A New Trajan’s Portrait From Hispania. Pliny the Younger and the Dating of Trajan’s First Portrait Type

Résumé

The aim of this work is the analysis of a portrait-head, which was found in 2008 in the Forum of Regina (province Baetica). The iconography of the head permits its identification as a portrait of Trajan, and the rendering of the hair on the brow indicates its belonging to Trajan’s II portrait type. On the other hand, this article discusses the cause and the time of creation of Trajan’s I and II portrait types. A quote from Pliny the Younger’s Panegyricus indicates that a) Trajan’s I portrait type was created in 97 A.D. to mark Trajan’s adoption by Nerva; b) the »type II« must have been created in 98 A.D., to celebrate Trajan’s accession to the Principate. Therefore, Trajan’s head from Regina must have been carved around the year 98 A.D., on the occasion of the homages that Hispania dedicated to the new Princeps.