Most of the time Homer is displayed in artwork, he is shown with a full, flowing beard and a headband.  While these features were common among those living in that time and place, Homer’s beard seems to be relatively overemphasized and the headband is consistently present. 

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF BEARDS

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press.

“Attitudes toward facial hair have varied in different cultures. In ancient Egypt, as well as Turkey and India, the beard was regarded as a sign of dignity and wisdom. Beards continued into the Greek civilization until the 4th cent. B.C., when Alexander the Great ordered his soldiers shaved.  The belief that the beard denotes wisdom was widespread in ancient China, and the cult of the beard has been dominant in Middle Eastern cultures from ancient times to the recent past. As a symbol of virility and status, the beard has often acquired religious significance.”

                                       

Bust from 450 BC. Glyptothek, München                                                           Roman copy of a Greek portrait 2C BC. Glyptotek, Copenhagen

 

                                            

 Marble terminal bust of Homer. Roman copy of a lost                                                      Roman copy of a High Hellenistic statue ca. 200 BC. Hellenistic original of the 2nd century BC. Baiae, Italy. British Museum, London.                                           Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

(Click on bust for additional information)

                   

Bust by Gaetano Rossi, 1875, made after a Roman copy.                          Büste des Homer Farnese 1774. Gebrüder Ferrari,          Museum für vor und Frügeschichte, Berlin.                                                        Leipzig.   

(Click on bust for more photographs of this replica on a cruise ship)

                            

Reproduction in brown sandstone.                                                                                                                                        Reproduction in bronze.  

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