118ff.
- Die griechische Klassik. Idee oder Wirklichkeit. Exhibition catalogue Berlin, Bonn 2002. Mainz, Zabern 2002, ISBN 3-8053-2854-0, pp. 232–233.
- ISBN 978-3-8228-5447-1, pp. 76–77.