Bust of Dionysus (5618)

Bust of Dionysus (5618)

The bust probably represents Dionysus, with his head resting on his chest and facing to the right. His hairstyle, whose working displays over-stylised treatment of the surfaces, is extremely elaborate: on his forehead a high taenia holds in place his thick hair which rolls down both sides of his head and terminates at the nape, while the long flowing beard ends below his neck in five tight curls. The god, who has a thoughtful expression, gazes downwards, with a large straight nose and high cheekbones. There are slight traces of folds on his tunic which forms a small protrusion in the central part. The bust, which was initially identified as a portrait of Plato, was discovered in an outlying room of the villa although, in the opinion of some scholars, it would have originally decorated the peristilium.