Head of Galerius. Greece, about 310. Marble

This head of a middle-aged emperor is turned slightly to his left; the eyes have lost filling of colored matter and have suffered some damage, especially to left eyelid; other losses are to nose, both ears, and in small chipping of various areas of surface; but overall the piece is in a good state of preservation. Abrasion has eliminated the relief on central jewel, presumably a cameo, of oak-leaf crown fastened behind the head by a summarily carved ribbon knot. The hair is brushed forward over the brow in uniform locks, with ears fully revealed. The face is fleshy, creased by nasolabial folds, with downcurved mouth and traces of a double chin.

The crown is clearly the corona civica, the highest honor the state could bestow on a Roman citizen, but reserved since Claudius' reign for use only by the emperors. The model for this head is clearly Trajan, but many traits indicate that it was made almost two centuries later: above all, the large geometric form on which the features are applied as specific details. The general character of execution and form fits the Tetrarchy, particularly its later phase; and the corona civica seems to have enjoyed favor exactly at this time (fig. 3). The coiffure represents a clear reaction against the cropped hair of the first Tetrarchs and prefigures the conformation of imperial hairstyles for a century to come; the clean-shaven chin and jaws are also more representative of the Second than the First Tetrarchy.

Of the Tetrarchs, the one with the specific features portrayed here, in particular the broad brow and the mordant, sneering mouth, was Galerius, who in his last years is said to have become grossly fat, even dropsical (see Lactantius, admittedly a biased observer [De mortibus persecutorum 9.3]). That Thessalonike was Galerius' headquarters in the Balkans makes this identification still more probable. Comparison with the key to Galerius' portraiture, the tiny bust on the so-called Little Arch from Galerius' mausoleum at Thessalonike (Calza, 1972, no. 53), and even with the stylistically contrasting porphyry bust (no. 5), confirms the identification and shows at its clearest the range possible within Tetrarchal art from “hard" to “soft" styles.

A source in the imagery of Trajan for the early coin types of Constantine, during his campaign of conquest in the West, has already been demonstrated by M. R. Alfdldi (1963, pp. 57-69), but Dontas (1975) has now shown that Galerius, too, was still more devoted to the model of Trajan, the soldier-emperor, than to that of Augustus. It seems indicative that a retrospective interest in Trajanic portraiture extended to other courts than that of Constantine at this critical moment, around 310, when the established art styles of the Tetrarchy were being dissolved under new pressures—just as was the institution of the Tetrarchy itself.

The head is said by the owner to have been found in Thessalonike.
bibliography: Dontas, 1975.