alexander at 33

[george rose]

hi all, we see many portraits or busts of ATG, but he never seems to age in them. I assume they were all done at a very young age then 18-25years of age, but we never see him getting older, was this done on purpose?George

[marcus]

Hi George,I'm no great expert on art history (I did a course on Greek art at university but stopped attending the lectures 2 weeks after the lecturer stopped going). However, I do remember reading some book or article that was talking about the various busts and portraits of Alexander and the author did point out that there actually *is* a difference between certain busts. Not so much that Alexander looks older (after all, I haven't changed much in the last 10 years, apart from a slight sprinkling of grey here and there - I'm 34 now), but that he looks more 'drawn' in some busts. It was posited that these (which are mainly, of course, later copies) were copied from later busts.Then again, of course, in the same way that portrait painters often flattered their subjects, I can't imagine that Lysippus or Apelles would have wanted to do a 'warts and all' job on him - there aren't any scars to be seen, after all.All the bestMarcus

[Susan]

There's a full-face medallion, I think it's called the Aboukir medallion, in which Alexander looks drawn - furrowed brow and lines starting under the eyes. It's on the frontispiece of the Pierre Briant book - The Heroic Ideal or you can link here
The Pergamon head also shows him with a furrowed brow.
Susan

[Susan]

Sorry, the link didn't come out. I'll try againIt is
http://www.angelfire.com/il/AlexanderTh ... index.html

[Susan]

The coins are on :
http://www.angelfire.com/il/AlexanderTh ... coins.html

[marcus]

I was right, then! Good )All the bestMarcus

[macedonian]

Alexander IS NOT GREEK,HE IS MACEDONIAN!
i wish people could understand it,AND GET IT THROUGH THEIR HEADS!?