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October 25, 2006

Aristotle and His Aquiline Nose

I normally don't dabble in classical studies. It's not that I lack interest in such things. It's that there is so much background work and so much to know that my ability to say anything meaningful is nearly zero. In addition, classical Greek and Latin often cause swearing. I do dabble in overstated claims concerning artifacts. And in the case of this post, it happens to be a classical artifact, a bust of Aristotle that appears to be slightly, and only slightly, oversold.

An extremely beautiful bust of Aristotle was recently found in Athens. You can read about it at Times on Line. The lead sentence caught my eye, "A bust of Aristotle found beneath the Acropolis in Athens is the first to show the Greek philosopher with a hooked nose." Well, it may be the earliest to show Aristotle with a hooked nose but I'm not so sure it is the first. See the quotations below before your make up your mind on what is meant by "first."

Bust of Aristotle from Athens       Bust of Aristotle from Herculaneum

On the left is the picture of the new find and on the right is a picture of a bust of Aristotle from the Herculaneum Villa that Dickins identified in 1914. Here is what Dickens, 311, said about the Herculaneum bust in his 1914 paper,

The nose is a feature of some interest, as we happen to possess a description of Aristotle in which his nose is called aquiline.
And here is what Alkestis Horemi told the AFP about the Athenian bust,
This is the only bust portraying the philosopher with a hooked nose in line with ancient descriptions.

It is clear that the identification of the Herculaneum bust as that of Aristotle was controversial at the time. Dickens, 310, notes that Studniezka had rejected it. If the identification was once controversial, it now seems more certain.

References:

Dickens, Guy, "Some Hellenistic Portraits," The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 34, 1914, 293-311

Via Dienekes

Posted by Duane Smith at October 25, 2006 3:27 PM | Read more on Archaeology |

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Comments

No nose news is new news!

Posted by: Aydin at October 28, 2006 8:24 AM

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