Discovering an 1,800-year-old bronze portrait of Alexander the Great

Metal detectors have unearthed a miniature bronze portrait of Alexander the Great on an island in Denmark. The miniature bronze portrait depicts Alexander the Great with wavy hair and a crown of ram's horns.

A bronze portrait of Alexander the Great was found in a field in Denmark. (Image credit: M. Peterson, West Zealand Museum).

Finn Ibsen and Lars Danielsen made the discovery while conducting survey work in a field outside Ringsted, a city on the Danish island of Zealand, and delivered the artifacts to the West Zealand Museum .

According to the Museum, this portrait has a stand, about 2.7cm in diameter, is cast in copper alloy and has an engraved portrait of a man with wavy hair wearing a crown of twisted ram horns.

Based on the image, archaeologists immediately knew it was the face of Alexander the Great, the legendary leader of the ancient kingdom of Macedon whose empire stretched from the Balkans to modern-day Pakistan until his death. at age 32.

Portrait of Caracalla, who always imitated Alexander the Great's way of dressing.

Freerk Oldenburger, an archaeologist at the West Zealand Museum, said: 'This portrait has typical features of Alexander the Great, such as his wavy hair and distinctive ram horns. This image closely resembles another portrait found many years ago that has the same stylized image."

Oldenburger adds: 'This portrait was contemporary with Caracalla , a Roman emperor who ruled from 198 to 217 AD. We know that he was obsessed with Alexander the Great and considered him his inspiration.'

In fact, Caracalla admired Alexander the Great so much that he often dressed in the same style as Alexander the Great and believed he was Alexander the Great reincarnated. Caracalla is also the only emperor depicted with a shield bearing the portrait of Alexander the Great.