From a funerary bust, wearing a high
cylindrical headdress with two vertical
grooves, his face with down-turned nose,
square chin and prominent ears, his arching
brows sharply defined, the thickly-lidded
eyes with the pupils and irises incised, a
dimple below the thin lips.
On the edge of the Syrian desert, in the eastern
periphery of the Roman empire, the ancient city
of Palmyra stood as a gateway linking the
Western world to the luxuries of the Orient. To
the ancient denizens of this arid realm, Palmyra
was known simply as the Bride of the Desert, and
for centuries intrepid merchants passed through
this oasis seeking relief from the merciless
desert sun. The Hebrew Bible attributes the city
to King Solomon, though ancient Mari records
mention Palmyra from the second millennium BC.
Under the mercurial reign of the Seleucids—the
progeny of Alexander the Great—the city
experienced the delights of Hellenic civilization,
continued three hundred years later when in the
first century AD Tiberius incorporated Syria into
the Roman Empire. From the Romans the city
passed to Byzantium before falling to the armies
of Muhammad and being abandoned around 800
AD. In its heyday Palmyra was an elegant symbol
of imperial grandeur juxtaposed against a harsh,
primordial environment. Trade brought wealth,
power, and splendor to this desert town,
transforming Palmyra into a limestone
metropolis that has bequeathed a rich and
abundant source of archaeological remains
reflecting the city’s long imperial history.
Palmyrenes are renowned for their construction
of colossal funerary monuments built both above
and below the desert floor. Burial compartments
were sealed with limestone slabs decorated with
magnificent busts in high relief and representing
the soul of the deceased. This heroic bust is a
superlative example of Palmyran artistry. The
bust, though somewhat smaller than the
proportions of life, exudes nobility with an
imperious presence befitting a man of high
esteem. In life, the subject of this statue was a
priest, indicated by his tall, cylindrical headdress.
As for what god or cult this cleric worshiped, the
answer is unclear; however, given the statue’s
Classical aesthetic, one can readily infer that the
priest belonged to the Hellenic religious
tradition.
With his square chin and exquisite facial
symmetry, the handsome priest epitomizes the
idealized proportions espoused by the Greeks.
Yet unlike so many examples of expressionless
Greek statues, fine details in this funerary bust
allude to the subtleties of personality. The
priest’s arching, inquisitive brow crowns large,
intelligent eyes—thickly lidded and with irises
incised. A dimple accents a set of thin lips
expressing the charms of youth. Yet with his
large ears, furrowed brow, and wrinkled eyes the
sculptor makes no allusion that the priest is
anything but a man of maturity—testifying to the
wisdom in his penetrating gaze. Neither a death
mask nor an aggrandized icon, this remarkable
bust exists outside of time and place, capturing
the spirit of the ancients through the
idiosyncrasy of a flesh and blood human being. It
is a work of tremendous character beguiling our
imagination with a relatable sensibility alien in
the ubiquitous statues of mythic gods and
heroes. The subject of this bust existed not in
the empyrean but in reality, provoking whoever
beholds this artifact to wonder just who was the
man behind this imposing face? What was his
name? How did he die? What were his qualities?
While such questions are sadly unanswered, the
profound strength and majesty of this
extraordinary creation is ineffable and yet the
answer to their quality is quite simple: genius.
Provenance:
European Private Collection, 1980s
- (LA.557)
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