In the 18th century, the resemblance between this portrait and a herm in the Vatican prompted the identification of the person portrayed as Diogenes, the elderly Cynic philosopher (414-323 BC). A proposal put forward in the last century identifying the bust as Hesiod, the poet and pupil of the Muses, garnered some credit but, in the absence of portraits attributable with certainty to both characters, the identification must remain uncertain for the moment.