Herm portrait of the kosmetes Sosistratos – Hadrian and Athens

Provenance: Athens, «Diogeneion». height: 2.265 m (with base). height of head: 0.30 m. Sockets for insertion of tenons 0.13x0.065 m. Marble: Pentelic.
Chronology: 141/142 AD. EAM 385

According to the inscription on the stele the kosmetes Sosistratos, son of Sosistratos, from Marathon is depicted. He is shown bearded. The austere expression of the face, the short beard in low relief, treated as a single mass, the thick, heavy, tousled locks of hair and the smooth face refer to the portrait of Lucius Aelius Caesar, Hadrian’s adopted son, and to the portrait of the sophist Herodes Atticus.