Faculty of Classics - University of Cambridge

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Radwell Head

Roman head from southern Britain.

The stone that this head is carved from is from Italy, and the sculpture bears little resemblance to Greco-Roman heads found in Romano-British contexts, such as those from the Temple of Mithras in London. Therefore it is likely that the head was imported ready-made to Britain.

The date is difficult to pin down, but the closest stylistic resemblances are to works of the Julio-Claudian period

Material: 
Carrara marble
Location of Original: 

Letchworth Museum

Size: 
0.24m
Accession: 

Acquired in June 1995

References: 

For the site:
JRS LV (1965), 88
Antiquity XLV (1971), 225
Brittania 1974, 260 & pl. XXVII
Scott, E: Gazetteer of Roman Villas in Britain, 94
For comparison:
Poulsen, V: Les Portraits Romains vol.1, 81, no.44, pl. LXXIV-LXXV

Date: 
Mid C1 CE (?)
Provenance: 

Rediscovered in 1994 in a farm building near Radwell in Hertfordshire. Then in a private collection

Number: 
633

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