Hellenistic Portraits, McFadden 1951George H. McFadden

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sculpture in the round that has come to my attention.

A cameo in Vienna has been identified as a portrait of Ptolemy I. It has the authority of Delbrück. There is no diadem, however; the hair is very thick over the brow and the nose seems somewhat long. If it is a royal portrait it might be Philadelphus.

There is a bronze bust from Herculanium at Naples (Fig. 29 ) which is a fine Roman copy of the late fourth or early third century B. C. original. It has been identified as a portrait of Seleukos I Nicator, and this identification has the authority of my friend, Mr. Wace, of Wolters and of Pfuhl, and is generally accepted.

It is a masterful portrait of a man of forceful personality, great dignity, and keen intelligence. At a glance one suspects a royal portrait of one of the great successors of Alexander. Wolters, however, who examined the bust very carefully some 60 years ago, writes that when he saw it, there was no trace of the loose ends of Taenia to show that it is a diadem. Inasmuch as we lack this supporting evidence we shall have to have a close correspondence to Seleukos's portrait as it appears on the coinage to justify angs identification. It is the coined portraiture again, as in the case of Ptolemy I, that can provide the only sound basis of comparison.

After Seleukos defeated and slew Antigonus at Ipsus in 301, a brief coinage was issued in one of two mints to commemorate the event. This coinage bears on the obverse a

Seleukos I

Handwritten: Seleukos I