Old Dionysus Head. Ancient Roman, 1st - 3rd century AD. Marble. 17 cm height. PROVENANCE: Private collection of Dr. Terry Berreth, Rancho Mirage, California, United States of America. CONDITION: Intact, without restorations. DESCRIPTION: Roman head of the god Dionysus represented as a mature man, with a bushy beard and large almond-shaped eyes. In addition to the ribbon or miter that adorns his head, typical in the iconography of this deity, Dionysus appears wearing a kind of open turban made up of a folded cloth, girded by the miter itself, which starts from the forehead and extends towards the back. nape, where it is knotted. This tissue also falls on both sides of the face, and would originally hang behind the ears. His hair, working in large parallel locks, is visible on both sides of the head. Above it, in the upper central area of ​​the skull, stands out the fabric carved in great relief, with parallel folds. This peculiar headdress is not unusual in the representations of Dionysus, since it is a god usually represented with large adornments on his head, whether they are exuberant vine leaves and branches or elaborate headdresses and headbands. In fact, in the cult of this god, clothing enjoyed a special ritual importance; the miter was one of the main attributes of Dionysus and, therefore, of his followers and his mythical companions, such as Ariadne or Silenus. In the case of the piece under study, the two pieces, now lost because they were worked separately and assembled, would also have formed part of the god's head ornament, which would cover the ears. Dionysus, whose name means “son of Zeus”, was the Olympian god of nature, celebrations (symposium), wine, ecstasy, disorder and theatre, and his myths include voyages to distant territories (Egypt, Anatolia, India, etc.), detail that could indicate the oriental origin of the divinity. Son of Zeus and Semele, princess of Thebes, the myth about the birth of Dionysus foreshadows the mysterious nature that his cult acquired. Knowing the vengeful Hera of the infidelity of her consort Zeus, she convinced Semele, who was already pregnant with Dionysus, so that he would appear in all her majesty. Although Zeus initially resisted, he ended up giving in to the wishes of her lover who, being a mere mortal, was struck down by fire and lightning. Desperate for what happened, Zeus managed to save his son by sewing it to his thigh until the pregnancy was complete. Hence, Dionysus is known as "the twice born" or with the epithet dimetor ("of two mothers"). Despite having a mortal mother, he was considered a god from his birth. Once the same occurred, there are two versions about his upbringing: one of them maintains that Zeus gave the child Dionysus to Hermes, while another assures that he was under the tutelage of the Nymphs of the rain of Nisa, who took him out of his mother's ashes and later handed him over to Queen Ino. The fact that Dionysus survived the death of his mother was interpreted as a triumph over death, being already worshiped as a mysterious divinity in Eleusis, along with Demeter and Persephone . Likewise, the ancient sources assure that the god was initiated into the Phrygian mysteries by the goddess Cibeles herself, while the Orphic tradition narrates the second resurrection of the god: the Titans, jealous of the attentions he received from Zeus, tore apart and destroyed his body except his heart. Picked up by Athena, it was ingested by his father and Dionysus emanated again from Zeus. BIBLIOGRAPHY: - BRØNS, Cecilie; NOSH, Marie-Louise (eds.). Textiles and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean. Oxbow. 2017. - ELVIRA BARBA, Miguel Ángel. Manual de iconografía clásica. Madrid. 2008. - GRIMAL, Pierre. The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Wiley-Blackwell. 1996. - KLEINER, Diana E. Roman sculpture. Yale University Press. 1992. - KOUSSER, Rachel M. Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical. Cambridge University Press. 2008. - PAILLER, J. M. Le monde de Bacchus. Anabases, n. 4. 2006. - SCHLESIER, Renate (ed.). A Different God? Dionysos and Ancient Polytheism. De Gruyter. 2011. - SEAFORD, Richard. Dionysos. Routledge. 2006. - VV.AA. The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture. Oxford University Press. 2015. PARALLELS: Fig. 1 Herma janiforme with the faces of young and old Dionysus, marble. Roman Kingdom, c. I AD Princeton University Art Museum, XXX (USA), inv. Y1962-137. Fig. 1 Herma janiforme with the faces of young and old Dionysus, marble. Roman Kingdom, c. I AD Princeton University Art Museum, XXX (USA), inv. Y1962-137. Fig. 1 Herma janiforme with the faces of young and old Dionysus, marble. Roman Kingdom, c. I AD Princeton University Art Museum, XXX (USA), inv. Y1962-137. Fig. 2 Bust of Dionysus in terracotta. Roman Kingdom, 50-100 AD. British Museum, London (United Kingdom), inv. 1805,0703.285. Fig. 3 Marble tondo with herma of Dionysus in relief. Roman Kingdom, end of the s. I AD Metropolitan Museum, New York (USA), inv. 26.60.27. Fig. 4 Herm of Dionysus with turban attributed to the workshop of Boeto de Chalcedon, bronze and stone (detail). Greek, from Asia Minor, 200-100 B.C. Getty Villa, Malibu (USA), cat. 79.AB.138. Fig. 5 Janiform herm with faces of Dionysus and maenad, marble. Roman Kingdom, c. II AD British Museum, London (United Kingdom), inv. 1805,0703.441. Fig. 6 Terracotta fragment with bust of a man, probably Dionysus. Greek from southern Italy, s. IV BC Metropolitan Museum, New York (USA), inv. 10.210.59. Notes: - The piece includes authenticity certificate. - The piece includes Spanish Export License (Passport for European Union) - If the piece is destined outside the European Union a substitution of the export permit should be requested, can take between 1-2 weeks maximum. - The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki. #ancientolympics