The Arundel Head
- Gallery: Room 22
- Culture: Hellenistic
- Date: 2ndC BC
- Object type: statue
- Materials: bronze
- Museum number: 1760,0919.1
- 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
This is "The Arundel Head," an ancient bronze statue depicting a middle-aged man with a thick beard and a deep, solemn expression. His furrowed brow and receding hairline give him a thoughtful, even stern appearance. A rolled band, reminiscent of a royal diadem, frames his hair—an unusual feature for a thinker or poet.
Though once thought to be of the famous playwright Sophocles, details like this suggest a different identity. The Hellenistic artists who made this head around the 2nd century BC often portrayed aging, wise figures with realistic, deeply rendered features. Unlike idealized Greek statues, Hellenistic works embraced complexity and emotion.
This bronze may have once crowned a full statue, perhaps lost long ago. It was discovered in Smyrna—now Izmir, Turkey—as long ago as the early 1800s, acquired by the British Museum by the 19th century. Take a moment to study the detail—each wrinkle tells a story.
See it in person
The Arundel Head 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.
