It is usually assigned to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, but has been associated with her Armenian equivalent Anahit, whose major temple was located not far from Satala.

The head was found in 1872 by an old man named Youssouf who was digging in his field with a pickaxe, at a depth of around 2 feet (0.61 m), near the village of Sadak [tr],[5] in what was once the Roman fortress of Satala, on the Kelkit River, north of Erzincan (then in the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey).

[9] Newton appealed directly to British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, who agreed to provide £27,000 (£2 million in 2021) for Castellani's collection.

[3] The face has largely been preserved,[1][15] but shows signs of oxidisation, while the front of the neck had two faults in casting, which have been repaired by the insertion of strips of bronze.

[15] William Lethaby described the face as wide with a "radiant yet disdainful expression",[18] while Allan and Maitland suggested that the subject is in a "pensive mood".

[19] Herbert Maryon described its creation as a good example of a technique which began in the 4th century BC:[20] They modelled a head, perhaps in clay, and formed the outer mould in the usual manner.

[38] Vrej Nersessian noted that it is "now generally recognized" that its style reflects that of Scopas rather than that of Praxiteles (the author of the Cnidian Aphrodite), because of the "low broad forehead, the intensely gazing deep-set eyes, and the large heavy nose, are all characteristic of the strongly marked individuality of that sculptor's heads".

[35][39] Some scholars have adopted this view, based on the proximity of the location of its discovery to a major temple of Anahit in Erez (Eriza) in present-day Erzincan,[45] around 30 km (19 mi) south of Satala.

[1][46] Lethaby suggested that the head and hand "bear manifest evidence of violent destruction" of the "Greek statues of bronze brought to Armenia".

"[52] Soviet art historians wrote in 1962 that the head, found in Armenia's western regions, may represent the Armenian goddess Anahit.

"[21] Timothy Bruce Mitford argues that the statue was looted from the sanctuary of Anaitis at Eriza, but C. S. Lightfoot rejects this view as baseless.

In a 1873 letter to Prime Minister Gladstone, Charles Thomas Newton wrote that the head is "the finest example of Greek work in metal" he had seen.

"[63] Philip Gilbert Hamerton wrote that the head depicts a "simple and beautiful antique way of dressing the hair which was so suitable for plastic representation.

[7] Sara Anderson Immerwahr called the bronze head "famous" and "lovely" that depicts "restless" and "ideal beauty.

"[6] Lucilla Burn, former Curator in the Greek and Roman department at the British Museum, wrote that the "exceptional quality of the surviving elements" suggest that the statue "must have formed a highly impressive figure.

"[14] The head appears on the cover of The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World (2002)[65] and in the title sequence of the 2017 film Call Me by Your Name.

[47] Kouymjian argued that the "imported head", among other archaeological findings, "testify to the interest in and market for classical art in Armenia.

"[73] The head is portrayed in a mural crafted by Van Khachatur [hy] (Vanik Khachatrian) in 1959, inside the Matenadaran in Yerevan, symbolizing Armenia's Hellenistic period.

[83] Khachatur Yesayan [hy], a Soviet Armenian artist, proposed in 1966 to start talks with the British Museum to move the head to Armenia.

[86][87] One proponent of the campaign argued that the "sentimental value of the goddess Anahit's statue is worth far more to the Armenians than to the tourists and visitors of the British Museum".

[88] On March 7, 2012, some one hundred people, joined by Ashotyan,[89] demonstrated in front of the British embassy in Yerevan, chanting "Anahit, come home!"

A letter was handed over to the embassy thanking the United Kingdom for preserving the fragments, but claimed that "historical justice requires" that they "be repatriated and find refuge in the country of their origin".

[57] In response, the British ambassador Kathy Leach was quoted by the Armenian media as saying that the head will be temporarily exhibited in Armenia.

[97] It is currently displayed at the History Museum in Yerevan as part of an exhibition entitled "Mother Goddess: From Anahit to Mary" from September 21, 2024 to March 21, 2025.

[101] Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan,[102] Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan attended the opening of the exhibition on September 21, the country's independence day.

[107] The head has been displayed at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal;[26] at the British Library in 2001; in Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi in 2012; and Palazzo Strozzi, Florence in 2015.