Bust of a Young Man, Probably Polydeukion

This bust was probably commissioned by Herodes Atticus (101–177 CE), an Athenian nobleman and scholar. After his favorite pupil died, Herodes commissioned numerous sculptures of the youth, part of a lifelong campaign of extravagant patronage that also funded theaters, temples, and aqueducts.   In 1776, the historian Edward Gibbon, in his famous work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, wrote of Herodes Atticus as a model citizen benefactor of the empire’s golden age. For Gibbon, a flourishing state, ancient or modern, thrived on private generosity.