Papers by Tom R Stevenson
The ‘Problem’ With Nude Honorific Statuary and Portraits in Late Republican and Augustan Rome
Greece & Rome, Apr 1, 1998
In his seminal work,The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, Paul Zanker wrote of a problem wi... more In his seminal work,The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, Paul Zanker wrote of a problem with nude honorific statuary in Late Republican Rome and of ‘conflict and contradiction’ in the style of Roman portraits during the same period. The ‘problem’ was a matter of nudity and style; it also had a moral dimension. Under political or social pressure, there was a tendency at Rome to express the effects of cultural change in moral terms: viz., literary works concerned with political or social attitudes of the Romans tended to describe elements likeluxuriaandadulatio(‘luxury’ and ‘sycophancy’) as ‘Greek and decadent in contrast to good, honest, ‘Roman’ values and traditions, such asvirtus(‘courage’),fides(‘good faith’), andpietas(‘devotion’). Taking his cue from such attacks on aspects of the hellenization of Rome, Zanker gave a moral dimension to the ‘conflict and contradiction’ he discerned in the style of Roman honorific statues and portraits of the second and first centuries B.C. This idea that art can express moral values, even moral conflict, is of great interest and fundamental significance. The present paper focuses upon the way Zanker applies it to Late Republican statues and portraits in the light of recent scholarship. In particular, it will be argued, firstly, that the form of the art does not really make sense if there was as much conflict with Greek ideas and styles as generalizations from the literary sources might imply; secondly, that a nude or partially nude portrait statue of a living noble or emperor was not as problematic at Rome as is commonly believed; and thirdly, as a consequence, that Zanker's views about moral conflict in the style of Late Republican statues and portraits, and about the stylistic resolution of this ‘conflict’ under Augustus, should be substantially modified.
The Forum of Augustus
Routledge eBooks, Feb 21, 2022
American Journal of Archaeology, Oct 1, 2003
R.J. Evans, Questioning reputations: Essays on Nine Roman Republican Politicians
Patria potestas
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Oct 26, 2012
Online Coins of the Roman Empire (OCRE): A New Database for Teachers and Researchers
The History Teacher, Apr 1, 2015
Personifications on the coinage of Vespasian (AD 69-79)
Acta Classica, 2010
This paper surveys personifications on Vespasian's coinage in terms of their novelty and sign... more This paper surveys personifications on Vespasian's coinage in terms of their novelty and significance. It finds that there is more novelty than has been allowed, especially in the proliferation of personifications following Nero's demise and in the number of unprecedented legends. Many of the personifications have a traditional character, so that the overall message seems to be one of continuity with the Augustan model of a 'good' emperor. Finally, among the particular themes which are promoted by the personifications, it seems that there is a fundamental desire to confirm the stability and strength of the succession to Vespasian in the person of his two sons, Titus and Domitian.
Beth Cohen (ed.), Not the Classical Ideal: Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art
Classicum, 2003
Review of Roman imperialism: Readings and Sources
The ‘succession policy’ of Augustus
Review of Statues in Roman society: Representation and response by P Stewart
D. Tarn Steiner, Images in Mind: Statues in Archaic and Classical Greek Literature and Thought
Classicum, 2001
[Review] Dynasty and Empire in the Age of Augustus: the Case of the Boscoreale Cups / Ann L. Kuttner
Prudentia, 1997
Roman coins and refusals of the title Pater Patriae
The Numismatic Chronicle, 2007
Milo of Croton: heptaki[s]?
Mass Migration from Europe to the Near East: The Experience of the Early Hellenistic Age (4th to 3rd Century BC)
The Banquet of Trimalchio (Cena Trimalchionis) in Petronius’ Satyricon
Nova eBooks, 2015
Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Re Publica (On the State / On the Commonwealth
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Papers by Tom R Stevenson