What skillfully executed drapery folds, and what a dignified pose! This seated figure, although now missing its head, is best identified as a poet. Notice the three holes in the left shoulder, and the angular hollow at the inner side of the left arm. These markings indicate the figure was playing a kithara, a stringed musical instrument used by poets while performing. Typically, the player held the instrument vertically in the left arm, using the left hand to stop and damp the strings, and the right hand to pluck them.

Most likely, this marble statue is a portrait of one of the great Greek poets of the Hellenistic Age. For the ancient Greeks, it was important to represent the entire figure in a portrait, and not just the head, as was popular in Roman portraiture.

The figure before you is actually a Roman copy of a Greek statue of the second century B.C. If you look on the front of the seat, just above the figure’s left foot, you’ll see the signature of the sculptor—Zeuxis. He was one of the many Roman copyists who attached their signatures to the works they copied.