The illustration on our website is thought to be Mausolus, Satrap of Caria (350BC) - considered possibly one of the first portraits of the Classical world. The features of this monumental statue from Halicarnassus (in southwest Turkey), which was on the periphery of the ancient Greek world, create the impression of a real individual.

This is the beginnings of the realisation of personality synthesised in sculptural form by Greek sculptors and is a distinct progression from the more idealised 'portrait 'sculptures of preceding generations.

Image by kind permission of the British Museum.

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