Flavius Palmatus

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The statue, head, and base were all found together. The base is re-used, but the statue and the portrait were carved new for the subject honoured. He was a man called Flavius Palmatus, a high-ranking provincial governor. He is wearing a late Roman senatorial toga and cross-strapped ankle boots, and he carries a mappa (handkerchief) in one hand and a consular baton in the other. The upper part of the baton is missing: it would have ended in a bust of the reigning emperor. The portrait has striking and memorable features: fixed staring eyes, a dour expression created by deep naso-labial folds and bags under the eyes, and a stubble beard. He is portrayed as the stern, incorruptible, all-seeing, and hard-working judge that good governors were meant to be in this period. The mop hairstyle was highly fashionable at the imperial centres of power in the late fifth and sixth centuries.

Found at: Tetrastoon