Hermarchus was a Greek philosopher of the early third century BCE, pupil of Epicurus. He was from Mytilene, the main city on the east Aegean island of Lesbos. In 270 BCE he moved to be head of the Epicurean school in nearby Lampsacus, on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, or Dardanelles, in modern Turkey. We know the names of his major works, but none has survived.

This cast is of a Roman copy of the prototype. It is recognised as Hermarchus owing to its likeness to an earlier bronze portrait, with the philosopher’s name inscribed on its base, found in Herculaneum