Statue said to be of Saint Hippolytus

4th or 5th century
Marble
Vatican Library

Inscriptions on the sides of the chair list the works of St. Hippolytus. When it was discovered in a Roman cemetery in 1515 there was no head. Surmising from the presence of the list that Hippolytus was the subject of the statue, a male head was added. Some later scholars, however, believe that the clothing indicates the subject was female, possibly an allegorical figure of Wisdom. See Parlby, 44.

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