Herm of the epic poet Homer
Third quarter of the I century.Not on display
Portraits of Homer, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the earliest works of Western literature (8th century B.C.), were made only many years after his death, when any reliable memories of his appearance had long disappeared. As Pliny the Younger (23-79 A.C.) noted, “If no portraits exist they are invented, out of a wish to know the features of someone like Homer, whose appearance has not been transmitted by tradition”. All Homeric portraits can be traced back to four different prototypes, the “Apollonius type” being the least well known. The prototype got its name from its misattribution to Apollonius of Tyana, a Roman seer. In this portrait Homer looks at us with big, open eyes, his head crowned with a hero´s ribbon (the poet was worshiped as a hero in several cities throughout the Greek world). He has a full beard and his hair is worn long, in the style of the noble Greeks of the Archaic period. The Roman replica in the Prado was copied from an original, made in the early 3rd century B.C. which was identified as a likeness of Homer by reference to coins from Amastris, a colony of Smyrna in Asia Minor. Other coins of the Hellenistic period also provide information about the existence of a seated statue of Homer in a shrine dedicated to the poet by the city of Smyrna. The head of the lost statue was perhaps the model for this one. Azara also owned another replica of Homero´s portrait. He had it restored, at which time it was attached to a herm, and a Greek inscription was added that mistakenly identified it as a portrait of Plato (Text drawn from Schröder, Stephan; The Majesty of Spain, Jackson, Mississippi, 2001, pp. 113-114).
The Majesty of Spain. Royal collections from the Museo del Prado and the Patrimonio Nacional presented by The Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange, Jackson, Mississipi Commission For International Cultural Exchange, 2001, p.113-114
