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Palatine Museum

Statue of Dionysus

This fragmentary Parian marble statue was found in the early 2000’s on the Palatine Hill during the excavations being carried out for the restoration of the Domus Augustana. Missing its head, arms, right leg and a part of its left leg, the sculpture represents a youthful male figure with long, wavy hair that falls in tresses to either side of the head. A few traces of the statue’s original coloration can still be found in its hair. With the body’s weight supported by its right leg, the statue would have had its right arm raised, probably leaning on another figure’s shoulder, and its left arm resting on its own head in a position of soft abandon. A comparison with similar figurative models allows us to recognize a young, inebriated Dionysus, forced to lean upon another member of his retinue to keep his balance. The statue’s executive technique dates it to the mid-2nd century AD.