Septimius Severus was born in Africa of Roman parents; he died at York in the year 211 a. D. after a severe illness at the age of sixty-six. This bust was found in the year 1776 on the Palatine Hill, in the part of the Palace of the Cæsars now occupied by the Villa Magnani.
This bust has been called that of a Maenad or Bacchante, an attribution which the comparison of other Bacchic types would seem fully to justify.
Head of Minerva. The hair, parted in the middle, is drawn back from the temples, after the manner usual in the representations of Minerva.
The hair flow away from the forehead, and falls behind the neck in one solid tress, not unlike the hair on some of the caryatides. This arrangement is one of the most common characteristics of this goddes.
A description of the collection of ancient Marbles in the British Museum by Combe Taylor, London 1861.
