Object in Focus: Janiform, or double-headed herm (GR.20.1850)
What is depicted?
This janiform, or double-headed herm, links the head of an old bearded silen with that of a young satyr. These are both spirits of the forest, male followers of Dionysos; the silens take their name from Silenus, the wine-god’s drunken tutor and companion. They are often thought of as older versions of satyrs, depicted as bald and fat, with thick lips and squat noses while the satyrs are younger and more graceful. Both were important members of the thiasos, Dionysos’ drunken and riotous entourage, and are often shown playing pipes, dancing and chasing nymphs.
In this sculpture the figures are identified as Dionysian revelers by their long, pointed ears and the garlands they wear – ivy for the older, fir or pine for the younger. They could alternatively be read as representations of Dionysos and Silenus themselves.
When was it made? How do we identify its style?
This is an early Roman piece, dating from the first-second century A.D. It is unlikely that a combination of figures like this is made up of exact copies, but both heads seem to be versions of Greek originals from the late fourth century B.C.
The younger head is thought to be based on a statue of a satyr pouring wine by the famous Greek sculptor Praxiteles (known only through later copies of his work and famous for sculpting the first life-size female nude, the Aphrodite of Cnidus). The facial features correspond closely; differences include the substitution of an ivy garland for pine (perhaps to form a contrast to the silen), and the altered angle of the head, which was necessary to fit the requirements of the janiform shape.
The older figure is very similar to a set of silens now housed in the Vatican; both these and the Fitzwilliam head seem to have been copied from an original of around 300 B.C. and loosely associated with the circle of Lysippos, a key sculptor in the transition from the Classical Greek era to the Hellenistic period (traditionally dated to around 323 BC, the year of Alexander the Great’s death).
In this period it became acceptable, even fashionable, to depict figures in vulnerable states: artists explored themes like suffering, sleep, old age and drunkenness. Our sculpture shows typical representation of the ‘other’ - the old, ugly silen, worn out by a lifetime of partying, contrasting with the classical youth and beauty of the satyr.
What was its purpose?
A herm (Greek herma) is a type of sculpture with a head, and sometimes torso, on a plain, usually square base – as a form it originated in Ancient Greece and was adopted by the Romans. Herms were typically placed at crossroads, country borders and boundaries for protection from evil.
Janus, the origin of the term janiform, was the two-headed god of beginnings, transition and time, and so is also connected to doorways and gates. Positioned in a doorway as a guard, his two heads watched anyone entering or leaving. A janiform herm, therefore, would be particularly appropriate as a guard against misfortune.
This sculpture was presented to the Fitzwilliam by Dr. John Disney, an alumnus of Cambridge University. After his father’s death in 1816 he inherited a collection of antiquities, which he began to catalogue and expand. He presented most of the sculptures in this collection to the Fitzwilliam in 1850; the year after he founded the Disney Professorship of Archaeology.
Further reading
Michaelis, A. Ancient marbles in Great Britain (1882)
Budde, L. Catalogue of the Greek and Roman sculpture in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (1967)
Disney, J. Museum Disneianum : being a description of a collection of ancient marbles, in the possession of John Disney (1846)
Object Number: GR.20.1850