An important role for art in the Roman Empire was to convey the power and accomplishments of the emperor, both to his subjects in all walks of life and especially to possible rivals among powerful senators and generals. Triumphal arches, altars, and custom-designed fora spread outwards from Rome to major provincial cities as a way of asserting the emperor’s presence at nodal points on the urban landscape, and signified a special relationship between a city that received them and the ruling power, while at Rome, imperial munificence extended to baths, amphitheaters, and the Circus Maximus as a way of linking the emperor with his subjects. Historical scenes, carved in relief, decorated many of the monuments dedicated overtly to the emperor’s victories and accomplishments and celebrated the ideology of victory that helped sustain the imperial power. The emperor’s portrait was disseminated throughout the empire, in stone for temples and other public places (and some houses), and also on the more accessible medium of the coinage. Let us consider some of these genres with more specific examples.
Whereas Greek and Hellenistic artists and patrons largely preferred to commemorate historical events through mythical, allegorical scenes, Roman patrons and artists often chose to depict real participants and aspects of actual historical events. Triumphal arches and columns are the most famous examples of ‘‘narrative historical relief.’’ The column of Trajan (dedicated in 113 ce) portrays aspects of Trajan’s two successful wars against the Dacians. While it is clear that the ‘‘narrative’’ is built out of stock scenes of life on campaign, such as soldiers constructing camps or fighting, and the emperor giving speeches or sacrificing, it is nevertheless ‘‘historical’’ in that the Romans and Dacians are represented as themselves, and one may recognize certain historical figures, such as Trajan, or specific events, including the suicide of the Dacian king Decebalus.
Triumphal arches were a major venue for commemorating military accomplishments. Several well-preserved arches with extensive sculptural decoration can still be seen in the Roman forum today, but it must not be forgotten that decorated arches were also erected in cities of the provinces. Depictions on coins and cuttings atop the arches themselves remind us that bronze statuary often stood atop these arches. Still more unsculpted but nevertheless imposing arches proclaimed imperial accomplishments through inscriptions. A heavily sculpted arch at Orange (France) is usually attributed to the emperor Tiberius and depicts Roman victories by land and sea over both Gauls and Germans. The emphasis on subjected Gauls must have carried different messages to Gallic inhabitants and to descendants of the Roman veterans who established a colony there in 36-35 bce. A slightly earlier arch at nearby Glanum depicted bound Gauls, a theme echoed in the triumphal decor of the fountain in the forum (Bromwich 1993). Located at major intersections, arches relayed their messages to countless passers-by each day. Commemorative arches dedicated to Germa-nicus were placed in locations that marked the eastern and western boundaries of the empire. Inscriptional records of the deliberations of the Senate concerning these arches show the careful oversight that both Senate and emperor exercised over their placement (Potter 1987).
Julius Caesar and several emperors of the first century added custom-designed fora to the landscape of downtown Rome. With axial layouts, custom designs, and glamorous building materials, these plazas contrasted with the republican forum (the Forum Romanum), whose buildings and monuments had developed organically over centuries. Like earlier ones, the temples in the imperial fora held booty (both weapons and art objects) from defeated foes and acted as didactic museums or art galleries of Roman conquest. In the forum of Augustus, the temple of Mars Ultor (the Avenger) displayed Roman military standards that had been captured by the Parthians in 55 bce, but were returned in 20 BCE through a negotiated settlement. By the time the temple was dedicated in 2 bce Mars’ epithet ‘‘the Avenger’’ referred to the restoration of the Parthian standards, but the older generation might remember that Augustus (then Octavian) first promised the temple to commemorate vengeance against Julius Caesar’s assassins. The temple’s pedimental sculpture displayed Mars with his consort Venus (the mythical founder of the Julian house), emphasizing how the lineage of Augustus and the identity of Rome itself were intertwined. Further repetition of this message came from the inscribed statues of Roman heroes (with Augustus’ ancestors liberally represented) that lined the porticos. From the centers of the two side apses (exhedrae), Rome’s original founders Aeneas and Romulus gazed at the statue of the new founder Augustus, placed in front of the temple. State matters of peace and war were conducted in this temple and forum, thereby both celebrating the emperor’s ideology of victory and emphasizing the ensuing prosperity (Zanker 1988). The Forum of Trajan imitated the exhedrae and other features of Augustus’ forum, but here the defeated enemy figured more prominently in the decoration, with ranks of submissive Dacians above the colonnade, relief panels of battle scenes, and the winding battle narrative of the column.
Portraits of the emperor and his family were an important medium for expressing imperial power and particular messages of accomplishment or dynasty. They appeared in public buildings and spaces of all sorts (including as ‘‘guests’’ in the temples of other gods), in temples of the imperial cult, and in some privately owned spaces as well. Stylistically these portraits do not follow a ‘‘linear’’ development (for instance, towards or away from naturalism). Concurrent traditions of veristic and idealized portraiture had been well established at Rome since republican times. Emperors variously preferred different styles and selected from an array of motifs and techniques to shape messages concerning power, dynastic links, philosophical leanings, and the like (Nodelman 1975; Kleiner 1992). There is thus far more than a ‘‘likeness’’ to consider when viewing Roman portraits, imperial or otherwise.
For an example of the careful crafting and choices that could enter into preparing a portrait and an image, we may turn to the empress Livia, wife of Octavian/Augustus (Bartman 1999). The restrained hairstyle and traditional Roman clothes (including the stola, a symbol of matronly virtue) on these portraits show Livia’s support for
Augustus’ espousal of traditional values and conservative moral legislation (Figure 4.1). They intentionally contrast with more elaborate Hellenistic fashions in hairstyles and garments that were also current in Rome at this time. Many statues evoke Livia’s modesty and piety through the shawl pulled over her head (the garb of sacrifice), while wreaths on others call to mind the Augustan message of peace and prosperity. Even the hand gestures of these portraits are more authoritative than those of other female portraits of the day. Although the empress lived to the age of 87, all her portraits depict idealized and youthful beauty; the same idealism appears in the portraiture of Augustus and, indeed, of nearly all the Julio-Claudians. As the wife
Figure 4.1 Portrait of Livia, wife of Augustus. Her dress and hairstyle reflect her husband’s traditionalist social ideals
Of Augustus and the mother of his adopted heir Tiberius, Livia was a major link in Rome’s first imperial succession. Thus, fresh portraits continued to circulate under Tiberius, as seen in a group of statues erected in a building in the forum of Beziers early in his reign. These included the ever-youthful Livia, Augustus (posthumous), Tiberius, his adopted son Germanicus, and other young members of the dynasty (Balty and Cazes 1995; Rose 1997: 126-8).
Livia’s signature hairstyle, with a fluff of hair over the forehead, became popular in non-imperial portraits, which sometimes even imitated her facial features. In general, imperial hairstyles, particularly those of imperial women, were emulated in private portraits (and presumably fashions), thus providing an important dating criterion. Subsequent women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty developed distinctive hairstyles, while the men of the dynasty produced portraits that imitated both the hairstyle and facial features of Augustus (irrespective of their actual blood relationship). Later emperors (Trajan, Constantine) continued to evoke the hairstyle and idealism of Augustan portraiture to compare their rule to Augustus’ golden age. All these careful choices demonstrate the many levels at which Romans read a portrait. A further expression of the power of portraits is the mutilation and destruction of images of emperors condemned after their death (Varner 2001).
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