A Phoenician-type portrait head in stone : reviews recent books and articles Maltese supplement

Abstract

The stone head in question is reputed to have been recovered from the sea about ten metres off the south promenade at St. George's Bay, Birżebbuga, Malta, in the summer of 1966. It is carved on a compact limestone very similar to the native globigerina, stands 14.5 cm. high and measures 9.5 cm. over the ears. The head represents a young man wearing a plain hemispherical cap reaching halfway down the forehead; at the back, a good rendering of a curly hairstyle drops in four layers and covers the upper part of the nape. The ears, of which the right-hand one is broken off, are each surmounted by the small curl with which the uppermost layer terminate behind the temples. The apparent uniqueness of this work of art in the overall picture of Phoenician civilization would seem to imply that the subject enjoyed such high social or political standing amongst the local community as to have been singled out for perpetuation in stone, a fact in itself of major importance in view of the limited gallery of period portraits available to the historian.