Abstract

The marble head inv. no. 882 in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki came from the north terrace of the forum ofthe ancient city, where in 1924 and 1973 a sumptuous building of Imperial times was excavated, believed to have been a library (building B). It yielded a large number of important sculptures, including the famous statue of Athena Julia Domna, as well as others which were cultic. The technical characteristics indicate that head 882 must have belonged to a colossal acrolithic statue of the tebennophoros/toga wearing type. The person depicted is identified with the emperor Titus, since the typological characteristics of the head, particularly the curly locks of the hair, point to well known portraits of this emperor. This Greek work presents certain peculiarities in the rendering of the cheeks and eyes that suggest to us a comparison with the head of the statue of Titus from Olympia, which is attributed to an Attic workshop. The interpretation of building Β as a library may be doubted in view of a series of observations about its architectural type. Furthermore its connection with a triple apse building that was excavated in contact with it and belonged to the same building programme suggests that we have to do with buildings of a cultic character arranged in order on a separate terrace, as was the case in the forum at Philippi. It is probable that at least some of the sculptures excavated with the head of Titus had been erected in these buildings. The colossal acrolithic statue of the emperor from which the head came may plausibly have been erected in a temple dedicated to the cuit of the Flavian emperors, which was perhaps founded on the occasion of the deification of Vespasian by his son Titus (79 AD).