Cleveland Museum of Art

Head of a Foreign Warrior

Date

300–200 BCE

Medium

marble with traces of paint

Culture

Greece, Alexandria or the Levant

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This miniature head depicts a man with wild curls that still retain their original red pigment. He is immediately revealed as a non-Greek by his carved mustache, associated with Celtic tribes, and cone-shaped hat called a Phrygian cap, associated with eastern peoples such as the Persians. During the Hellenistic period, various non-Greek peoples served as mercenaries or fought against the Greek kingdoms, and these foreign warriors were depicted extensively in art. There is a small notch below the cap's crest that likely held an attachment, now lost.

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