In 1566, Pope Pius V donates the Capitoline Alexander to the city of Rome’s public collection of antiquities.

Why?

During the Counter-Reformation the church could not collect ancient, pagan art. Donating antiquities from papal collections to the city of Rome legitimized the civic embrace of Rome’s glorious pagan past while disassociating the church from it.

The 17th–19th Century

Viewing ancient masterworks was an essential part of a young gentleman’s education (Grand Tour). Owning high-quality Classical originals was almost impossible. Hence many resorted to commissioning copies. This copy of the "Capitoline Alexander" (Figure 2)—commissioned by Prince Albert in 1856—is typical of the age.

The Later 19th Century - Orientalizing Alexander

The beardless Alexander with its soft features, luxuriant hair, tilted head, pathos-filled gaze, and slightly parted lips came to be understood not as a portrait of the 20-year-old Greek hero, but rather the 33-year-old debauched and effeminate “oriental” despot he was thought to have become. Alexander’s supposed “orientalisation” is brilliantly recounted in Iskander by Louis Couperus (1863–1923).

The 20th Century to Present

Artists ridicule the Classics; collectors don’t.

Alexander the Great (Andy Warhol)

Lost bust of Alexander the Great rakes in small fortune (The Times, March 6, 2020)

The 21st Century

Not Alexander, but the “Capitoline Sol”! Finding out why it had been misidentified for so long is a sobering journey that shines a harsh light on the past of Classics and past classicists, particularly in the age of colonization and the rise of the nation state. Misidentifying Sol is no accident, but typical of their willful construction, revision, invention and exclusion of ancient evidence to fit contemporary ideals. Jas Elsner aptly likens the Classics they bequeathed us to a minefield, full of fallacies waiting to be exploded. Decolonizing Classics will be painful.