Historic description

This striking bust depicts Ares (literally meaning Battle), known in Roman mythology as Mars, the Greek god of war. A son of Zeus and Hera he is one of the Twelve Olymptians. From the almost identical facial structure and features this sculpture is a known to be a rework of the Ares Borghese (Louvre, uploaded on Scan the World), a greek original by Alkamenes ca 420 BC. The original’s decorative helmet is now missing, but this sculpture serves to give an idea of how the Ares Borghese would have looked like.