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Capuan bust of Hannibal
Capuan bust of Hannibal
Artist	Unknown
Year	Unknown
Medium	Marble sculpture
Subject	Unknown, possibly Hannibal
Location	National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Naples, Italy

The Capuan bust, is a sculpture often identified as Carthaginian general Hannibal.^[1] Made of marble, it was discovered in the Italian city of Capua in 1667^[2] and is housed in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. The bust is depicted on the five dinar banknote of Tunisia, 2013 series, the site of ancient Carthage.

Identity

The bust's identity has been disputed. Naples Museum's catalogue of 1888 put a question mark in its attribution to Hannibal.^[3] According to Eve MacDonald, the bust features a cloak of a Roman commander (paludamentum).^[1] According to Australian historian Dexter Hoyos, there are "strong suspicions" that the bust is a Renaissance work rather than an ancient one.^[4]

19th-century iconographer Francis Pulzky believed the bust, instead of Hannibal, shows "the ideal representation of a hero" from the silver coins of Dernes of Phoenicia and Pharnabazus III.

British scholar W. H. D. Rouse defended the bust's identification as Hannibal. American historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge regarded the Capuan bust as the only portrait "which has any claim to authenticity".^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b Eve MacDonald (2015). Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300210156.
^ Theodore Ayrault Dodge (1896). Hannibal: A History of the Art of War Among the Carthaginians and Romans Down to the Battle of Pydna, 168 B.C., with a Detailed Account of the Second Punic War. Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
^ Museo nazionale di Napoli (1888). A Complete Handbook to the Naples Museum: According to the New Arrangement; with Plans and Historical Sketch of the Building, and an Appendix Relative to Pompeii and Herculaneum. F. Furchheim. p. 52.
^ Dexter Hoyos (2022). Hannibal: Rome's Greatest Enemy. Liverpool University Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-1802079401.
^ Theodore Ayrault Dodge (1992). Great Captains Hannibal. Lancer Publishers. p. 616. ISBN 8170621704.