Alexander the Great and the Athenians Deification and Portraiture

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Olga Palagia
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

This paper discusses Alexander’s relations with the Athenians with regard to the issue of his deification in Athens. While the literary evidence is very controversial, a new piece of visual evidence will be introduced. A marble bust in the Athenian Agora is here argued to be a Roman copy of Alexander’s cult statue, erected in 324/3 BC. In addition, the famous marble head of Alexander from the Acropolis, usually thought to reflect a lifetime portrait, is here argued to belong to a posthumous portrait, also showing a divinized Alexander, dedicated by the Attalids on the Acropolis in the 2nd century BC and associated with their dynastic cult.

Keywords
Alexander the Great, Athens, Portraiture, Deification, Agora, Acropolis

Article Details

How to Cite
Palagia, Olga. “Alexander the Great and the Athenians: Deification and Portraiture”. Karanos. Bulletin of Ancient Macedonian Studies, 2025, vol.VOL 8, pp. 119-36, doi:10.5565/rev/karanos.173.
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(c) Borja Antela-Bernárdez, 2025


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