Roman statue
- Gallery: Room 22
- Culture: Roman; Hellenistic
- Date: 100-150 (circa)
- Object type: statue
- Materials: marble
- Museum number: 1805,0703.86
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a Roman statue, a marble head believed to come from a group showing Ulysses and his companions blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus. This head, with its intense expression and dynamic tilt, shows a figure caught in action—perhaps expressing agitation or determination. Though the original statue is now incomplete, the strong character and detail of this head reflect a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, dating to around the 2nd century BC. The statue was excavated at Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli in the late 1700s and acquired by collector Peregrine Edward Towneley, who recognized its dramatic energy. The piece was praised for its skill, with one early viewer calling it “equal to any remains of ancient art.” It stands today as a powerful reminder of classical myth and storytelling in stone.
See it in person
Roman statue is on display in Room 22 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
New, in beta. British Museum support has just launched and is still improving: over 1,000 objects so far, with more added all the time.
