Since its discovery in 1727, this figure's identity has been debated. His disproportionately large head has a prominent nose, canines and whites of the eyes originally inlaid in silver, and hair and a beard once rendered in a matte black metal inlay. The circular area on the back of his head may have been for an attached curl of hair. The close-fitting garment reveals his misshapen body, and he wears sandals. Prevailing scholarly opinion has called the figure a mime and dated it to the first century B.C./A.D. A recent suggestion is that he is a caricature of an Alexandrian pedant, datable to the early second century B.C.

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