In this hollow-cast bronze bust Jupiter, as the Greek god Zeus with full curly beard and hair falling to his shoulders, looks to the right. He wears a tunic with well-defined folds and a mantle over his left shoulder. The bust emerges from an acanthus-stemmed foot. The acanthus leaf was a popular decorative motif on both Greek and Roman temples.
Jupiter’s temple on the Capitoline Hill was the most important temple in ancient Rome, housing the sovereign divinity of the Romans. It was shared with two other Roman divinities, his wife Juno (the Greek goddess Hera) and daughter Minerva.
