CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE HEAD OF ZEUS AMMON
CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.
With curling beard and drooping moustache, deeply drilled curls of fringe with fillet bound behind, the remains of a ram's horn on right side curled around a pointed ram ear, flat at back, mounted
5¾ in. (14.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Formerly in a European private collection.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Cf. Exhibition catalogue, Égypte Romaine, Marseille, 1997, pp. 260-261, no. 293 for a bronze janiform herm of Zeus Ammon.

Ammon was an Egyptian oracle god whose main sanctuary was situated in the Siwa oasis. The Greeks were the first to call the god Zeus Ammon and his cult spread throughout the Greek world, made famous in the 4th Century B.C. when Alexander the Great visited the oracle and was greeted as Ammon's son. In the Roman period the god was still popular, Augustus using images of the god in the Forum in Rome and his cult spread as far as the river Rhine.

More from Antiquities

View All