Varner2001 PDF

Portraits, Plots, and Politics: "Damnatio memoriae" and the Images of Imperial Women
Author(s): Eric R. Varner

Source: Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 46 (2001), pp. 41-93
Published by: University of Michigan Press for the American Academy in Rome
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PORTRAITS,
PLOTS,AND POLITICS:
DAMNATIO
AND THE IMAGESOF IMPERIAL
MEMORIAE WOMEN
EricR. Varner,
EmoryUniversity
D espite recent work on the subject,the phrasedamnatiomemoriaehas itself often been

misinterpreted.The termis not ancient,but it does accuratelyencompassthe Romans'
preoccupationwith the manipulationof memoryand posthumousreputation.The processof
historicalcensure and condemnationwas emphaticallynot monolithic,but ratherfluid and
flexible as the decree againstCn. Piso Pater has made abundantlyclear.1 When an emperor
was overthrownor an individualwas accusedof maiestasor perduelliotherewere manypost-
humous sanctions available.Names and titles could be expurgatedfrom official lists (fasti)
and commemorativeinscriptions;wax masks (imagines)representingthe condemnedcould
be banned from public display at aristocraticfunerals;books authoredby the condemned
could be confiscatedand destroyed;propertycould be subjectto expropriation;wills could
be annulled;birthdaysof condemnedindividualscould be officiallyenrolledamongthe days
of ill omen for the Romanpeople (dies nefasti);the anniversaryof the death day could be
celebratedwith public festivalsof thanksgiving;houses could be razedin part or in toto; the
continued use of the condemned'spraenomencould be prohibitedfrom furtheruse by his
gens; corpses could be mutilatedand defiled; and portraitswere removedfrom public dis-
play, disfigured,destroyed, and reconfigured.2Although in the imperialperiod these mea-
sureswere enactedin varyingcombinations,portraitsof the condemnedwere alwaysaffected.
In general,condemnationscould be initiatedby will of the Senate,the emperor,or the
army.In some cases the historicalsources are unambiguousabout official senatorialsanc-
tions. Livilla,Messalina,Domitian,Commodus,and Elagabalusare all recordedto havebeen
censuredin the Senate.3In other cases senatorialsanctionscan be inferred,as for instance
with Nero, Poppaea,and Galba.4In the case of Geta and Gallienus,the armyis recordedto
have been directly involved.5The condemnationof Caligulaprovides evidence for a more
I would like to thank Diana Kleiner for her unflagging For the decree against Piso, see Eck et al. 1996.
support of this project. Also, special thanks are due to
Susan Wood for reading drafts of the current article and 2Vittinghoff 1936, 13, 64-74; Mustakallio 1994, 9-15;
offering many invaluable suggestions. The article also Bodel 1997,5-9; Flower 1998, 155-156, 163-165; Flower
benefited greatly from the Memoirs' insightful anony- 2000, 58; Hedrick 2000, 89-130; Varner 2001, 45-46.
mous review comments. As always, thanks to Brad Lapin
for unfailing moral support and editorial assistance. 3Suet. Dom.23.1; SHAComm.17.6, 18.3, 18.12-14,19.1,
20.4-5, SHA Pert. 6.3; SHA Heliogab.17.4, 18.1; SHA
'Flower 1998 points out the way the term has been misun- Alex. Sev. 1.1-2.
derstood. Ancient authors usually formulate the process
more actively,rendering it as either damnareor condemnare 4Suet. Galb.23.
memoriam. The term damnatio memoriae makes its first
documented appearance in 1689, when it is used in a dis- 5Herodian 4.8; SHA M. Ant. 1.1; Eutr. 8.19; SHA Gall.
sertation by Schreiter-Gerlach;see Stewart 1999, 184 n. 3. 15.2.
MAAR 46, 2001
42 ERICR. VARNER
informal, if equally destructive, approach in which formal senatorial sanctions were largely
disallowed, but de facto measures were tacitly enacted.6 Often, condemned imperial males
are declared enemies of the Roman state, as was explicitly the case with Nero, Commodus,
Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus, Plautianus, Geta, Macrinus (and his son Diadumenianus),
Maximinus Thrax (and Maximus), Aemilian, and Maxentius.7 Cleopatra is the only woman
who appears to have been charged with being a hostis, and this is almost certainly the result
of her threatening position as foreigner and queen.8 The tragedy Octavia, which details the
downfall and condemnation of Nero's first wife, questions the possibility or propriety of even
using such a politically charged term as hostis against a woman.9
Ultimately, political condemnations are expressed concretely in mutilated, transformed,
or warehoused portraits, effaced inscriptions, altered historical reliefs, and even damaged
coins. Indeed, damnatio memoriae inexorably altered the record of Roman material culture
and artistic production. While the important impact of damnatio on portraits of condemned
emperors, especially in regard to the recarving of marble likenesses in the first century A.D.,
has been amply explored in recent scholarship, disentangling the historical narrative of con-
demned imperial women is infinitely more complicated because of imposed silences or delib-
erate misrepresentations of failed plots in which these women were complicit.10 Female po-
litical transgression is almost always veiled by Roman authors in the rhetorical topoi of al-
leged sexual misconduct. Nevertheless, as S. Wood has astutely noted, conspiracy and adul-
tery can be closely linked and need not be mutually exclusive.1"However, the concrete rem-
nants of Roman condemnations, as preserved in deliberately disfigured or reconfigured marble
portraits, erased inscriptions, and other altered commemorative monuments, provide an al-
ternative, visual narrative and can help restore the lacunae in the historical sources. In fact,
there was no gendered response to the negation of images, and the visual representations of
condemned women were generally treated in the same manner, and for the same political
reasons, as those of their male counterparts.
Missing or disfigured portraits and effaced honorific inscriptions constitute the negative
trail of physical evidence left by the process of suppressing memory and as a result can be
difficult to evaluate. Nevertheless, portraits that have been intentionally mutilated as a result
of damnatio can be distinguished from images that have suffered incidental damage caused
by the passage of time, natural disasters such as earthquakes or fires, the hazards of medieval
lime kilns, and other kinds of postantique reuse. Incidental damage is usually random and
can occur anywhere on a portrait. Intentional defacement, on the other hand, is almost al-
ways concentrated on the sensory organs, destroying the eyes, nose, mouth, and sometimes
the ears, but leaving the rest of the image intact and still legible. In some cases, traces of the
6Suet. Claud.11.3; Dio 60.4.5-6; Vittinghoff 1936, 102; (Ann. 6.10: Quia occupandae rei publicae argui non
Jucker 1982, 110; Barrett 1990, 177. poterant, "since women could not be accused of seizing
the state") as evidence for women not being charged with
7Suet. Ner.49.2; Dio 74.2.1; SHA Comm.18.3-5; SHA seizing supreme power and hence being declared hostes.
Sev.8.13;SHAPesc.Nig. 5.7; SHASev. 10.2;SHA Clod. In the broader context of the passage, however, Tacitus
9.1; Dio 75(76).16.2-5; SHA Sev. 14.7; Herodian 4.8; is perhaps being both ironic and rhetorical.
SHA M. Ant. 1.1; Eutr. 8.19; Dio 79(80).2.6; SHA Max.
15.2; SHA Gord. 11.1, 7-10; SHA Max. Balb. 1.4; Aur. 10Bergmann and Zanker 1981; Jucker 1981a; Pollini
Vict. Caes. 31.3. 1984; Kinney 1997; Flower 1998; Stewart 1999; Hedrick
2000; Varner, ed., 2000.
8Dio 50.4.4; Plut. Ant. 60.1.
"1Wood 1999, 38-39. See also Barrett 1996, 20-21.
9 Octavia 865-866; Bauman 1996, 89-90 cites Tacitus
DAMNATIOMEMORIAEAND THE IMAGESOF IMPERIALWOMEN 43
tools or weapons used in the attacksare still visible. The survivingportraitsof imperialper-
sonageswho were not condemnedfail to exhibit the same signs of systematicdisfigurement
and wholesale eradicationroutinelyinflicted on representationsof condemnedindividuals.
In addition, representationsof condemned emperorsand empressespreserveno evidence
for explicitlyChristianvandalization,for instancein the formof crossescarvedonto the faces
or foreheadsor a specific Christianarchaeologicalcontext;as these imageshad all been dam-
aged or warehousedprior to the Christianascendancy,they were obviouslynot susceptible
to sculpturalattackscarriedout againstpaganimages.
Literaryand archaeologicalevidenceconfirmsthatimagesof condemnedindividualswere
warehousedaftertheir removalfrom public display.Becausemanysculptedportraitsof con-
demnedemperorsand empresseswere storedin relativelysafe locations,often underground,
they did not sufferthe samevicissitudesas portraitsleft on displayand they lack comparable
evidence of incidentaldamage.12 These portraitscan be remarkablywell preserved,display-
ing details of surfacepolish and finish which have, in images of "good"emperorsand em-
presses subjectedto long periods of public exposure, been weatheredaway.A good state of
preservationalso characterizesseveralof the intentionallydisfiguredportraits,which appear
to have been stored or buried followingtheir mutilation.
Althoughtheir imageswere subjectedto the sametreatmentas those of their condemned
male counterparts,the damnationesof womenwere often promptedby very differentcauses.
Whereasemperors'memorieswere censuredbecause of conflictswith the senatorialaristoc-
racy,with rival claimantsto imperialpower, or with the army,imperialwomen were either
condemnedjointlywith theirhusbands,fathers,and brothers,or as a consequenceof contro-
versieswith the reigningemperor,whetherthat emperorhappenedto be a husband,father,
brother,or cousin. With few exceptions, such politically motivated controversiesbetween
femaleand male membersof the rulingdynastyinevitablyled to the condemnationsof impe-
rialwomen and the attendantdestructionof their public images.And in fact, the numberof
womenwho sufferedsomeformof condemnationconspicuouslyexceedsthe numberof women
who were deified. At least twenty-fourimperialwomen appearto have sufferedsome form of
condemnation:Julia Maior,Julia Minor,AgrippinaMaior,ClaudiaLivilla,MiloniaCaesonia,
ValeriaMessalina,JuliaLivilla,DomitiaLepida,AgrippinaMinor,ClaudiaOctavia,Poppaea,
AntoniaClaudia,Lucilla,Crispina,AnniaFundaniaFaustina,Plautilla,JuliaSoemias,Otacilia
Severa,CorneliaSupera,MagniaUrbica, GaleriaValeriaMaximilla,Prisca, GaleriaValeria,
andFausta;in contrast,seventeenwomenwere deified:Drusilla,Livia,ClaudiaAugusta(after-
wardsrevoked?),Poppaea(afterwardsrevoked),FlaviaDomatillaMaior(?), FlaviaDomatilla
Minor,Julia Titi, Marciana,Matidia,Plotina, Sabina,FaustinaMaior,FaustinaMinor,Julia
Domna,Julia Maesa,CaeciliaPaulina(afterwardsrevoked),Mariniana.13 An examinationof
12 Important examples include a bronze bust of Nero Palazzo dei Conservatori, Sala degli Arazzi, ex Galleria
from a cache of Julio-Claudian portraits discovered in degli Orti Lamiani 12, inv. 1120; Fittschen and Zanker
an underground room of a first-century A.D. villa beneath 1985, 85-90, no. 78, pls. 91-94).
the Anglican Church on the Via Babuino in Rome (Rome,
Palazzo dei Conservatori, Sala dei Bronzi, inv. 2835 13 On female members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty as
[Centrale Montemartini 1.25b] and Walters Art Gallery, goddesses, see Mikocki 1995; Price 1987, 57 lists the to-
23.104, total h. 0.433 m; Fittschen and Zanker 1985, 18- tal number of divi from Augustus through Constantine
19, no. 18, pl. 18 [with earlier literature]; Rose 1997, as 63 (36 emperors, plus 27 members of the imperial fam-
115, cat. 43.4, pl. 121), or the well-known Commodus ily). For the condemnation of imperial women, see
as Hercules discovered in a cryptoporticus used to store Kleiner 2000, 45-57.
sculpture at the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline (Rome,
44 ERIC R. VARNER
the process of condemnationhas crucialrepercussionsfor the developmentof the visualico-

nographyof imperialwomen from the Augustanthroughthe Constantinianperiods. Ironi-
cally,the physicalevidence for these condemnationsreaffirmsthe vital political significance
of imperialwomen and demonstratesthat male ancient historianspromulgateda gendered
dialogueof suppressionand distortion.14
1. CollateralCondemnations
Collateraldamnationes,in which likenessesof imperialwomen were removed,destroyed,or

disfiguredtogetherwith those of the condemnedemperor,were commonoccurrences.Dur-
ing the first century,the memoriesand monumentsof two empresses,MiloniaCaesoniaand
PoppaeaSabina,were condemnedin conjunctionwith those of theirhusbands,Caligulaand
Nero. MiloniaCaesoniabecameCaligula'sfourth and final wife at the end of A.D. 39 or early
in A.D. 40; she mayhave been pregnantat the time of the marriageand bore the emperorone
daughter,Julia Drusilla,in A.D. 40.15Both Caesoniaand Drusillawere assassinatedtogether
with Caliguladuringthe Ludi Palatinion 24 JanuaryA.D. 41.16Caesoniais one of only three
empresses,murderedtogetherwith the reigningemperor,whose assassinationsare recorded
in the ancientsources.17
Caligulawas succeededby his uncle Claudius.Upon his accession,Claudiusdid not per-
mit the Senateto formallycondemnCaligula.18 He did, however,allow the imagesof his pre-
decessorto be removedfrom public displayand his nameerasedin inscriptions,constituting
a de facto damnatio.19 At the same time, any portraitsthat had been produced of Caligula's
last wife and infant daughterwould have been removed.And indeed, there are no surviving
sculpted portraitsof either Caesoniaor Julia Drusilla, and Caesonia'sname is erased in in-
scriptions.20Caesonia'sown illustriousfamilial connections through her mother Vistilia to
14See Kampen in Kleiner and Matheson, eds., 1996, 14; produced in large quantities. However, Caligula's ob-
Wood 1999, 261. vious affection for his wife (Suet. Calig. 25.3) and pride
in his infant daughter (Suet. Calig. 25.4; Dio 49.28.7)
15 On Caesonia see Plin. HN 7.5.39; Suet. Calig. 25.3; would have ensured that their portraits were, in fact,
Dio 59.28.7; Joseph. AJ 19.190; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, disseminated in the last year of his reign, A.D. 40.
454-455, no. 550. On Drusilla see Suet. Calig. 25.3-4; Caesonia's portrait has been identified on a coin from
Dio 59.28.7; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 376, no. 438. Carthago Nova in Spain, where she is associated with
Salus Augusta: Sear 1988, 110, no. 624 with fig. The
16
Suet. Calig. 59; Dio 49.29.7; Joseph. AJ 19.190-200; attempt by Fuchs 1990, 107-114 to identify a sardonyx
Wiseman 1991; Hurley 1993, 214-215. cameo in Paris (Bibliotheque Nationale, Cabinet des
Medailles; see Megow 1987, 40-41, 303-304, no. D 39,
17
The other two empresses, Julia Soemias and Julia pl. 18.1) as representing Milonia Caesonia, Julia
Mammaea, were murdered with their sons, Elagabalus Drusilla, and the goddess Roma is unconvincing. The
and Severus Alexander. identification of the portrait as Agrippina Minor and
Nero, with Roma, seems much more likely (Trillmich
18Suet. Claud.11.3;Dio 60.4.5-6; Vittinghoff1936, 102; 1983, 22-26). Despite the evidence of Rubens's seven-
Bleicken 1962, 104-105; Rollin 1979, 165; Jucker 1982, teenth-century engraving of the cameo, the child emerg-
110; Barrett 1990, 177; Varner, ed., 2000, 96. ing from the cornucopia is clearly male, and the physi-
ognomy and hairstyle of the main female figure finds
19Dio 60.4.5 reports that Claudius allowed the portraits close parallels in numismatic and sculpted portraits of
of Caligula to be removed at night. Agrippina Minor, as pointed out by Wood 1992, 230-
231, fig. 11; 1995, 467-470; and 1999, 305-306, fig. 133.
20Cagnat 1914, 173. As a result of Caesonia's relatively Ghedini 1987, 197-203 has also tentatively identified
brief tenure as empress, and Drusilla's extreme youth, Caesonia on a sardonyx alabastron in Berlin (Staatliche
likenesses of the mother and daughter were probably not Museen). Ghedini further proposes that the alabastron
manyof the leading familiesof the period, Caligula'savowed affectionfor her, and her very
public presence in Rome may have been additionalfactors contributingto her murderand
damnatio.21 Caligulais even reported to have displayedher to the troops dressed in male
militaryregalia,namelya cloak, helmet, and shield, althoughthis mayhave been intended as
a kind of mythologicalrole-playingdesignedto presenther as Romaor Minerva,the protec-
tress of her young daughterJulia Drusilla.22Because of her influence and connections,
Caligula'sassassinscould not afford to let Caesoniasurvive.And indeed, Caesoniawas ac-
cused by some contemporariesof culpabilityin the failures and excesses of her husband's
principate.23Likewise,JuliaDrusilla,as Caligula'sonly survivingoffspring,would have been
a naturaltarget for assassination.Suetoniusstressesthat Drusillahad inheritedher father's
savagetemperamentand that she would violentlyattackher playmates,attemptingto scratch
their eyes and faces.24This depictionof Drusillais clearlya productof anti-Caligulanpropa-
ganda;since she was scarcelyone year old at the time of her murder,it is extremelyunlikely
that she had attainedthe motor coordinationnecessaryto attackanyonedeliberately.25
After the suicide of Nero on 9 June A.D. 68, Poppaea'simages suffereda fate similarto
those of Caesonia.26Poppaea became Nero's mistress,probablysometimein A.D. 58.27 The
two were finallymarriedin A.D. 62, just twelve daysafterNero divorcedhis firstwife, Claudia
Octavia.28 Poppaeaherselfwas awardedthe title of Augustaandbore Nero one child, Claudia
Augusta,who died in infancyandwas subsequentlydeified.29Nero is reportedto havekicked
Poppaeawhile she was pregnantwith anotherchild, causingher death in A.D. 65.30
AlthoughPoppaeawas deifiedafterher death,31she did, in fact, sufferan officialdamnatio
memoriaetogether with Nero in A.D. 68.32 Naturally,her deificationwould also have been
rescindedat that time. Duringthe reignof Nero's successor,Galba,Poppaea'sportraitswere
removed from public display and warehoused.Nor was this the first time that Poppaea's
imageswere the targetof demonstrationsagainstNero and his policies;in A.D. 62, at the time
of Octavia'sbanishmentand divorce, her supportersoverturnedPoppaea'simages.3 When
celebrates the birth of Julia Drusilla. However, as 26Dio 63.29.3.
Kuttner 1994, 227 n. 86 has noted, the martial imagery
of the piece indicates that it celebrates the birth of a 27 Suet.Otho 3.1; Tac. Ann. 13.46;Tac. Hist. 1.13; Dio
male heir, rather than a daughter like Drusilla. 61(62).11.2; Plut. Galba 19.4-5; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987,
523-524, no. 646.
On Vistilia see Syme 1970,27-33 and Raepsaet-Charlier
21
1987, 636-638, no. 814. Vistilia married six times and 28 Suet. Ner. 35.2.
was the mother of one empress, Milonia Caesonia, by
her sixth husband, Milonius, and the grandmother of 29
Poppaea was given the title of Augusta at the time of
another, Domitia Longina, through her fifth husband, Claudia's birth in 63: Tac. Ann. 15.23; CIL 10:6787 =
Domitius Corbulo. ILS 3873; CIL 11:1331a = ILS 233; CIL 11:6955 = ILS
8902; Suet. Ner. 35.3; Claudia Augusta was deified after
22
Suet. Calig. 25.3: ut saepe chlamyde peltaque et galea her death: Tac. Ann. 15.23, 16.6; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987,
ornatam ac iuxta adequitantem militibus ostenderit. For 198-199, no. 213.
the mythological role-playing, see Wood 1999, 216.
30Suet. Ner. 35.3; Tac. Ann. 16.6; Dio 62.28.1.
23Joseph. AJ 19.193. Her character is also vilified by
Juvenal 6.614-626; Ramage 1989, 675-680. 3 1CIL 11:1331a= ILS233; Tac.Ann. 16.21.
24 Suet. Calig.25.4. 32
Unlike Caligula, Nero was subjected to an official
damnatio when the Senate declared him a hostis shortly
25
As Susan Wood has pointed out to me, Suetonius's before his suicide (Suet. Ner. 49.2).
account of Drusilla's tyrannical temperament is also a
blatant attempt to justify the murder of a harmless in- 33 Tac. Ann. 14.61: effigies Poppaeae proruunt ("they
fant. overthrew the representations of Poppaea"). The
46 ERICR. VARNER
Fig. 1 (near right).

Poppaea,sardonyx
cameo, Florence,Museo
Archeologico,iv. 14519 .....
(afterGiuliano1989, ore
275, no. 229).
Fig. 2 (far right).

Poppaea,sardonyx o o the Sen-
cameo (cast),Bonn, of t( )
private collection(after i a
Megow 1987, pl. 34.16.). - '.
Galbawas succeededby Poppaea'sformerhusband,Otho, her statueswere returnedto pub-

lic displayby orderof the Senate as chronicledin Tacitus'sHistories:ne tun quiden immenor
amorum statuas Poppaeae per senatus consultum reposuit ("not then in fact forgetful of the
former objects of his affections he reerectedthe statues of Poppaea by order of the Sen-
ate").314Tacitus's use of the verb reponere (literally, to set up again or reerect) indicates that
statues of Poppaea were accessible during Otho's principate and in good enough condition
for them to be reerected. The fact that Otho invoked a senatus consultum for the return of
Poppaea's portraits strongly suggests that her original condemnation was sanctioned by the
Senate and included injunctions against her images. Otho's successor, Vitellius, continued to
honor the memory of Nero and, by extension, that of Poppaea."1 However, during the
principate of Vespasian, portraits of Poppaea and Nero were once again removed from pub-
lic display and their damnationes reenforced.3
Although numerous representations of Poppaea, both as Augusta and diva, must have
been produced duringNero's reign, her damnatiomemoriaeundoubtedlyencompassedthe
destruction, as well as removal, of her images and has made identification of surviving
sculpted portraits problematic." Her likeness is, however, preserved on coins issued by
Octavia mentions these demonstrations against Poppaea's obscure them, trampled in the nasty filth").
images, as well as those of Nero: iam Poppaeae fulget
imago/liunctaNeroni!/affligat humo violenta manus/simi- 34Tac. Hist. 1.78. At the same time, Nero's statues were
les nimium vultus dominae (684-687; "now Poppaea's also returned to public display (Suet. Otho 7. 1). See also
portrait shines, joined to Nero, but let a violent hand Flory 1993, 303-304.
crush them to the ground, all too similar to the face of
their mistress"); and quaecumque claro marmore effigies 35 Suet. Vit. 11.2;Dio 65(64).7.3.
stetit/aut aere fulgens, ora Poppaeae gerens/afflicta vulgi
36
manibus et saevo iacet/eversa ferro; membra per partes Nero's image was not revived again until the late fourth
trahunt/deducta laqueis, obruunt turpi diu/calcata caeno century when his portrait appears on contorniate me-
(794-799; "Whatever representation displaying the face dallions minted in Rome; Alfoldi and Alfoldi-Rosenbaum
of Poppaea had been erected, whether of bright marble 1976, pls. 58.1-9, 73.2-3, 87.3-12, 88.1-4, 94.6-8.
or shining in bronze, now lies destroyed by rabble hands
and overturned by cruel iron; in every direction they drag 37Four portrait inscriptions have survived from A.D. 63-
the limbs, dismembered by ropes, and they continually 66: CIL 11:6955 = ILS 8902 (Lunae, A.D. 63: Rose 1997,
eastern mints38 and on two cameos in Florence (fig. 1) and Bonn (fig. 2), both of which are
nearly identical representations of Poppaea as diva.39The hairstyle employed on the cameo
portraits, with three rows of large curls massed over the forehead and running back over the
top of the head, as well as the physiognomy, with large almond-shaped eyes, arching brows,
long oval face, and graceful neck, all accord well with Poppaea's numismatic likenesses.40
These cameos' highly unusual use of the aegis as a headdress equates Poppaea with Juno-Isis
and underscores her role as diva. The Bonn cameo has been deliberately defaced; the nose,
lips, and chin have all been entirely destroyed. Intentional mutilation of portrait gems is ex-
ceedingly rare, and the destruction of Poppaea's likeness as a result of her damnatio stands as
a forceful repudiation of her deification.41
A portrait type that survives in two replicas in Rome and Barcelona has also been identi-
fied as Poppaea.42Both replicas include a diadem, suggesting that the woman portrayed is an
Augusta. Although the coiffure does not find direct correspondences to Poppaea's numismatic
or glyptic portraits, there is a strong physiognomic resemblance to Nero, especially in profile,
and the portrait may be one of his wives, Poppaea or Claudia Octavia. Both heads are worked
for insertion, and if they represent Poppaea, they are likely to have been removed from the
statues into which they were inserted and warehoused following her collateral condemnation.
Like Milonia Caesonia, Poppaea was closely associated with her husband, and her char-
acter is depicted by subsequent historians as similarly depraved; the denigration of Poppaea's
49, 94-95, no. 21); CIL 11:1331 =ILS233 (Diva Poppaea, cm; Giuliano, ed., 1989, 274, no. 229 (with figs. and ear-
Lunae, A.D. 66: Rose 1997, 49, 95, no. 22); Turk Tarih lier literature); Varner 2001, 48. Bonn, private collec-
KurumuBelleten 20 (1956) 213-215, pl. 1 (Amissus, A.D. tion, 2.4 x 1.5 cm; Megow 1973, 244-245, no. 393, pl.
63-65: Rose 1997, 49, 161, no. 98); and SEG 27 (1977) 181; Megow 1987, 260-261, no. B 28, pls. 34.14-16;
916, 917 (Boubon: Rose 1997, 49, 171, no. 109). In ad- Mikocki 1995, 47, 188-189, no. 257, pl. 24; Wood 1999,
dition, coins depicting standing portraits of Nero with 289 (possibly Octavia); Varner 2001, 48.
radiate crown and Poppaea as Concordia may reflect a
statuary type for the empress (BMCRE 1:clxxiii-clxxiv, 40 While Poppaea's coiffure is similar to that of her
208, nos. 52-55; RIC2 1:145, 53, nos. 44-45; CNR mother-in-law Agrippina Minor, the curls massed over
16.169-173, 17.39-41; MacDowall 1979, 32-34; Rose the forehead are larger and run much farther back over
1997, 49, pl. 37) as well as a coin from Paneas in Syria the top of the head, as is especially visible in the
that represents a cult image of Diva Poppaea in a temple Alexandrian issues. The braids on the back of the head
(RPC 4846; Rose 1997, 49, pl. 38). For the problems are gathered together and looped back up, forming a long
surrounding Poppaea's portraiture, see Boschung 1993, and thick pony tail on the nape of the neck. Poppaea's
77; Wood 1999, 313-314; Wood, forthcoming. In addi- ears are usually shown uncovered, and she is depicted
tion to sculpted, glyptic, and numismatic representations with a long, fairly straight shoulder lock. In addition,
of Poppaea, Dio 62(63) 9.5 mentions posthumous theat- Poppaea's face and neck are longer than that of Agrippina
rical masks that bore her likeness; see too Suet. Ner. 21.3, Minor. It is likely that Poppaea's hairstyle is closer to
where Poppaea is not mentioned by name; Bartsch 1994, those popular in the early Flavian period, for instance,
47; Slater 1996, 33-40. that worn by Domitia in her first portrait type, ca. A.D.
71; Varner 1995, 189-193, figs. 1-2.
38RPC321, no. 1756 (Perinthus); 348, no. 2060 (Nicaea);
405, no. 2383 (Thyatira); 416, no. 2459 (Magnesia ad 41
A sardonyx cameo with facing portraits of Macrinus
Sipylum); 420, nos. 2482, 2486 (Smyrna);438, nos. 2629- and Diadumenianus has suffered similar mutilation of
2630; 480, no. 2924 (Laodicea); 505, no. 3111 (Ancyra); the facial features (Bonn, Rheinisches Landesmuseum,
514, no. 3175 (Acmonea); 543, no. 3544 (Iconium); 547, inv. 32300); Megow 1987, 247, no. A 163, pl. 50.3 (with
nos. 3562, 3564 (Galatia); 616, no. 4187 (Antioch); 670, earlier literature); Salzmann 1989, 564 n. 24.
no. 4846 (Paneas); 708-709, nos. 5267, 5275, 5280, 5282
(Alexandria); 721, no. 5465 (uncertain mint); Bernoulli 42
Museo Nazionale Romano del Palazzo Massimo alle
1886, 417, pl. 35.20 (unspecified Asia Minor mint). Terme, inv. 124129; Giornetti, MusNazRom 1.1:286-
Alexandrian issues: Geissen 1974,58, nos. 155, 157-159, 287, no. 178, with fig.; Wood 1999, 314; Wood, forth-
60, nos. 168-169; Wood 1999, 313-314. coming. Museo de la Historia de la Ciudad, inv. 7440;
Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 48, no. 61, n. 1; Wood,
39Florence, Museo Archeologico, inv. 14519, 2.6 x 1.8 forthcoming.
48 ERICR. VARNER
memory and monuments serves to blacken further the posthumous reputation of her hus-
band, Nero.43 And like Caesonia, Poppaea was a formidable female figure at her husband's
court, which may have further contributed to her posthumous condemnation.44Significantly,
it is Poppaea who is condemned collaterally with Nero, not his first wife, Octavia, or his
third wife, Statilia Messalina. Indeed, Messalina survived Nero's overthrow and Otho, after
attaining the principate, intended to marry her.45
Following the condemnations of Caesonia and Poppaea, it would be more than 150 years
before another empress suffered a collateral damnatio.46Although not the wife of an em-
peror, Julia Soemias was clearly the chief Augusta during the reign of her son, Elagabalus
(A.D. 118-222), working closely with her mother, Julia Maesa.47Soemias is the only empress
recorded to have attended meetings of the Senate as if she were a rightful member.48Soemias
was even credited with leading a mulierum senatus that Elagabalus established on the Quirinal
Hill.49In addition to the title of Augusta, Soemias was awarded the honorary epithets of Mater
Augusti and Mater Castrorum.50 None of Elagabalus'sthree wives, Annia Faustina, Julia Aquilia
Severa, and Julia Cornelia Paula, ever attained the political prominence of his mother,
Soemias.51Thus it is not surprising that when the Praetorian Guard grew dissatisfied with
the increasingly profligate and megalomaniacal behavior of Elagabalus, Soemias was mur-
dered together with her son on 11 March A.D. 222.52 The corpses of both mother and son
were subjected to a number of indignities, including having their heads cut off and being
dragged through the streets, eventually to be thrown into the sewers that ran to the Tiber.5
4 Tacitus describes her character in very unflattering wouldhavebeenremovedfrompublicdisplay,mutilated,

terms and declares that she had everything but an or destroyed,as was the case with those of Albinus.
honestus animus ("virtuous disposition"). He further
records her encouragement of Agrippina's murder (Ann. 4 Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 394-395, no. 460; SHA
14.1) and involvement in Octavia's banishment and death Heliogab.2.1.
(Ann. 14.59-65); Dio also describes her luxurious living
and vanity (62.28.1), and her encouragement of Nero to 48SHAHeliogab.4.1-2: Solusqueomniumimperatorum
murder Agrippina (61 [62] .12. 1). fuit, sub quo mulierquasi clarissimaloco viri senatum
ingressaest ("andhe [Elagabalus]was the only one of
44On Poppaea's influence, see Tac. Ann. 14.61; Dio all the emperorsunderwhoma womanenteredthe place
61(62).13 .4. of the Senateas if she were a member").Julia Maesais
also said to have attendedElagabalusin the Senatelike
45Suet.Otho 10.3. a man,SHAHeliogab.12.3. Dio 79(80)17.2also records
the presenceof MaesaandSoemiasin the Senate.Tacitus
46
As a result of Domitia Longina's involvement in the Ann.13.5 describesAgrippinaMinorbeing presentat a
plot to assassinate Domitian, she survived his death and meetingof the Senateduringthe principateof her son,
continued to be honored with portraits (Varner 1995, Nero, but she was concealedbehind a screen.
202-206); Marcia, the mistress of Commodus, is also re-
corded as a participant in his assassination; however, she 49SHAHeliogab.4.3.
herself was murdered shortly after Commodus's death;
see SHA Comm. 17.1-2; Dio 72(73).22.1-6; Herod. 50Herod.5.8.8; RE 949.
1.17.1-11. Manlia Scantilla and Didia Clara, the wife and
daughter of Didius Julianus, both survived his murder For AnniaFaustina,see RE 1.1, "Annius,"2311, no.
51
in A.D. 193, but were forced to give up their title of Au- 115 (P.v. Rhoden);forJuliaAquiliaSevera,see RE 10.1,
gusta; SHA Did. Iul. 3.4, 4.5, 8.9-10; Herod. 2.6.7; Zos. "Iulius," 915, no. 557 (Lackheit);for Julia Cornelia
1.7.2. For Manlia Scantilla, see Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, Paula,see RE 10.1,"lulius,"925-926, no.564 (Lackheit).
439, no. 520; for Didia Clara, see Raepsaet-Charlier 1987,
276, no. 312. Although not technically an empress, the 52SHAHeliogab.18.2-3;Dio 79(80).20.2;Herod.5.8.8-10.
wife of Clodius Albinus was apparently murdered along
with her husband and children, SHA Sev. 11.9. After her 53 Dio 79(80).20.2;Herod. 5.8.9; SHAHeliogab.17.4-7,
death, any portraits of her that might have been set up 23.7; Epit. de Caes.23.5-7; Kyle 1998,220-224; Varner
during her husband's tenure as Severus's junior colleague 2001, 58-59.
Julia Soemiasis the only empresswhose corpse sufferedsuch a drasticform of public abuse
(poena post mortem).54 Furthermore, the author of the Historia Augusta claims that the very
first law passed by the Senate after the deaths of Elagabalusand Soemiasmade it a capital
offense for anyoneto allow a womanto enter the curia.55
Naturally,the memoryof Soemiaswas condemned together with that of Elagabalus.56
Like Milonia Caesoniaand Poppaea, the collateraldamnatiothat Soemiassuffered has in-
sured that no securelyidentified sculptedlikenessesof the empresshave survived.57 Some of
her coins have been countermarked,and her name has also been erased in inscriptions.58
Notably,a statuebase that was originallyerectedin the vicinityof the curiain Romehas had
the namesof both motherand son excised.59The base was originallycarvedwith relief sculp-
ture on one of its long sides and two of its short sides. The long side depicted a riverdeity,
and the short sides are too damagedto permit identificationof the reliefs. A fragmentary
inscriptionconsistingof six lines was addedlater and reads:
........................... .AVGAVIAE
[AVG]VSTI NOSTRI ET
AVGVSTAE
[TOT]IVSQVE DOMVS DIVINAE
...... .[A]VRELIVSTITVS M AVRELI
The name of Elagabalusprobablyappearedin the missing section of line one, followed by

the name of JuliaMaesa,who is invokedas his grandmotherat the end of the line. The name
of Julia Soemiaswas inscribedat line three and has been chiseledout. On the evidenceof the
barelydiscernibleremainsof a B and an S after the middle of the line, Bartolihas convinc-
ingly suggested that the line originallyread: [IVLIAESOEMIADIS]B[A]S[SIANAE].60 The inscrip-
tion was reused as a step behind the curia.The erasureof the curiadedicationatteststo the
eradicationof Soemias'sname and imagesfollowingher death and damnatio.
Soemias'ssister,Julia Mammaea,met a similarend. She was the younger daughterof
5On poena post mortem see Vittinghoff 1936, 43-46; a much smaller chignon nestled into the hair on the nape
Kyle 1998, 130-133; Varner 2001, 45-63. of the neck, BMCRE 536-539, nos. 38-60, 576, no. 293,
595-598, nos. 373-387, pls. 85.17-19, 86.1-2, 91.13,
55 SHA Heliogab.18.3. 94.10-15. RIC4.2:25, 45, 48, 60, nos. 207, 234-248, 400-
408, pl. 7.6-8. Triimpler-Ris suggests that the damage
56
The Senate took the extraordinary measure of declar- that the Swiss portrait has sustained to the forehead, eyes,
ing that one of Elagabalus's official names, Antoninus, cheeks, and chin has been caused by damnatio memoriae,
should be struck from the public annals since he was but, typically, mutilation caused by damnatio includes
not worthy to have borne it. SHA Heliogab.17.4, 18.1; the mouth as well. Likewise, a portrait in Stockholm iden-
SHA Alex. Sev. 1.1-2. In at least forty of Elagabalus's tified by Meischner as Julia Soemias lacks strong corre-
surviving inscriptions, the name of Antoninus has been spondences with the numismatic representations of the
erased (Butler 1910, 147). empress (1964, 94-96, no. 74, fig. 63).
Although several portraits have been identified as Julia 58For the countermarked coins, see Kindler 1980, 4; on
Soemias, they do not form a replica series, and none are the erased inscriptions and Julia Soemias's damnatio, see
close enough to the numismatic representations of Kettenhoffen 1979, 151-153.
Soemias to permit secure identification. The hairstyle of
a portrait in a Swiss private collection identified by 59Antiquario Forense; originally ca. 0.50 m x 0.38 m; it
Triimpler-Ris as Julia Soemias differs radically from coin is estimated that the base was originally ca. 1.4 m in
likenesses of the empress (Jucker and Willers, eds., 1982, height (Bartoli 1951-1952, 50-54).
170-171, no. 70, with figs.). Coins depict Soemias with
the hair waved differently over the temples and ears, and 60Bartoli 1951-1952, 53.
50 ERICR. VARNER
Maesa, and her son Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander succeeded his cousin Elagabalus.
Like her sister, Mammaea seems to have wielded the real political power during her son's
reign. The author of the Historia Augusta claims that Mammaea seemed to rule equally with
her son (illa videretur pariter imperare),61 while Herodian goes even further and describes
Severus Alexander as being completely under the domination of his mother and grandmother.62
In addition to the titles of Mater Castrorum and Mater Senatus et Patriae, which were stan-
dard for the Severan Augustae, Mammaea is also referred to with the extraordinary and all-
encompassing title Mater Universi Generis Humani.63 As was the case with the wives of
Elagabalus, Severus Alexander's wife, Gneia Seia Herennia Sallustia Barbia Orbiana, never
attained the prominence and political power of Mammaea during the brief period of her mar-
riage (A.D. 225-227). At the end of his reign, Severus Alexander was unable to control the
rising disturbances on the German and Parthian frontiers, and as a result he and his mother
were murdered by their troops near Mogianticum in Germany on 22 March 235.64 Severus
Alexander was succeeded by Maximinus Thrax.
Although neither Severus Alexander nor Julia Mammaea were subjected to official
damnationes, and Severus Alexander was eventually deified under Gordian III,65 the images
and inscriptions of both mother and son were deliberately vandalized during spontaneous
demonstrations against their memories.66Because of her power and position during her son's
reign, numerous representations of Mammaea were produced, and at least twenty-six por-
traits of Mammaea have survived.67Two of these marble portraits have been violently attacked,
a fragmentary bust in the Louvre (fig. 3)68 and a head worked for insertion from Ostia (fig.
4),69 The likeness in the Louvre, which depicts Mammaea wearing a diadem, has been de-
faced, probably with a chisel, in the area of left brow, eyes, nose, mouth, and chin. The Ostia
portrait has been attacked with a square hammer, causing major damage to the forehead,
61SHA Alex. Sev. 14.7, 60.2. are fairly subtle. It is more likely that all of Mammaea's
surviving portraits are replicas of a single type, as listed
62 Herod. 5.8.10, 6.1.1-7, 10. by Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 31-32, no. 33. Judging
from the surviving portraits, a comparable number of
63 CIL 2:3413; Kettenhoffen 1979, 161. images were produced for her as for her powerful aunt,
Julia Domna: 26 portraits of Mammaea were produced
64SHAAlex. Sev. 59.6, 60.2, 61.6-7, 63.5; SHA Max. 7.4; during the thirteen-year reign of Severus Alexander (two
Herod. 6.9.6-8. surviving portraits per year) vs. 39 Type I portraits of
Julia Domna produced during the seventeen-year reign
651 October, the birthday of Severus Alexander, was of Septimius Severus (2.3 surviving portraits per year).
eventually consecrated as a festival day in honor of both
the murdered emperor and his mother (addita etfestivitas 68MA 3552 (inv. MND 2137); Wood 1986, 59, 126; de
matris nomine atque ipsius, hodieque Romae religiosissime Kersauson 1996, 424-425, no. 196, with figs. and earlier
celebratur natali eius die; SHA Alex. Sev. 63.4); for the literature; Bartman 2001, 21-22, fig. 16; Varner2001, 55.
deification of Severus Alexander, see CIL 8:627; RE 1.1,
"Aurelius," 2527-2528 (P. v. Rhoden) and Bersanetti 69Museo, inv. 26, h. 0.58 m; Wood 1986, 126 (with earlier
1964, 18 n. 3. literature); Varner 2001, 55. A deliberately damaged
bronze statue from Sparta has also been identified as Julia
66
Erased inscriptions of Julia include ILS 482-483. Af- Mammaea (Athens, National Archaeological Museum).
ter the deification of Severus Alexander, his name is re- The portrait does not, in fact, represent Julia Mammaea
stored in several of the erased inscriptions (Bersanetti or Plautilla, as has also been proposed, but rather one of
1964, 18 n. 3). the wives of Elagabalus, probably Julia Aquilia Severa.
The damage to the portrait appears to be an example of
67Mammaea's portraits have been divided into two types: Christian iconoclasm against pagan images rather than
Bergmann 1977, 30 and Wood 1986, 59, 125-127. How- damnatio memoriae. For a thorough discussion of the por-
ever, the portraits of Mammaea are all remarkably con- trait, its destruction, and iconography, see Riccardi 1998;
sistent in hairstyle, and the differences in physiognomy see also Donderer 1991-1992, 258-259, no. 22, fig. 259.
DAMNATIO MEMORIAE AND THE IMAGES OF IMPERIAL WOMEN 51
Fig. 3 (far left). Julia

Mammaea,Paris,Mus6e
du Louvre,MA 3552
(after Wiggersand
Wegner1971, pl. 60b).
Fig. 4 (near left). Julia

Mammaea,Ostia,
Museo, inv. 26 (after
Wiggersand Wegner
1971, pl. 61b).
eyes, nose, left cheek, mouth, and chin. The destruction of both likenesses is concentrated in
the area of the face, and both portraits are otherwise well preserved. Such obliteration of the
facial features is typical of damnatio memoriae.70 The Ostian image of Mammaea, whose de-
facement rendered it unsuitable for recarving, was subsequently used as a paving stone in the
decumanusmaximUS.7
Two fragmentary portraits of Julia Mammaea, discovered in Italy together with a deliber-
ately damaged portrait of Severus Alexander, provide further persuasive evidence for the in-
tentional mutilation of her likenesses.7 Mammaea's images must have been attacked in iso-
lated cases as news of Severus Alexander's overthrow reached the various regions of the em-
pire. The mutilation of portraits of Julia Mammaea and Severus Alexander would have been
a dramatic way for the populace to express dissatisfaction with the failed regime and affirm
loyalty to the new emperor, Maximinus Thrax. The defacement of the Ostian head attests to
such demonstrations close to Rome. Mammaea's portraits may have been especially suscep-
tible to vandalism as a result of her political prominence during her son's reign and the fact
that she was held responsible, in some measure, for the ultimate failure of his principate.7
During the period of political instability that engulfed the empire in the fifty years fol-
lowing the death of Severus Alexander, several empresses suffered collateral damnationes with
70Other notable examples of this kind of destruction for Kunstsammlungen der Ruhr-Universitat, inv. S 1090, h.
male imperial portraits include: Nero (Cagliari, Museo 0.18 m; Jucker and Willers, eds., 1982, 176-178, no. 73,
Archeologico, inv. 5122); Nero (Cos, Museum); Geta with figs. (Jucker). Severus Alexander, Switzerland, pri-
(Florence, Villa del Poggio Imperiale, inv. 55); Geta vate collection; Jucker and Willers, eds. 1982, 172-174,
(Guelma, Musee Archeologique); Macrinus (Harvard no. 71, with figs. (Jucker); Varner 2001, 55. In these two
University, Fogg Art Museum, inv. 1949.47.138); see representations of the empress, only the face is preserved.
Varner 2001, 47-57. Three additional portraits of Severus Alexander were de-
liberately damaged during spontaneous demonstrations:
71Calza 1977, 66, no. 83. Bochum, Kunstsammlung der Ruhr-Universitat; Rome,
Museo Capitolino, Magazzini, inv. 1431; Varner2001, 55.
72
"JuliaMammaea A," Switzerland, private collection, h.
0.18 m; Jucker and Willers, eds., 1982, 174-175, no. 72, 73Herod. 6.1.8, 6.9.6, 8; SHA Alex. Sev. 14.7, 59.8, 63.5.
with figs. (Jucker). "Julia Mammaea B," Bochum,
52 ERICR. VARNER
their husbands and sons. Caecilia Paulina, the wife of Severus Alexander's successor,
MaximinusThrax,was alreadydeceasedby the time of her husband'saccessionin A.D. 235.
Nevertheless,Maximinushad her deified and her position as diva was proclaimedon coins
and in inscriptions.74Maximinuswas killed by his own troops duringhis unsuccessfulsiege
of Aquileia in May A.D. 237.75The Senate declaredboth Maximinusand his son Maximus
hostes and pursuedparticularlyvirulentdamnationesagainsttheir memories.76 Remarkably,
all the survivingportraitsof the fatherand two of the son exhibit signs of intentionalmutila-
tion.77At the time of the death and damnatioof Maximinus,Paulina'sdeificationmust have
been rescinded,as that of Poppaeahad been in the first century,and anyimagesof her would
havebeen includedin the destructionthat befell the representationsof her husbandand son.
Her name has also been erasedin inscriptions.78
None of the threeimmediatesuccessorsof MaximinusThrax,the jointemperorsPupienus
and Balbinus,and GordianIII, were subjectedto formalcondemnations.However,the evi-
dence of erasedinscriptionssuggeststhat GordianIII's successor,Philip the Arab, suffered
some kind of condemnation.The memoriesof his wife, MarciaOtaciliaSevera,and son Philip
Minor,appearto have been collaterallycondemned.79Philip the Arab'sprincipatebegan in
247 and ended with his defeatby the troops of TrajanDecius at Veronain 249, at which time
he was murderedalong with his son.80TrajanDecius is said to have felt hostilitytowardthe
memoryof Philip, and the HistoriaAugustanumbersPhilip amongthe condemnedemperors
Caligula,Nero, Vitellius, and Maximinus,indicatingthat his condemnationmay have been
officiallysanctioned.81
Otacilia Severa'slikeness was prominentlydisplayed on the coinage of her husband's
principate, where she is often depicted together with her husband and son and celebrated
as the mother of the heir to the empire.82It is not known whether she survived the two
Philips, but her sculpted images must have been included in their posthumous condem-
nation, just as her name is eradicated in inscriptions. Three marble portraits have been
identified as Otacilia: in the Braccio Nuovo of the Palazzo dei Conservatori(fig. 5),83 in
G4CIL 10:5054; Wiggers and Wegner 1971, 229. RIC 791LS 509; Cagnat 1914, 173-174.
4.2:135, 153, nos. 1-4, pls. 10.9-10, pls. 11.7-8.
80Aur.Vict. Caes. 28.10-11; Epit. de Caes. 28.2-3.
75SHAMax.23.7, 32.5; Herod. 8.5.9-6.1.
81
Euseb. Hist. eccl. 6.29.2; SHA Aurel. 42.6.
76SHAMax. 15.2, 26.3.5; SHA Gord. 11.1, 7-10; SHA
Max. Balb. 1.4; Herod. 7.7.2; for erased inscriptions, see 82
Bimetallic medallion from Rome, ca. A.D. 245-247: Kent
also ILS 487-489; Bersanetti 1964, 68 n. 2; and Cagnat 1978, 39, 311, no. 457, pl. 126. Antoninianus from Rome,
1914, 173. obv. Philip Minor, rev. Philip Maior and Otacilia, as with
inscriptions Patri Avg and MatriAvg, ca. A.D. 246-247:
77The six surviving portraits of Maximinus Thrax all ex- RIC 97, no. 229, pl. 8.10; see also RIC 95, 212 (as: obv.
hibit signs of deliberate destruction: Copenhagen, Ny Otacilia, rev. Philip Maior and Minor) and RIC 102, 261
Carlsberg Glyptotek 744, inv. 818; Paris, Louvre, 1044 (dupondius or as: obv. Philip Minor, rev. facing busts of
(2250); Rome, Casino Aurora Ludovisi (MusNazRom 1.6, Otacilia and Philip Maior, Concordia Augustorum). For
no. VIII. 12); Rome, Casino Aurora Ludovisi (MusNazRom Otacilia's other coins, see also RIC 82-86, nos. 115-147,
1.6, no. VIII.14); Rome, Museo Capitolino, Stanza degli 92, no. 196, 93-95, nos. 198-212, pl. 7.8-20, pl. 9.6-7;
Imperatori 62, inv. 473; Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano Otacilia's dynastic importance is further underscored by
delle Terme, inv. 52681. Two surviving portraits of Maxi- the acclamation of Philip Minor as "the pious son of a
mus have been intentionally mutilated: Copenhagen, Ny pious mother," Kent 1978, 311, no. 457.
Carlsberg Glyptotek 745, inv. 819; Copenhagen, Ny
CarlsbergGlyptotek 759, inv. 826; see Varner2001,55-56. 833.23, inv. 2765, h. 0.26 m; Fittschen and Zanker 1983,
34-35, no. 37, pls. 45-46 (with earlier literature); Wood
78Cagnat 1914, 172. 1986, 84, 132, pl. 38.51.
DAMNATIO MEMORIAE AND THE IMAGES OF IMPERIAL WOMEN 53
Fig. 5. OtaciliaSevera,Rome, Palazzodei

Conservatori,BraccioNuovo, 3.23, inv. 2765
(CentraleMontemartini2.95) (photo Deutsches
ArchdologischesInstitut, Rome, neg. no. 64.7161).
_.........:,... _ _
the Uffizi 8 and at Petworth House.8 All three portraits are well preserved, and it is
likely that they were removed from display and warehoused after her husband's over-
throw. The Conservatori portrait was in fact part of a sculptural cache from an important
domus near the Colosseum, whose pieces were later incorporated into a garden wall of
the Villa Rivaldi.8
Later in the third century, Gaia Cornelia Supera may also have shared in her husband's
condemnation. M. Aemilius Aemilianus, at the time acting as governor of Lower Moesia, was
declared emperor by his troops after the murder of Trebonianus Gallus in A.D. 253 *8 He
entered Rome, and the Senate confirmed his acclamation. However, not long thereafter, Vale-
rian was also hailed as emperor. Upon learning this news, Aemilian's troops killed him and
defected to Valerian, probably in September or October 253 *8 During his brief reign, Aemilian
84Inv.1914.27 1, h. 0.29 m; Mansuelli 1961, 116, no. 146, portrait, inv. 2302 (Centrale Montemartini 2.96;
with fig.; Wood 1986, 132. Fittschen and Zanker II, no. 150); a lost Gallienic male
portrait (Mustili 1933, 100, no. 8, fig. 7); late Antonine-
85 H. 0.52 m; Wood 1986, 132. early Severan female portrait, Museo Capitolino,
Magazzini, inv. 6268 (Centrale Montemartini 2.90;
86
Palazzo dei Conservatori, Braccio Nuovo 3.23, inv. Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 85, no. 117, pl. 148); mid-
2765 (Centrale Montemartini 2.95). On the discovery of late Severan female portrait, Museo Capitolino,
the sculpture, see Mustili 1933, 89, 109, no. 15, fig. 14; Magazzini, inv. 6259 (Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 107,
Bertoletti et al., eds., 1997, 81. In addition to the por- no. 158, pl. 185); late Severan female portrait, Museo
trait of Otacilia Severa, the cache included four other Capitolino, Magazzini, inv. 6270 (Centrale Montemartini
imperial images: Antinous, Palazzo dei Conservatori, 2.94; Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 106-107, no. 156, pl.
Museo Nuovo, Sala X, inv. 2305 (Centrale Montemartini 184). Other sculpture from the Villa Rivaldi, also pre-
2.89; Fittschen and Zanker 1985, 61-62, no. 56, pls. 63- sumably from the domus, was acquired in 1780 by Pius
64); Septimius Severus, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Museo VI for the Vatican; see Spinola 1996, 72, no. LAO 6,
Nuovo, Sala X, inv. 2309 (Centrale Montemartini 2.92; 114, no. PER 7, 133-134, no. 32(?), 158-159, no. 100.
Fittschen and Zanker 1985, 94-95, no. 82, pls. 101-102);
and Caracalla, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Museo Nuovo, 87Eutr. 9.5-7, and Aur. Vict. Caes. 32.1.
Sala X, inv. 2310 (Centrale Montemartini 2.93; Fittschen
and Zanker 1985, 105-108, no. 91, pls. 110-112). Five 88Eutr. 9.6; Aur. Vict. Caes. 31.3; Aur. Vict. Epit. 31.2;
private portraits were also part of the cache: private male RE 1.1, "Aemilius," 545-546, no. 24 (P. v. Rhoden).
54 ERICR. VARNER
did grantCorneliaSuperathe title of Augusta,and she is honored with coin portraits.89 No

securelyidentifiedsculptedportraitsof eitherhavesurvived,andthe namesof both areerased
in inscriptions,which strongly suggests that the memories of the imperialpair were con-
demned.90Furtherevidencefor the damnatio includesthe Senate'sdeclarationof Aemilianas
a hostis at the behest of TrebonianusGallus, just prior to Aemilian'saccession.9"
The Senate
more than likely reinstatedthe condemnationof Aemilianas a public enemyupon the accla-
mationof Gallus'sfriend and ally,Valerian.
As had happenedearlierin the third centurywith the monumentsof JuliaMammaea,the
monumentsof Salonina,the wife of Gallienus,may have been subject to destructionin the
brief period between her husband's death and deification. After a reign of fifteen years,
Gallienuswas assassinatedin A.D. 268.92Immediatelyfollowing the murder,the Senate de-
creed that the emperor'scorpse should be throwndown the Gemoniansteps into the Tiber,
constitutinga poenapost mortemsimilarto that of Vitelliusand Elagabalus.93 The memoryof
Gallienuswas reviledby both the nobility and the plebs: his survivingson, Marinianus,was
put to death on orderof the Senate,and the armywas persuadedby a donationof 20 aurei to
have Gallienuscommemoratedin thefasti as a tyrant(Gallienumtyrannummilitariiudicioin
fastos publicosrettulerunt).94Gallienusis groupedwith earliercondemnedemperorsin the
HistoriaAugusta,and both his name and that of Salonina,togetherwith those of their two
eldest deified sons, ValerianusMinorand Saloninus,are erasedin inscriptions.93
Saloninawas honored extensivelywith coin portraitsduringher husband'sreign.96Ten-
tative attemptshave been made to assignseveralmarbleportraitsto Salonina,but currently
no sculptedrepresentationscan be conclusivelyidentifiedas the empress.97 This may,in part,
be the resultof anydestructionthat befell her imagesduringthe brief periodof her husband's
condemnation.In any case, afterthe death of Gallienus,there can have been little incentive
to displayor reerectportraitsof Salonina,who had largelybeen honoredduringher husband's
reign as the motherof his three sons.
89The numismatic likenesses of both Aemilian and future emperor Aurelian may have been involved in the
Cornelia Supera are extremely generic. Aemilian's coin plot to murder Gallienus, SHA Gall. 14.1-5.
portraits are very close to those of his predecessor
Trebonianus Gallus; for a discussion of their coin por- 9 Aur.Vict. Caes. 33.31-34; Varner 2001, 58-59.
traits, see Felletti-Maj 1958, 211-214 and Wegner et al.
1979, 97-100; for Cornelia Supera, see alsoRIC 4.3:193, 94SHA Gall. 15.2; on Gallienus's public denigration, see
198-199, 202, nos. 30-36, 64, pl. 15.13-14. Aur.Vict. Caes. 33.31-34; on the murder of Marinianus,
see Zon. 12.26.
90AE (1911) 104; Cagnat 1914, 172-173. The fact that no
portraits of either can be identified strongly indicates that 95SHA Carus 3.3; Cagnat 1914, 173-174.
their memories were condemned. In contrast, Pupienus
and Balbinus reigned for a similarly short period earlier 96RIC 5.1:105, 107-109, 111-112, 114-115, 191-200,
in the third century, and several portraits have survived. nos. 1-7 (jointly with Gallienus), and nos. 1-93, pl. 4.53-
The four portraits identified as Pupienus are:Paris, Mus6e 62.
du Louvre 1020 (2228); Rome, Museo Capitolino, Stanza
degli Imperatori 66, inv. 477; Rome, Museo Torlonia 588 97Terme head, Cesarano in MusNazRom 1.9.2, 402-405,
(501); and Rome, Musei Vaticani, Braccio Nuovo 54, inv. with figs.; the physiognomy of the Terme head is differ-
22265. In addition to relief portraits from his sarcopha- ent enough from a head in the Hermitage and in the Ny
gus, Balbinus is represented in portraits in Piraeus, Mu- Carlsberg Glyptotek (757, inv. 1493) to discount earlier
seum; and Rome, Musei Vaticani, Biblioteca. theories that they formed a replica series for Salonina;
see Johansen 1995, 130-13 1, no. 54. Seated statue of a
91Aur. Vict. Caes. 31.3. woman as Venus, Rome, Villa Giulia: Moretti, ed., 1975,
254-258, no. 7, pls. 76-77; Wood 1986, 91-93, figs. 58-
92
Claudius Gothicus, the successor of Gallienus, and the 59.
Toward the end of the third century, the memory of Magnia Urbica was also condemned
together with that of her husband, Carinus. Marcus Aurelius Carinus succeeded his father,
Carus, in 283 and ruled jointly with his brother Numerian.28Numerian died, or was killed, in
A.D. 284, and his troops in the East would not acknowledge Carinus as sole emperor but
instead chose Diocletian as Augustus. Carinus was defeated by Diocletian in A.D. 285 and
killed.99 Carinus must have suffered a damnatio.100His name and that of his wife are eradi-
cated in inscriptions,10' and in the Historia Augusta Carinus is likened to the earlier con-
demned emperors, Nero, Vitellius, and Domitian.102 Like Cornelia Supera, Magnia Urbica
was awarded the title of Augusta and is prominently depicted on coins minted during her
husband's reign.103 Any sculpted portraits that had been created for Magnia Urbica during
the reign of her husband must have been removed from public display or destroyed with
those of her husband.104
Collateral condemnation continued to affect imperial women into the fourth century.
After the defeat and death of her husband, Maxentius, at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge
in October A.D. 312,105 the portraits of Galeria Valeria Maximilla are likely to have been
destroyed in conjunction with those of Maxentius.106 Maximilla, the daughter of Galerius,
married Maxentius, the son of Maximian, probably in 293. The marriage was intended to
link the family of the junior emperor in the East with that of the senior emperor in the
West. A.D. 293 witnessed the change from a dyarchy between Diocletian and Maximian to a
tetrarchy, and three important marriages marked the change and cemented political alli-
ances, namely, the marriage of Maximilla and Maxentius, that of Galerius himself with the
daughter of Diocletian, Galeria Valeria, and Constantius Chlorus to Theodora, the daugh-
ter of Maximian and half-sister of Maxentius.107Maximilla bore two sons, including Romulus,
who died and was deified ca. 309.108 Maximilla must have been honored with portraits to-
gether with her husband and sons, especially in Rome, the capital of Maxentius's territory,
which included most of Italy, Sicily, North Africa, and Egypt. And indeed, an inscription
from the Via Labicana, in which Maximilla is commemorated as Nobilissima Femina, a title
98RE 1.1, "Aurelius," 2455-2456, no. 75 (Henze). erature). This portrait was discovered in the area of im-
perial property on the Esquiline, where it is likely to have
99Aur.Vict. Epit. Caes. 38.8; Eutr. 9.20. been displayed during the reign of Carinus and then
warehoused after his downfall; see Hauber 1986, 177 n.
100Gullini1960, 6; Sapelli in MusNazRom 1.1, 300; Wood 25 and 193 n. 296, fig. 121.
1987, 131 n. 92.
'05Eumen. Paneg. 12(9).18.
101CIL 8:234 is an erased dedication to Magnia Urbica
that originallyread: MAGNIAE/VRBICAE/AVG
MA/TRICAS/ 106On Maximilla, see RE suppl. 6 (1903) 662; L'Orange
TRORUM/SENATUS/AC PATRI/AE CONIV/GI D N CA/RINI IN/ and Wegner 1984, 152; Calza 1972, 196.
for Carinus, see CIL 2:4103, 8:7002, 14:126;
VICTI/AVG;
107
Cagnat 1914, 173-174. On the importance of these dynastic marriages as alli-
ances among the tetrarchs, see Cullhed 1994, 15-16, 27,
102SHA Carus 1.3. 81. Barnes 1982, 37-38 has suggested that the marriages
of Galerius and Galeria Valeria and of Constantius and
103 RIC 5.2:182-185, nos. 334-351, pl. 8.1-4; Magnia Theodora occurred prior to 293, perhaps as early as the
Urbica was apparently the mother of Nigrinianus, who 280s; see also Cullhed 1994, 15 n. 22. If Barnes is right
was deified during the reign of his father, Carinus; see about the marriage of Galerius and Galeria Valeria,
RIC 5.2:123, 202-203, nos. 471-474, pl. 8.9. Maximilla may be Galeria's daughter, making her a
granddaughter of Diocletian.
104
One sculpted portrait of Carinus has survived: Rome,
Sala dei Magistrati 9, inv. 850 (Fittschen and Zanker 108
On the sons, see Lact. Mort. Pers. 9.9; Paneg.
1985, 141-142, no. 117, pls. 145-146, with earlier lit- 19(XII).16.5; ILS 672-673.
56 ERICR. VARNER
Fig. 6. ValeriaMaximilla (?), Rome, Museo

Capitolino,Magazzini,inv. 1063 (after
Fittschenand Zanker 1983, pl. 206).
time, provides evidence for such portrait honors.'09

Maxentius suffered a damnatio, and his portraits were removed from display, destroyed,
and, in many cases, recarved."10Lacking any numismatic representations of Maximilla, at-
tempts to identify sculpted portraits of the empress remain purely speculative. Nevertheless,
it is tempting to associate an intentionally mutilated portrait in the Magazzini of the Museo
Capitolino with Maximilla (fig. 6).1"'The woman depicted in the Capitoline likeness wears a
version of the Scheitelzopf hairstyle popular in the later tetrarchic period.112 In addition, the
portrait has numerous stylistic and iconographic affinities with portraits of Maxentius, espe-
cially in the handling of the eyes, with their enlarged outer corners, the modeling of the cheeks,
the shape of the mouth, and the linear, calligraphic treatment of the strands of hair."3 Such
similarities of iconography and style are often typical of representations of imperial couples,
intended to stress visually their union and similitudo. The head has been deliberately attacked
109ILS667; this title may have been intended to com- 33, 64, 109, 478, 489,524-525, 547-549,572-573, 626-
memorate Maximilla's position as the daughter of the 628, 632-633, 637, 639, 654-655, 671-673, pls. 9.196,
reigning Augustus in the East. Calza 1972, 196 has sug- 10.43, 11.29,34, 13.57, 14.58; Gnecchi, 1:13, 14, pl. 6.3.
gested that because this portrait was dedicated by For the iconography of Galeria Valeria, see Delbrueck
Romulus to his mother, she may have predeceased him. 1933, 46, 55, 166; Calza 1972, 103, 148-152; L'Orange
If so this would mean that Maximilla died before 309, and Wegner 1984, 151, pl. 72.i.
and this may help to explain the lack of sculpted as well
113
as numismatic likenesses. Cullhed 1994, 32 has inter- The Capitoline head is closest to the representations
preted the inscription as nobilis femina instead of of Maxentius in Dresden (Antikensammlung inv. 406;
nobilissima. L'Orange and Wegner 1984, 35, 114, pl. 27a-b) and
Stockholm (National Museum, inv. 106; L'Orange and
'I0See Varner, ed., 2000, 14, 210, no. 55. Wegner 1984, 35, 115-116, pl. 27c-d). Alternatively, the
strong physiognomic similarities between the Capitoline
"'Inv. 1063, h. 0.26 m; Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 227, head and the Dresden and Stockholm portraits of
no. 177, pl. 206. Maxentius could suggest that the head represents
Maxentius's sister Fausta, the wife of Constantine. How-
112
For instance, as seen in coins minted in the East of ever, the hairstyle of the Capitoline head does not find
Galeria Valeria, the stepmother of Maximilla, RIC 6:15, close parallels on Fausta's numismatic portraits.
with a hammeror chisel, causing extensive damageto the forehead,left eye, nose, mouth,
and chin. This disfigurementis not dissimilarto that sufferedby an image of Maxentiusin
Stockholm.Likethe intentionallydefacedportraitsof JuliaMammaeain Parisand Ostia (figs.
3, 4), the Capitolinehead is generallywell preserved;only the facial featureshave been de-
stroyed,a hallmarkof the vandalismcausedby damnatiomemoriae.If the Capitolinelikeness
is indeed Maximilla,it must have been mutilatedat the time of the empress'scollateralcon-
demnationwith her husband.
2. Condemnations
andPoliticalIntrigue
The great number of imperial women who were condemned on their own because they
chose to use their political influence against the reigning emperor stands in marked con-
trast to the more expected collateraldamnationesof empresseswhose posthumousreputa-
tions are closelytied to their condemnedhusbandsand sons.Julia,the only child of Augustus
by his second wife, Scribonia,is the first of the imperialwomen to suffer condemnationas
the directresultof politicalintrigueagainsther father.'14
Duringher thirdhusbandTiberius's
self-imposed exile on Rhodes, Julia was accused of adulteryand banished by Augustus to
the island of Pandateriain 2 B.C.115 Five yearslater, Augustus did allowJulia to move from
Pandateriato Rhegiumon the mainland,but for the remainderof his principatehe refused
to recall his daughter."16Tiberiusalso refused to end Julia'sexile after his accession and, in
fact, further restricted her freedom, which may have hastened her death, allegedly from
starvation,in A.D. 14."17
A close examinationof the circumstancessurroundingJulia'sexile revealsthat its cause
is far more likely to have been her involvementin political intriguesagainstAugustus,and
possibly Tiberius,than adultery."8Accordingto VelleiusPaterculus,severalwell-connected
men were accused together with Julia: SemproniusGracchus, Appius Claudius, Quintus
Crispinus,Scipio, and JullusAntonius, the second son of Marc Antony and Fulvia."9Al-
though he was broughtup in the household of Octaviaas a living exampleof the emperor's
clementia, JullusAntoniusmayhave had a vested interestin bringingabout the overthrowof
the regime.Pliny the Elder and Senecaboth mention a plot on the partof Julia and Iullus to
murderthe princeps.120Dio plainlystates that Julluswas executed for attemptingto seize the
principate.'12The conspiratorsmayhavebeen tryingto engineerthe accessionof Jullus,whose
114Meise1969, 3-34; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 358-359, knowledgethe use of accusationesadulteriias substitu-

no. 421. tions for charges of maiestasin reference to Valeria
Messalina (Bauman 1974, 177-188). Ferril 1980, 332-
115
Suet. Aug. 54.1; Tac. Ann. 1.53; Vell. Pat. Hist. 2.100. 346 fails to explainPliny'sexplicit statementandJulia's
known involvementwith other conspiratorswho were
116
Suet. Aug. 65.3; Tac. Ann. 1.53.1-2. condemnedfor maiestas.See also Kleiner2000, 46-48.
117 Tac. Ann. 1.53.1-2; Dio 57.18.la. On the political "W9Vell.

Pat. Hist. 100.4-5.
motives behind Tiberius's actions, see Linderski 1988,
198. 120 Plin. HN 7.45.149.
118Levick 1976, 306; Williams 1996, 128, 133. Raaflaub 121 Dio 55.10.15.The fact thatJullus Antoniuswaskilled,
and Sammons 1990, 428-430 suggest the conspiracy con- or forced to commitsuicide, suggeststhat he was con-
cerned the succession; Bauman 1967, 198-206 and 1992, demnedon chargesof maiestas,ratherthan adulterium
108-119 denies a full-blown conspiracy, but does ac- (Bauman 1967, 205-206).
58 ERICR. VARNER
position would have been furtherstrengthenedafterthe eliminationof Tiberiusby marriage

to Julia.'22And in fact,Tacitusrecordsthat anotherof the conspirators,SemproniusGracchus,
influencedJulia againstTiberiusand mayhave been the actualauthorof a letterJulia wrote
to Augustus denouncing Tiberius.123 Sempronius Gracchus, Appius Claudius, Quintus
Crispinus,and Scipio were all exiled on chargesof adulteryin 2 B.C.124Gracchuswas forced
to commitsuicide afterthe accessionof Tiberius.125Julia herself continued,even in exile, to
be a potentialpolitical threatto her father.126In A.D. 7 or 8, a conspiracywas formedto free
Julia and her son AgrippaPostumus,who had been exiled in A.D.7, and take them to disaf-
fected troops stationednearby.127
Despite the indications of a conspiracy,it is adultery with which Julia was charged.
Macrobiusindicatesthat the evidence of Julia'stransgressionswas obtainedfrom slaves un-
der torture, a recourseoften employedin prosecutionswith political ramifications.128 Pliny
explicitlylinks the chargesof adulteryand conspiracy:adulteriumet consiliaparricidaepalam
facta.'29The very public spots assignedby ancientauthorsto Julia'sacts of stuprum,the ros-
tra and the statue of Marsyasin the Forum Romanum,furtherunderscorethe potentially
volatile combinationof sex and politics.130 Scribonia,however,in a pointed show of support
for her daughter,remainedwith Julia throughoutthe period of her exile.'3'The chargeof
adulterymay have served a double purpose:not only did it provide for Julia'sbanishment
but, togetherwith relatedchargesof sexual promiscuity,it functionedas an efficientway of
blackeningher character.Julia was even accused of adulterywith the actor Demosthenes,
and such accusationsof adulterywith actorsand other lower-classmales servedas a kind of
literaryand biographicaltopos to denigratethe reputationsof imperialwomen.132
In additionto formallyrequestingthe Senateto banishhis daughter,Augustusforbadeher
intermentin the Mausoleumhe had constructedfor the gensIuliain the CampusMartiusand
also formallydisinheritedher in his will.'33By condemninghis daughterin this way,Augustus
ensuredthatJuliawas disinheritedfromtheJulianfamilynot onlyfor the periodof herlifetime
122
Although he argues against Julia's involvement in any mother and brother.
plots against Augustus and accepts the charges of adul-
tery, Lacey 1980, 140 does point out that the accession 128Macr. Sat. 1.11.17.
of lullus and his marriage to Julia would have put a sym-
bolic end to any lingering psychological wounds from 129Plin. HN 7.45. Of course, accusations of parricide are
the civil wars between Antony and Octavian. also standard topoi employed in the rhetoric of invec-
tive; see Barton 1994, 55-56.
123Tac. Ann. 1.53.
'30Sen. Ben. 6.32.1; Plin. HN21.6.9; Dio55.10.12; Wood
124Vell.Pat. Hist. 2.100.5. 1999, 37-40.
125 131
As described by Tacitus, Ann.1.53. Tiberius's harsh Vell. Pat. Hist. 2.100.5.
treatment of Gracchus and Julia may further indicate that
Tiberius was also targeted in the plot of 2 B.C. (Dorey 132Macr. Sat. 1.11.17; see also Vinson 1989, 440. Charges
1961, 5). of sexual misconduct functioned as standard topoi for
the denigration of the reputations of powerful imperial
126Dio 55.12.1; Levick 1976, 310; Richlin 1992, 74-79 women and continued to be used in the Byzantine pe-
has raised the possibility that Julia's well-known jokes, riod, as evidenced by Procopius's treatment of Theodora;
preserved in Macrobius, may be a kind of subversive see Allen 1992, 94-100.
humor indicative of her opposition to the status quo.
133
On the letter to the Senate, see Plin. HN 21.9; on
Suet. Aug.19.2; Levick 1976, 337-338; Linderski
127 Augustus's refusal to allow Julia's burial in his mauso-
1988, 198. Levick has suggested that Julia the Younger leum, see Suet. Aug. 101.3 and Dio 56.32.4; on Julia's
may have been responsible for the attempt to free her disinheritance, see Linderski 1988, 190.
but for posterity.Augustus'sseveretreatmentof Juliaeffectivelynegatedany social and politi-

cal influenceshe mayhavewieldedand also mandatedthe removaland destructionof her pub-
lic images. After 2 B.C., it no longer would have been politically expedient to honor the emperor's
disinherited daughter.134Furthermore, her public disgrace and removal from the Julian gens
would have effectively cancelled the previous dynastic implications of her portraits.
However, as Augustus's only child and the mother of his heirs Gaius and Lucius, Julia
originally must have been honored with portraits prior to her banishment. There survive seven
portrait inscriptions to Julia from group dedications in the East.135Her image appears on an
inscribed lead tessera,'36on coins (including a group portrait with her two sons on the ob-
verse of a denarius minted in Rome in 13 B.C.),137 on a bronze issue from Pergamum where
she is identified as Julia Aphrodite,138 and possibly on a bronze plaque, where she is flanked
by Gaius and Lucius.139 All these objects attest to the dissemination of Julia's portraits, par-
ticularly in the context of Augustan dynastic propaganda. The only inscriptional evidence
for Julia's inclusion in group dedications comes from the eastern portions of the empire.140
While it is conceivable that her image was allowed to remain on view in the East, no portrait
type can be identified with Julia in surviving sculpted images, and this is surely the direct
result of her condemnation.141 Julia's absence from the important Julio-Claudian dedication
134Julia's name has apparently been erased in a Greek pl. 4.3, 5; RIC 1:76, nos. 106, 106a, pl. 11.19; Zanker
inscription equating her with Aphrodite, IG 12.2.482 1988, 216, fig. 167a-b.
(Wood 1996-1997, n. 42). Municipalities, especially in
the provinces, enjoyed a certain degree of latitude and '31
London, British Museum, 096524; Pollini 1990, 354,
autonomy in responding to condemnations issued at the fig. 31.
capital. Under Claudius, Julia's memory may have been
slightly rehabilitated, for she is mentioned in an inscrip- 139Bonn, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, inv. 4320; Zanker
tion set up by her freedmen in Regium sometime after 1988, 218, fig. 172. The scabbard has been alternatively
A.D. 42 (Linderski 1988, 181). associated with Livia, Tiberius, and Drusus; see Kuttner
1994, 174-175, fig. 114; Bartman 1999, 12, 20, 82-83,
135Boschung 1993, 48, no. 50 and Rose 1997, 61. Julia's 95, 96 n. 9, 98 n. 69; Wood 1999, 106-107; Julia has
seven surviving inscriptions are: Delphi, SIG 779 A, B, often been identified in the guise of Diana on a denarius
D (14-2 B.C., together with Agrippina Maior, Lucius from ca. 13 B.C., Fullerton 1985, 476, 480, pl. 55.10.
and Gaius[?]), Rose 1997, 139-140, cat. 70; Ephesus, However, Pollini 1990, 353-355, fig. 29b has plausibly
Forsch.Ephes.3.52 = ILS 8897 = IvEph3006, Mithra- suggested that the coin in fact has the features of
dates' tower (4 B.C., together with Augustus, Livia, Augustus, rather than his daughter, and is a representa-
Agrippa, and Lucius Caesar; Rose 1997, 172-174, cat. tion of Diana Augusta. Anderson's identification of a
112); Lindos (9-2 B.C., together with Tiberius and profile depicted in the left medallion from the north wall
Drusus Maior; Rose 1997, 153-154, cat. 87); Palae- of Cubiculum 15 in the imperial villa at Boscotrecase as
phahus, IGR3:943, BSA42 (1947) 228, no. 12 (together a painted portrait of Julia is problematic, and the image
with Tiberius; Rose 1997, 156, cat. 91); Sestos, IGR is almost certainly not a portrait (1987, 127-135). See
1:821 (together with Agrippa; Rose 1997, 180, cat. 122); also von Blanckenhagen and Alexander 1990, 6 n. lla;
Thasos, IG 12.8.381 = ILS8784 = IGR 1:835 (12-2 B.C., Kuttner 1994, 241 n. 22.
together with Livia and Julia Minor; Rose 1997, 158-
140
159, cat. 95); Thespiae (after 14 B.C., together with Livia, Rose 1997, 20-21; Wood 1999, 20.
Agrippa, Gaius and Lucius, and Agrippina Maior; Rose
1997, 149-151, cat. 82). 141
Wood 1999, 27 and 30 suggests that local communities
may have elected on their own initiative to remove her
136Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme; the lead images and that some (if not most) of her images may have
tessera is very badly deteriorated, but its inscription reads been recut (although none have yet been identified). Al-
(IV)LIA AVGVSTI, and Julia is depicted with a nodus coif- though sculpted representations from Beziers and in Kiel
fure, wide eyes, and aquiline nose; see Grimm 1973, 279, have been associated with Julia (Boschung 1993, 48-50)
pl. 87.2, with earlier literature. Rose 1997, 61; Wood these images clearly depict Livia; see Winkes 1995, 112-
1999, 69. 113, no. 38, 181, no. 104; Rose 1997, 61, 126-128, cat.
42, pl. 161; Bartman 1999, 145, 167, no. 47, fig. 92; Wood
"'Minted by C. Marius; BMCRE 1.2: nos. 106, 108-109, 1999, 117-119. Rose has identified another portrait from
60 ERICR. VARNER
in Velia, which included in its initial phase representationsof Gaius, Lucius, Octavia, and
Livia,mayindicatethatJulia'slikenesswas removedafterher condemnationin 2 B.c.142These
portraitstatuesdecorateda buildingwhichfunctionedas a kind of medicalcollegiumandmay
havebeen commissionedin honorof Gaius'stakingof the togavirilisin 5 B.C.'43The one extant
portraitthatis the mostlikelycandidateas a representationof Juliais fromCorinth,apparently
producedby the samesculpturalworkshopas the statuesof Augustus,Gaius,andLuciusfrom
If the head does depictJulia, as seems likely,then it was presumablyremoved
the Basilica.144
fromits originalcontext and storedor buriedin the vicinityof the basilica.
Difficultiesin identifyingJulia'spositionon the AraPacisAugustaemaynot be accidental;
banishmentandpublicdenigrationarelikelyto havecausedthe eradicationor alterationof her
portraiton the monument.As preserved,there is no evidencethat anyfigurehas been erased
from the Ara Pacis in toto. Nevertheless,Julia'slikeness on the monumentcould have been
reconfiguredto representsomeone else. There are problemsin identifyingJulia with the fe-
malefigurewearinga fringedshawl(possiblythe widow'sricinium)on the northfrieze(N 36).145
The figurelacks its head, so it is impossibleto determineanythingabout the portraitfeatures
or their possible fate after 2 B.C. Far more problematical is D. Boschung's revivalof A. Bonanno's
suggestion that the first female figure on the south frieze (S 32), usually identified as Livia, may
actually represent Julia.146As preserved, none of the other women on the Ara Pacis seem likely
candidates for Julia, although she must surely have been depicted on the monument originally.'47
Julia's exile on charges of adultery and the attendant destruction of her monuments established
important precedents for the repudiation of imperial women who conspired against the reign-
ing emperor, precedents that would be followed into the Constantinian period.
the Beziers group and a related head in Copenhagen from died in 12 B.C., would have been an inconsistent and jar-
Caere as Julia (Toulouse, Musee St. Raymond, inv. ring visual conceit. In addition, Julia's widowhood was
30.004; Rose 1997, 61, 126-128, cat. 52, pl. 45, 159; short-lived, since she married Tiberius in 11 B.C., ap-
Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, inv. 1282; Rose proximately two years before the completion of the Ara
1997, 61, pls. 43-45); Wood has stressed their strong Pacis. If figure N36 is indeed a widow, she is likely to be
physical resemblance to Agrippa, and has more plausi- the most prominent widow of the imperial family at that
bly associated them with his daughter, Vipsania time, namely Augustus's sister Octavia. Rose 1997, 104
Agrippina, who was also married to Tiberius and became n. 4 does not identify the shawl as the ricinium. On the
the mother of his heir, Drusus Minor; in addition, it ricinium see Sebesta 1994, 50.
seems likely that portraits of Julia would stress her physi-
cal resemblance to her father, Augustus (Wood 1999, 55- 46 Boschung 1993, 49; Bonnano 1976, 28. While this
59, 70-73, 187-188; see Bartman 1999,215-216). Wood theory is attractive in that it would place Julia between
1996-1997 has convincingly identified the female por- her two husbands, Agrippa and Tiberius, the physiog-
traits in the Beziers group as Livia, Vipsania Agrippina, nomy, although idealized and classicized, has such close
Antonia Minor (?), and a prominent local woman. correspondences with securely identified likenesses of
Livia that it must represent Augustus's wife, the legal
142
Rose 1997, 120-121, cat. 49, pls. 122-131; Bartman mother of his two adopted sons, and not his daughter,
1999, 80 n. 47. their biological mother. In addition, it is unthinkable that
Julia's likeness would have remained in this prominent
143
Rose 1997, 121. position on the monument after her exile and disgrace
in 2 B.C. Similarly, it seems unlikely that the female fig-
144
De GraziaVanderpool1994, 285. ure on the Vicus Sandalarius altar is Julia (Zanker 1988,
125). It is much more probable that this is Livia, the le-
145See Rose 1990, 463; Billows 1993, 91; Kuttner 1994, gal mother of Gaius and wife of Augustus, both of whom
100; Conlin 1997; Rose 1997, 103-104, no. 32; Bartman also appear on the altar.
1999, 44. If the fringed cloak that N36 wears is in fact
the widow's ricinium (as first proposed by Simon 1967, 147 Earlier restorations of the Ara Pacis further complicate
21), then it is unlikely to be Julia. Depicting her as the questions of identification of specific figures on the monu-
widow of Agrippa, who appears on the south frieze and ment (Conlin 1992, 209-215; Koeppel 1992, 216-218).
Julia'seldest daughter,JuliaMinor(VipsaniaJulia),followedin her mother'sfootsteps.148

She too was accused of adulteryamidst circumstancesthat point to her involvementin a
conspiracyagainsther grandfatherAugustus.Julia MinormarriedLuciusAemiliusPaulus149
but was later condemnedon chargesof adulteryand banished to the island of Trimerusin
A.D. 8.150Julia Minor's named accomplice in the adultery charges was Decimius Junius
Silanus.15'In addition, her husband,AemiliusPaulus, is known to have been executed, also
in A.D. 8, on chargesof maiestas.152 The conspiracymayhaveinvolvedJulia'sbrother,Agrippa
Postumus, Augustus'sonly survivinggrandsonafter the death of Gaius Caesarin A.D. 4, as
well as Ovid.153After twentyyearsin exile, Julia died in A.D. 28.154 Chargesof incest with her
brother AgrippaPostumus may also have been leveled againstJulia to destroy her reputa-
tion.155Her punishmentstands out as being incrediblyharsh. In addition to arrangingher
banishment,Augustusorderedthat the childJuliaMinorbore afterher condemnationshould
be exposed: ex nepoteIuliapost damnationemedituminfantemadgnoscialiquevetuit.'56Julia
Minorwas refusedburialin the Mausoleumof Augustus.157Like her motherbefore her, this
act symbolicallydisinheritedher from the Julio-Claudianfamilyfor all posterity.158Further-
more, Augustushad a villa belongingto his granddaughterrazedafterher downfall.159In the
Republicanperiod, the destructionof an individual'shouse was often part of the sanctions
associatedwith damnatiomemoriae,and this additionallyunderscoresthe severityof Julia
Minor'scondemnation.AlthoughJulia Minorwas certainlyincluded in group portraitdedi-
cations,there are no securelyidentifiablesurvivingrepresentations.'60
Under Tiberius,Julia Minor'ssister,AgrippinaMaior,was condemnedoutrightfor her
opposition to her uncle. Agrippinawas born ca. 14 B.C., marriedto Germanicusin A.D. 5,
and bore him nine children.'6'After the death of Germanicus,in mysteriouscircumstances,
at Antioch in A.D. 17, AgrippinaMaiorreturnedto Rome with her children.Becauseof her
position as the widow of the enormouslypopular Germanicusand the granddaughterof
Augustus,Agrippinaenjoyedan exaltedposition at the capital.But relationsbetweenthe em-
perorandhis stepdaughterwere strained.Tiberiusis saidto haveremarkedto Agrippina,"Isit
your opinion,my little daughter,that you have been unjustlytreatedif you are not completely
"48Meise 1969, 35-48; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 635-63 6, "4 Tac. Ann. 4.71.
no. 813; Kleiner 2000, 48.
155 Schol. Juv. 6.157-158. Levick 1976, 307-308.
149 Suet. Aug. 64.1; Schol. Juv. 6.158.
156
Suet. Aug. 65.4.
150
Suet. Aug. 64.1; Tac. Ann. 3.24, 4.71; Plin. HN
7.45.149; Schol. Juv. 6.158. 157
Suet. Aug. 90.3.
151 Tac.Ann. 3.24. 15'Linderski 1988, 190-191.
152
Schol. Juv. 6.158: nupta Aemilio Paulo, cum in 159
Suet. Aug.72.3; Edwards 1993, 166 n. 74; Bergmann
maiestatis crimine perisset, ab avo relegata est, post 1994, 225-226 n. 4; Bodel 1997, 10; Davies 2000, 38.
revocata cum semet vitiis addixisset perpetuo damnata est
supplicio; Suet. Aug. 19.1. 160Thasos, IG 12.8.381 = ILS 8784 = IGR 1:835 (with
the elder Julia).
153 Syme 1955, 488; Meise 1969,37, 47. Levick 1976, 337-
338 has speculated that Julia may have formed a plot to 161
On the marriage, CIL 6:886 = ILS 180; CIL 6:4387,
rescue her brother and mother from exile which led to 5186, 5772, 17146; CIL 9:2635; CIL 11:167 = ILS 179;
her own banishment. Raaflaub and Sammons 1990, 430- AE (1968) 476 = IvEphes 256; AE (1980) 874; ZPE 55
431 again suggest the conspiracy may have concerned (1984) 58.1.7; 59.1.21; Suet. Aug. 64.1; Tac. Ann.1.33.
the succession. On the children, see Suet. Calig. 7; Plin. HN 7.13.57.
62 ERIC R. VARNER
in charge?"'162Tiberiusrefused to let her remarry,perhapsout of fear that any husbandof

Agrippinawould be a potentialrivalto his own son, DrususMinor,for the succession.
Ultimately,Agrippinawas banishedby order of the Senateto Pandateriain A.D. 29, and
she starvedherself to death in A.D. 33 163Tiberiusapparentlyalso accusedher of impudicitia
and adulterywith Asinius Gallus.'64After her death, Tiberiusofficially commemoratedthe
fact that he had been mercifulto Agrippinabecause he had not had her strangledand her
body thrown down the Gemoniansteps in an act of poenapost mortem.'65Like her mother
and sisterbefore her,Agrippinawas refusedburialin the Mausoleumof Augustus,her mem-
bershipin the Julio-Claudianfamilyposthumouslydenied. As a furthermarkof her disgrace,
her birthdaywas proclaimeda dies nefastus.'66At the time of her condemnation,her like-
nesses must have been removed from public display.Because many of Agrippina'simages
had been damagedor destroyedduringthe reignof Tiberius,posthumousimagescreatedby
her childrenCaligulaand AgrippinaMinorin order to rehabilitateher memoryoutnumber
portraitscreatedduringher lifetime.167
Agrippina'ssister-in-lawLivilla(ClaudiaLiviaJulia) also suffereda damnatioduringthe
reignof Tiberiusfor her allegedinvolvementboth in the murderof herhusband,the emperor's
son, Drusus Minor, and in a subsequentplot against Tiberiushimself.'68Livilla was born
some time between 14 and 11 B.C., the only survivingdaughterof DrususMaiorand Antonia
Minor.'69 She was first marriedto Augustus'sgrandson,Gaius Caesar,and afterhis death,she
marriedDrusus Minor (Drusus Iulius Caesar),to whom she bore one daughter,Julia, and
twin sons, GermanicusJulius Caesarand TiberiusGemellus.170 Drusus died in A.D. 23, re-
portedly poisoned by Livilla and Sejanus,the praetorianpraefect.'7'Subsequently,Sejanus,
althoughonly of equestrianorigins,wished to marryLivillain orderto strengthenhis ties to
the imperial house and legitimize his own potential claims to Tiberius'simperium.'72But
Tiberiuswould not permitthe marriage,'73 and Sejanuswas eventuallyexecuted in A.D. 31 for
162
Suet. Tib. 53.1: "Si non dominaris," inquit, "filiola, trait from the Domus dei Mosaici at Rusellae is also pos-
iniuriam te accipere existimas?" On Agrippina Maior's sibly posthumous (Grosseto, Museo Archeologico e
conflict with Tiberius, see Bauman 1992, 138-156. d'Arte della Maremma, inv. 1729148). On the creation
of portraits of Agrippina Maior during Caligula's reign
163
Suet. Tib. 53.2; Tac. Ann. 6.25; Dio 58.22.4-5. and during Agrippina Minor's tenure as Augusta, see
Wood 1988, 409-426; Wood 1999, 178. For Agrippina's
164Tac. Ann. 6.25. portraiture, see Tansini 1995.
165 Suet. Tib. 53.2; Tac. Ann. 6.25; Kyle 1998, 232 n. 168Meise 1969, 49-90; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 216-218,
34. no. 239.
166AFA 49.1-4 = Smallwood 1967, 9:11-15; Suet. Tib. 169

Suet. Claud. 1.6.
53.2; Barrett 1990, 62.
1700n the birth of the daughter see Suet. Aug. 99.1; Tac.
167
One of Caligula's first acts as emperor was to place Ann. 3.29.3; and Raepsaet-Charlier 1987. On the twin
Agrippina's ashes, together with those of his brothers sons, see Tac. Ann. 2.84; CIL 5:4311 = ILS 170;
Nero and Drusus, in the Mausoleum of Augustus; Suet. Forsch.Ephes. 4.3.37 = IvEph 4337. Germanicus Julius
Cal. 15.1. The declaration of Agrippina's birthday as a Caesar died the same year as his father, in A.D. 23;
dies nefastus was also rescinded; AFA (Scheid) 221.3; Tiberius Gemellus was killed during the reign of Caligula
AFA (Smallwood) 9:11-15; Barrett 1996, 51. The most in 37; Suet. Calig. 22.3; Dio 59.8.1.
well known Caligulan likeness of Agrippina Maior re-
mains the portrait in the Museo Capitolino, Stanza degli 71 Suet. Tib. 62.1; Tac. Ann. 4.3, 4.10; Dio. 57.22.1-4.
Imperatori 7, inv. 421, h. 0.31 m, Fittschen and Zanker
1983, 5-6, no. 4, pls. 4-5; Agrippina's portrait from the 72Tac. Ann. 4.3, 4.40.
Julio-Claudian Basilica at Velleia is also Caligulan in date
(Parma, Museo Nazionale d'Antichita, inv. 828); a por- 173
The two may have been betrothed or even married
plotting againstthe emperor.174 Chargesof adulterywith Sejanusand complicityin the mur-

der of DrususMinorwere then broughtagainstLivilla,and she was eitherexecuted or forced
to commitsuicide.175 Clearly,Livillamust have been complicitin Sejanus'splot to overthrow
Tiberius.Livillais the first imperialwoman againstwhom the Senatebrought formalsanc-
tions, voting to condemnher memoryand decreeingthe destructionof her images.176
With Livia in virtual retirementand AgrippinaMaior in exile, Livilla and her mother,
AntoniaMinor,were the most powerfulwomen at Tiberius'scourt. Livilla'sposition was se-
cure as the widow of the emperor'sson and mother of a potential heir, TiberiusGemellus.
During the period of her ascendancy,Livillawould have been honoredwith numerouspor-
traits. As a result of the senatorialsanctions againsther memory,her name was erased in
inscriptionsandher portraitsobliterated.177 No extantsculptedportraitscan be securelyiden-
tified as Livilla,and, as K. P. Erharthas convincinglydemonstrated,the repeatedattemptsto
identifyportraitsof the Lepcis-Maltatype as Livillado not adequatelytake into accountthe
vehementnatureof Livilla'sdamnatio."78 However,her likenesshas been plausiblyidentified
on thirteencameos.179 The cameosare remarkablyconsistentin their portrayalof Livilla,de-
picting her with a waved and centrallyparted coiffure.'80The hair at the back of the head is
rolled or twisted into a small chignon.The ears are left uncoveredor with only the very tops
covered.The facialfeaturesare regularwith an aquilinenose, smallmouthwith pronounced
downwardcurve at the outer corners,and a distinctivefull, rounded chin. In severalof the
cameosLivillais assimilatedwith Ceres,underscoringher position as the motherof potential
heirs to the empire. In one instance, Livilla is shown in the guise of the goddess Pax."8'In
most cases, gem portraits,as small-scaleimperialimages,must have been privatelyheld and
prior to their deaths as Sejanusis twice referredto as furtherdemonstratedthat a portraitin a Swiss private
the son-in-law(gener)of Tiberiusin Tac.Ann. 5.6 and collection,identifiedby Kasparas Livilla(inJuckerand
6.8; and Dio refersto Sejanusas havingmarriedJulia, Willers,eds., 1982, 91, no. 35), is actuallya Caligulan
daughterof Drusus,priorto his downfall.PerhapsLivilla likenessof her niece, AgrippinaMinor.
(ClaudiaLiviaJulia), the daughterof Drusus Maior,is
meanthere;see alsoJeppesen 1993, 173 and n. 158. 179As identified by Megow 1987, 293-301. Although
Megow 1987, 284 identifies two additionalcameos as
174Suet. Tib.62.1; Dio 58.11.5-7. likenessesof Livilla,the coiffureis slightlydifferent,with
the ears covered,and these are more likely to be repre-
175 Suet. Tib.62.1; Dio 58.11.6-7; Octavia941-943. Dio sentationsof AntoniaMinor.
records an alternativeversion of her death in which
Tiberiusdid not have Livillaexecutedbut remandedto 180
AlthoughJeppesen1993, 148 andn. 22 has identified
the care of her mother,Antonia,and starvedto death. Livilla on the Grand Camee de France (Paris,Biblio-
thequeNationale,Cabinetdes Medailles264), his inter-
176Tac.Ann. 6.2: atrocessententiaedicebantur,in effigies pretationof the gem as commemoratingSejanusis en-
quoqueac memoriameius. Sejanuswas also subjectedto tirelyunconvincingand fails to take into accountaccu-
an official damnatioand his imagessimilarlydestroyed ratelythe portraiticonographyof the figures depicted
(Dio 58.11.3); Flory 1993, 303-304. in the upper two zones of the cameo.His identification
of the seatedfemalefigureat the farleft of the cameoas
177 For example,Livilla'snamehas been erased,andpre- Livilla rests largelyon a misinterpretationof the coif-
sumablyher portraitremoved,from the group dedica- fure. It is not, as Jeppesenstates, a modifiedversionof
tion honoringtheJulio-Claudianfamilyfromthe Temple Livia'slater,centrallypartedhairstyle,but rathera ver-
of RomaandAugustusat LepcisMagna(Rose1997, 182, sion of AgrippinaMinor'ssecondClaudiancoiffurewith
no. 125, 238 n. 44). rowsof curlssurroundingthe face.Thefigurealsoclearly
displays Agrippina Minor's receding lower lip. The
178Erhart1978, 202-204; see also Small 1990, 217-254. GrandCameeis in fact Claudianin date and commemo-
The identificationof the Lepcis-Maltatype as Claudia rates the adoption of Nero by Claudiusin A.D. 50, as
Livillahas been recentlyrevivedby Boschung1993, 64. proposedbyJucker 1976,210-250.
Rose 1997, 68-69 has correctly assigned the type to
Caligula'ssister,Julia Livilla.Wood 1995, 464-470 has 181Schaffhausen,Museumzu Allerheiligen,9.5 x 7.8 cm.
64 ERICR. VARNER
often escaped the destruction that befell sculpted and relief representations of condemned
individuals. The great number of glyptic likenesses of Livilla which have survived contrasts
vividly with the complete lack of marble or bronze portraits and underscores the eradication
of her public images following her condemnation.
Valeria Messalina, the third wife of Claudius, was also officially condemned by the Sen-
ate for her role in a conspiracy against the reigning emperor.182 Messalina herself was well
connected within the Julio-Claudian family. She was a great-granddaughterof Octavia through
both her father, Marcus Valerius Mesalla Barbatus, and her mother, Domitia Lepida. Messalina
married the future emperor Claudius in A.D. 38 or 39 and produced two children, Tiberius
Claudius Caesar Britannicus and Claudia Octavia. In A.D. 48, seven years after Claudius's
accession, Messalina became involved in an intrigue with the consul designate, Gaius Silius,
culminating in the celebration of a marriage ceremony between Messalina and Silius.183 This
"marriage"may have been intended to establish Silius as emperor in place of the aging Claudius
and to thwart the growing power of Claudius's freedmen and his niece, Agrippina Minor.'84
Claudius learned of the ceremony while in Ostia and immediately returned to the capital.
Silius, Messalina, and eight of their associates were executed.'85 One of these associates was
the actor Mnester, who was widely reported to have been Messalina's paramour.186 The impu-
tations of adulterous behavior with an actor constitute yet another example of denigration of
an empress's character through allegations of sexual misconduct with lower-class males.'87
As was the case with the images of Livilla earlier, Tacitus specifically records that
Messalina's portraits were included in the senatorial sanctions against the empress: nomen et
effigies privatis ac publicis locis demovendas.188 Tacitus's statement is supported by extant in-
scriptions in which Messalina's name is erased. These include a funerary inscription belong-
ing to one of her freedmen, a major public inscription from the Forum of Augustus in Rome,
honorific inscriptions from Lepcis Magna, Lindos, and Arneae, and, significantly, coins minted
at Tralles that have her name chiseled off.'89The erased inscription from Lepcis attests to the
removal of Messalina's likeness from the Claudian group of portraits at the Temple of Roma
and Augustus, just as Livilla's image had been removed from the earlier Tiberian dedication. If
Messalina was also represented in the Ravenna Relief (and the Julio-Claudian group dedication
182Raepsaet-Charlier1987, 606-608, no. 774. havebeen removedor destroyedafterhis execution.
183Tac.Ann. 11.25-38; Suet. Claud.26.2;Juv. Sat. 10.329- 87Vinson 1989, 440.

345; Dio 60.31.35; Aur.Vict. Epit. de Caes. 4. Barrett
1996, 91-94; Bauman 1992, 176-179 takes Tacitus's ac- 188
Tac. Ann. 11.38.3. The fact that the decree specifi-
count of the "marriage" and accusations of Messalina's cally mentions removal from private as well as public
sexual misconduct at face value. locations underscores the vehemence of Messalina's con-
demnation.
184
Tac. Ann. 11.28, 30 suggests that Silius was aiming
for the principate, while Dio 60(61).31.5 indicates that 189
CIL 6:4474 (the funerary inscription) and CIL 6:918
Messalina wished to place Silius on the throne. On the = ILS 210 (Palazzo dei Conservatori, Museo Nuovo, inv.
plot, see also Bauman 1974, 177-188; Wood 1992, 233- 6944, from Forum of Augustus); see also Flower 2000,
234; Barrett 1996, 86-94; Wood 1999, 255. 61, fig. 3. For the reused inscriptions see Africa Italiana
8 (1941) 1-94 (particularly 34) and Reynolds 1952, no.
185 Suet. Claud. 26.2, 39.1; Tac. Ann. 11.28-38; Dio 340 (Lepcis Magna, also erased); IGR 4.1146 = IG
60(61).3 1.5. 12.1.806 (Lindos); TAM 2.3.760 (Anreae, Lycia); for the
coins from Tralles, see RPC 2654; BMC Lydia 345, no.
186 Dio 60.22.3 records the anecdote that Messalina
caused 124. For a discussion of the erased and reused inscrip-
bronze portraits of Mnester to be created from Caligula's tions and the coins, see Rose 1997, 41, and n. 43, 184-
recalled coinage. Naturally,any portraits of Mnester would 185, no. 126; Wood 1999, 274-275.
Fig. 7. Messalina,Paris,Mus6e
du Louvre,MA 1224 (after Wood
1992,fig. 1).
.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Z..
.. ...U
it likely depicts), then her likeness would have been removed or transformed.190In addition,
the excellent state of preservation of a full-length portrait in the Louvre indicates that it was
removed from display and warehoused following the empress's downfall (fig. 7).191 The statue
is reported to have come from the environs of Rome and depicts Messalina veiled and wear-
ing a palla and tunica. She raises her right hand to her veil and cradles a male infant in her
left arm. Although the head of the infant is a modern restoration, it originally must have
represented Messalina's son Britannicus. The pose of both mother and child are intended to
evoke the Eirene and Ploutos of Kephisoditos, while the costume and gesture of the right
hand held to the veil underscore the empress's position as a traditional Roman matrona. The
Louvre portrait of the emperor's wife and son would have been a powerful piece of Claudian
dynastic propaganda, wholly inappropriate for public display after Messalina's death.192
Messalina's portrait head was also removed from a full-length statue in the Julio-Claudian
Basilica at Velleia, and replaced with a likeness of Claudius's fourth wife, Agrippina Minor
190Rose 1997, 102. Messalina's statue may also have been Claudius, Messalina, Antonia Minor, Britannicus,
removed and replaced by a representation of Bacchus in Octavia Claudia, and Claudia Antonia (Rose 1997, 185-
the group dedication at Baiae (Wood 1999, 285). In ad- 188, no. 128). Messalina's image would have undoubt-
dition, if the appearance of Claudia Octavia and edly been removed from such a group. Wood 1992, 334
Britannicus at Russelae predates Messalina's downfall, has also suggested that the Louvre portrait may owe its
she is likely to have originally accompanied them. good state of preservation to protection by a private
owner, presumably a partisan of Messalina or her son.
191 MA 1224, h. 1.95 m; de Kersauson 1986, 200-201, Images of Domitian may have been preserved by his par-
no. 94, with earlier literature; Wood 1992, 219-230, figs. tisans after his damnatio as evidenced by a statue, recut
1-4; Boschung 1993, 71, no. 166; Mikocki 1995, 45, 187, from Nero, discovered in the eighteenth century at a villa
no. 245; Wood 1999, 276-280, pls. 123-125. The por- belonging to a freedman of Domitian (Munich, Glypto-
trait has been reassembled from several large and well- thek 394) and a head discovered in a tomb at Isola Sacra
preserved pieces. which belonged to Julia Procula, a member of a family
of freedmen whose patrons, the Julii Proculii, received
192
A papyrus records that Claudius granted permission great advancement under Domitian (Ostia, Museo, inv.
for a group dedication in Alexandria that included 19).
66 ERICR. VARNER
Fig. 8.
Messalinal
Agrippina
Minor,
. . .......:
_a::::.....: ._...
Parma, ,,2,_
....|.wR-
. . .....
.'............... .....................
5_
Museo '.'.'.'
.......
,_.......
_-.
Nazionale
d'Antichita, _....ili..
..ii..
.-.S.
.._
inv. 146
(1870), iv
.... ..... ... ................................. ..........
830 (1952) .. . . .. . . . ..S g .. S .
j
.... ......' ,.
(photo ................................. . ........... .,'5,,'
................
-1'''1;"'';;''
iii
,.:i''5
|jjj''"llll.........
,' tt:.:.5... . . ..'.5->
Deutsches .. ..
Archao-
logisches
Institut,
Rome, neg.
no. 1590).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~............
I. [g.'...
.................
,l
:.|
g....
..':::
'''
'.:
Ftg. 9.
.~~ ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
...........1....
6242~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...
........ Arcteologtco,
Messaltna/Agrtpptna Mtnor, Naples, Museo Nazzonale tnv.
..otDetchsAchooishsInttu,Rme.e..o.6.0)
(fig. 8).193The statue exhibits several signs that it has been reworked.194 The current head of
Agrippina is too small in comparison to the more massive proportions of the body. The folds
of the veil that cover the head often do not match up with the drapery that covers the body.
In addition, the tenon does not sit firmly in its cavity, and the shallow treatment of the drap-
ery around the neck indicates that originally the head and body of the portrait were carved
from a single block of marble. Messalina's portrait was cut from the statue and a mortis pre-
pared in the body for the insertion of the new head. The statue of Claudius from the same
cycle was transformed in an identical manner from a preexisting likeness of Caligula.19'The
portrait of Messalina must have been created at the time of Claudius's accession as a pendant
for the Caligula/Claudius and subsequently altered to depict Agrippina, who married Claudius
shortly after Messalina's execution.
Messalina's images could also be refashioned into representations of Agrippina Minor, as
documented by an important statue in Naples (fig. 9).196 The coiffure of the portrait has been
considerably recut, but the deeply drilled channels of Messalina's ringlets are still plainly
visible, as are traces of the ringlets surrounding the face.197Difficulties inherent in reworking
the elaborate hairstyles favored by the women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty make the recarving
193Parma, Museo Nazionale d'Antichita, inv. 146 195 Parma, Museo Nazionale d'Antichita, no. 1, inv. 280
(1870), inv. 830 (1952), h. 1.69 m; Saletti 1968, 26- (1870), inv. 834 (1952); Saletti 1968, 45-49, no. 10, pls.
33, no. 2, 120-122, pls. 3-6 (with previous literature); 31-34 (with earlier literature); Jucker 1977, 204-212,
Jucker 1973, 25 n. 6; Jucker 1977, 205-206, 208-209; 238; Boschung 1989, 97-98; Rose 1997, 121-123, no. 50,
Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 6 n. 4; Boschung 1989, pls. 132, 135-136.
96-97; Claridge 1990, 143, 148, figs. 10, 22; Wood
1995, 473 n. 64; Rose 1997, 121-124, no. 50, pls. 133, 196Museo Nazionale Archeologico, inv. 6242; Fittschen
148-149. and Zanker 1983, 6, no. 5, n. 4; Wood 1995, 473 n. 64;
Wood 1999, 247 n. 114 (with earlier literature); Varner,
94 Also suggested earlier by Jucker 1973, 25 n. 6 and ed., 2000, 13, fig. 3.
1977, 205-206; Boschung 1989, 97. Rose 1997, 123, how-
ever, sees no indications of reuse. 197 The drilled channels remaining from Messalina's
...........?...:: ...
Fig. 10. Messalina,Rome, Musei Vaticani,Galleria

Chiaramonti inv. 1814 (photo Deutsches
ArchdologischesInstitut, Rome, neg. no. 87 Vat301).
..... ? t r ........... illlS>?s......... 1|1 |
of female portraits extremely rare, and the Naples portrait of Messalina/Agrippina Minor is
the only surviving female Julio-Claudian image to have been recut as a result of damnatio
memoriae.'91Indeed, reconfiguration is the only sculptural process associated with condem-
nations that presents any degree of gender specificity, as the handful of recarved female im-
perial images pales in comparison with the countless reworked portraits of Caligula, Nero,
and Domitian from the first century. The reuse of the Naples and Parma statues attests to the
political prominence of both Messalina and Agrippina during the principate of Claudius and
suggests that their political rivalry found a visual expression in a response almost exclusively
limited to male images.
Messalina's portraits were not merely targeted for removal and reuse. She is the first em-
press for whom there is extant physical evidence that her portraits were deliberately muti-
lated as a result of damnatio memoriae. Two portraits of Messalina, now in the Galleria
Chiaramonti of the Vatican (fig. 10)199and in Dresden,20 were deliberately attacked with ham-
mers or chisels. The Louvre and Dresden portraits are clearly replicas of a single portrait
type, while the Chiaramonti head is likely a variant.20' Both the Dresden and the Chiaramonti
coiffure do not match up with the curls of Agrippina's literature; Mikocki 1995, 187-188, no. 250, pl. 23;
hairstyle, and the general reduction of the coiffure has Varner, ed., 2000, 15, fig. 7.
caused the hair on the top of the head to appear very flat.
200
Albertinum, Skulpturensammlung, cat. 358; Wood
198Although Liverani 1990-1991, 166 has identified a 1992, figs. 5-6, with previous literature; Wood 1999,
portrait from Caere (Musei Vaticani, Museo Gregoriano 276-280, pls. 126-127.
Profano, inv. 9952) as an image of Messalina reworked
to represent Agrippina Minor, Wood 1995, 471-473, 201
Wood has recently reidentified this portrait as Claudia
figs. 15-17 has demonstrated that the portrait is, in fact, Octavia and disassociates it from Messalina's portraits
an image of Drusilla that was modified at the time of in Dresden and the Louvre (1999, 276-277, 286-289,
her deification. See also Rose 1997, 68, 83-86, cat. 5, figs. 128-129). Wood feels that the Chiaramonti portrait
pls. 65-66. stresses Claudia Octavia's physical resemblance to her
mother, but this seems highly unlikely after Messalina's
199 Galleria Chiaramonti 39.9, inv. 1814, h. 0.29 m; condemnation. It is much more probable that Claudia
Liverani 1989, 86; Wood 1992, figs. 7-8, with previous Octavia would have been made to resemble her father
68 ERICR. VARNER
portraitsportrayMessalinawith complex divine attributes.The Chiaramontihead combines

a crested helmet, reminiscentof that of the Athena Parthenosand decoratedwith the Au-
gustansymbolsof the griffinof Apollo and the winged horse of Mars,with a turretedcrown
associatedwith Cybele, Tyche, and Roma. The nose and lips of the Chiaramontihead are
restorationsthat mask damagedareas. The headdresshas also suffered extensive damage.
The erosion of the marbleindicatesthat the likenesswas submergedin water for a long pe-
riod of time. In fact, the disposal of portraitsof condemnedindividualsin water was fairly
common and may reflect the practice of throwingthe corpses of condemnedcriminalsand
dead gladiatorsinto the Tiber.202 The Dresden portraithas been split into four sections, the
resultof a substantialblow to the image.It combinesa turretedcrownwith a wreath.As with
the Bonn cameo of Poppaea (fig. 2), the fulsome divine iconographyof the Chiaramontiand
Dresden representationsof Messalinamay have made them especiallyattractivetargetsfor
deliberate defacement.203
The principateof Nero witnessed the downfallof two empresses:AgrippinaMinor,the
mother of the emperor,and his first wife, Octavia Claudia.Agrippinawas instrumentalin
securingthe accession of her son.204Upon Nero's accession in A.D. 54, Agrippinaseems to
have maintainedher preeminentposition, but by A.D. 55 her power was in eclipse, and she
was accusedof plotting againstthe emperorand was murderedin A.D. 59. Tacitusspecifically
states that supplicationeswere to be celebrated commemoratingthe failure of Agrippina's
conspiracy,and her birthdaywas to be a dies nefastus.205In view of the chargeswhich the
emperorbroughtagainsthis mother,it certainlywould no longer have been advantageousto
displayportraitsof Agrippinaafter her death. Dio reportsthat some of Agrippina'sstatues
were removedfrom displayat Rome.206 The Octaviaalso mentionsthe destructionof her im-
ages and inscriptions,under Nero's orders.207Her image has been mutilatedon an aureus,
and the erasureof her namefrom selectedinscriptionsand a portraitdedicationat Epidauros
furthersuggeststhatsome of herimagesweredestroyed.208 Agrippina'simagewas also removed
Claudius, the reigning princeps. Octavia's childhood por- of the magistrates,supplicationswere decreedat all the
traits from Baiae and Russelae stress her Julio-Claudian shrines,and the Quinquatrusfestivalof Minerva,when
physiognomy and do not resemble the portraits of the conspiracieshad been uncovered, was to be cel-
Messalina in the Louvre and Dresden. The Chiaramonti ebratedwith yearlygames;a golden statue of the god-
head is still close enough to the portraits in the Louvre dess togetherwith a portraitof Nero was to be set up in
and Dresden to be a variant. the Curia;the birthdayof Agrippinawas added to the
days evil to the Romanpeople").On Agrippina'sdeath
202Varner2001, 59. and the allegedconspiracy,see also Suet. Ner.34.3; Tac.
Ann. 14.7.6-7, 11; Dio 61(62).14; Bauman1992, 190-
Three portraits, in Dresden (Albertinum, Skulpturen-
203
203; Barrett1996, 181-195, 244-246; Rose 1997, 48.
sammlung, 352), Munich (Glyptothek, inv. 316), and
Schloss Fasanerie (cat. no. 23) have been identified as a 206Dio 61(62).16.2a; Gregory 1994, 94.
second type for Messalina. These likenesses should, how-
ever, be assigned to Drusilla (Wood 1995, 471-482). 207
Octavia611-612:simulacra,titulosdestruitmortismetu
totumper orbem("He [Nero] destroysmy statues and
Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 365-367, no. 426; Barrett
204
inscriptionsthroughoutthe entireworld underpenalty
1996. of death").
205
Tac. Ann. 14.12: Miro tamen certamine procerum 208
Boschungand Eck 1998, 479-480. Damagedaureus:
decernuntur supplicationes apud omnia pulvinaria, utque BMCRE1:174,no. 72; Cologne,RomischeGermanisches
Quinquatrus, quibus apertae insidiae essent, ludis annuis Museum,no. 12361, SammlungNiessen;Eck 1993, 59,
celebrarentur; aureum Minervae simulacrum in curia et fig. 23; Morizio 1996, 216. Inscriptions:Cagnat 1914,
iuxta principis imago statuerentur; dies natalis Agrippinae 173; ILS 226.31. Portrait dedication from Epidauros:
inter nefastos esset ("However, in an astonishing rivalry Rose 1997, 48, 141, no. 72.
from a statuary group in Rome, erected by imperial musicians in A.D. 55-56 and ultimately
destroyed in the fire of 64. The inscriptions that survived the fire indicate that the group
originally consisted of Augustus, Nero, Claudius, and Agrippina. After Agrippina's death,
her section of the base was removed and the rest of the dedication reinscribed.209The frag-
mentary state of Agrippina's portion of the inscription indicates that it may have been at-
tacked when her statue was taken down. Other prominent images of Agrippina publicly dis-
played in Rome, such as the basanite statue depicting Agrippina as chief priestess of the Di-
vine Claudius from the Claudianium on the Caelian, would also have been destroyed or ware-
housed after her condemnation.210The statue body is composed from forty-one fragments,
and it may have been intentionally attacked. Two related bronze portraits of Agrippina from
Pompeii and Herculaneum also are likely to have been removed from public display and ware-
housed after A.D. 59.
As with the body of her mother, Agrippina Maior, Agrippina Minor's remains never re-
ceived a proper interment in Rome, and it was only after Nero's reign that a rather modest
tomb was erected near the site of her death along the road to Misenum in the environs of a
villa that had belonged to Julius Caesar.211Although the great number of portraits of Agrippina
that survive from Rome and elsewhere may be partially owed to the warehousing of her im-
ages after her death, they ultimately suggest that the destruction of her images was short-
lived and limited in scope. Indeed, Agrippina's reputation begins to be rehabilitated under
Nero himself when games are held in her honor.212
In A.D. 62, Nero divorced his wife, Claudia Octavia, and banished her to Campania on
conflicting charges of infertility and of adultery with the flute-player Eucaerus.213Again, ac-
cusations of adultery and sexual impropriety with a performer were surely designed to
blacken Octavia's reputation.214Nero subsequently engineered serious political charges of
treason against his wife when she was accused of conspiring with Anicetus to win the sup-
port of his troops against the emperor.215In addition, Suetonius reports that Nero bribed
Anicetus to confess to committing stuprum with Octavia, further interweaving the sexual and
the political.216Octavia was then relegated to Pandateria, where she was executed, and this
seems to be the first historical incidence of relegatio or deportatio in insulam with the express
209 CIL 6:40307; AE (1996) 248; Morizio 1996. 212Onthe games see Dio 61(62).17.2 and Barrett 1996,
194. A colossal portrait from the Forum of Trajan, of-
210Body: Rome, Palazzo dei Conservatori (Centrale ten identified as posthumous Agrippina Minor (Wood
Montemartini), inv. 1.882, h. 2.12 m; Talamo in Ensoli 1999, 302-304, figs. 143-144), has been associated, to-
and La Rocca, eds., 2000, 599-600 (with earlier litera- gether with another replica in the Loggia dei Lanzi in
ture); head: Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek 634, Florence, with Trajan's mother (Boschung and Eck
inv. 753; h. 0.30 m; Johansen 1995, 152-153, with figs. 1998, 473-480). The colossal head does have strong
and earlier literature. The portrait represents Agrippina stylistic similarities with Trajan's portraits. Thanks are
in her fourth and final Neronian portrait type, in use due to S. Wood for bringing Boschung and Eck's work
from Nero's accession in 54 until Agrippina's death in to my attention.
59. Although Talamo has suggested that the portrait is
recut, possibly from a representation of Messalina, sculp- Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 223-224, no. 246; for
213
tural modifications to the portrait are minor and princi- Octavia's alleged involvement with Eucaerus, see Tac.
pally consist of modifications to the coiffure for the at- Ann. 14.60; Octavia 107.
tachment of a diadem or priestly crown. Unlike the
Naples statue (Museo Nazionale Archeologico, inv. 214
Vinson 1989, 440-443.
6242), the basanite portrait lacks traces of a preexisting
coiffure associated with Messalina. 215 Tac.Ann. 14.63.
211 Tac.Ann. 14.9.2-5; Barrett1996, 190. 216 Suet. Ner. 35.2.
70 ERICR. VARNER
purpose of execution.217Octavia's head was severed from her corpse and brought to Rome in
an extraordinary act of corpse abuse that is almost exclusively reserved for men.218Indeed,
Octavia is the only empress other than Julia Soemias whose corpse was subjected to decapi-
tation, and the desecration of her corpse, which Tacitus describes as atrocior saevitia, played
an important and graphic role in the political rhetoric orchestrated around her downfall
(additurque atrocior saevitia, quod caput amputatum latumque in urbem Poppaea vidit: "and
an even more atrocious brutality was added: Poppaea saw her head amputated and taken to
the city"). Tacitus's account is remarkable as a historical narrative, since Poppaea as victor
viewing the severed head of a defeated rival recalls the behavior of warring generals, rival
emperors, or political foes.
Octavia enjoyed enormous popularity as the daughter of Claudius, and a great public
outcry ensued in Rome at the initial news of her divorce and banishment.219During demon-
strations in support of Octavia, her portraits were decorated with flowers and paraded around
Rome, while those of Poppaea were overturned, underscoring the importance these images
held in the popular imagination.220Nevertheless, after her death, public thanksgiving was
decreed, and portraits of Octavia must have been removed from public display for fear of
offending either her rival, Poppaea, or the emperor who had divorced her and ordered her
execution. In the Octavia, the historical drama probably written shortly after Nero's over-
throw, Octavia's downfall and condemnation are thematically linked to those of earlier con-
demned Julio-Claudian women including Agrippina Maior, Livilla, Julia Minor, Messalina,
and Agrippina Minor.221Octavia's likeness was included on coins minted in the East.222The
only surviving representations of Octavia, depicting her as a young girl, are from Claudian
group dedications, in Trieste, and a private collection in Spain.223Octavia's downfall under
Nero and the resulting removal and destruction of her images have made the identification
of her mature sculpted likenesses extremely problematical.224As mentioned above, a well-
preserved head worked for insertion in the Terme (often identified as Poppaea), which in-
cludes a diadem and bears striking physical resemblance to portraits of Claudius, may in-
stead be a representation of his daughter, Claudia Octavia.225If the Terme likeness is Claudia
217Tac. Ann. 14.64; Bauman 1996, 89. Two Alexandrian coins depict Octavia with curls massed
222
well over the top of the head and the plaits on the back of
218Tac. Ann. 14.64.2 the head drawn up into a small chignon; in addition, both
numismatic images portray Octavia with very prominent
219 Tac.Ann. 14.60-61. ears, a frequent feature of her father's and husband's ico-
nographies as well (Geissen 1974,52, no. 138; 54, no. 147).
220Tac. Ann. 14.61; naturally, Octavia's significance is See also a coin from Corinth, which depicts Octavia with
stressed in the Octavia, where the fire of 64 is depicted a hairstyle similar to Livia's Salus type, and a coin from
as Nero's response to the attempt on the part of Octavia's Sinope where the hairstyle is very similar to that of
partisans to burnthe imperial palace (801, 83 1-833, 851- Agrippina Minor (Bernoulli 1886, 415, pl. 35, 17, 18).
852); Wood 1999, 271.
Baia, Castello Aragonese, Museo dei Campi Flegrei
223
221
Octavia 932-957. For the public thanksgiving decreed (Rose 1997, 82-83, cat. 4, pls. 62-63); Russelae, Grosetto,
after her death, see Tac. Ann. 14.63-64; Wood 1999, 271- Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma (Rose
272. Wood 1999, 303 has also suggested that Octavia 1997, 116-118, cat. 45; Wood 1999, 283-284); for the
could have been commemorated with posthumous rep- Trieste and Spanish portraits, see Amedick 1991, 378-
resentations after Nero's overthrow, as Agrippina Minor 380, pls. 99-100.
may have been. Dio 63 (64).3.4c asserts that portraits of
those murdered under Nero were reerected after his over- 224Boschung 1993, 75-76; Rose 1997, 48-49.
throw and that remains of his victims were buried in the
Mausoleum of Augustus; Octavia would almost certainly Inv. 124129. The portrait is especially close to repre-
225
have been among these. sentations of Claudius in the profile of the lower face, with
Octavia,it must have been removedfrom public displayand stored afterher execution. The
variant,in Barcelona,is also worked for insertion, and it too may have been removed and
warehoused,and would attest to Octavia'sdamnatioin the provinces.226
Five less prominentimperialwomen were also executed in the laterJulio-Claudianpe-
riod, and their images are likely to have been treatedsimilarlyto those of their more promi-
nent relatives.During the reign of Claudius,Messalinasecuredthroughchargesof adultery
with Senecathe exile of Julia Livilla,the sister of Caligulaand husbandof MarcusVinicius.
She was laterexecuted.227 C. B. Rosehas convincinglyassociatedthe Lepcis-Maltatype,which
S. Wood, however,pointed out the
survivesin at least eleven portraits,with Julia Livilla.228
in
difficulties identifyingthis type with Julia Livillabecausethere aremore survivingreplicas
of the type thanthe Caligulantypesof her two moreprominentsisters,DrusillaandAgrippina
Minor.229 AlthoughJulia'sfirst banishmentin 39 under Caligulamaynot have precludedthe
continued public display of her images, it certainlywould have curtailedtheir production,
and it seems unlikelythat all eleven survivingversionsof the type were producedbetween37
and 39.230 Some replicasmay,in fact, be posthumousand Claudian,probablypart of a con-
certed campaignon the part of Claudius'slast wife, AgrippinaMinor, to rehabilitatethe
memoryof her sister,who had been murderedby her rivalMessalina.231 If so, Julia Livilla's
rehabilitationwould have recalledthat of her mother,AgrippinaMaior,and of her brothers
Nero and Drusus Caesarcarriedout by Caligula.
Julia Drusilla, the daughter of Julia Minor and Drusus Minor, and wife of Rubellius
Blandus,was also murdered,againallegedlyat the instigationof Messalina,sometimein A.D.
43 .2 Laterin Claudius'sprincipate,Lollia Paulina,brieflythe wife of Caligulafrom A.D. 38
to 39, was also exiled and murderedin A.D. 49; after the death of Messalina,Paulinahad
been consideredas a wife for Claudius,and AgrippinaMinoris imputedto havebeen instru-
mental in bringing about her demise.233 Paulina'slegendarywealth and her position as the
survivingwife of a formeremperorare likely to have been majorfactors contributingto her
murder.234 Paulina'scorpsewas beheaded,givinga furtherpoliticaltwistto events
Significantly,
its fleshy underchin. Although R. Bol has attempted to nale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, inv. 620; Rome,
identify a series of marble portraits as Octavia, these por- Musei Vaticani, Ingresso 5, inv. 103; Spoleto, Antonelli
traits are more plausibly associated with Agrippina Minor's Collection; Tripoli, Museum; and formerly art market.
principal Claudian type (the so-called Ancona type), as
for instance the portrait discovered in Rome on the Via 229
Wood 1999, 195.
Varese: Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme, inv.
121316; Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 7, no. 5, n. 4. For the 230
On the exile, see Wood 1999, 213-214; on the ab-
identification as Octavia, see Bol 1986, 289-307; Di Leo sence of Julia Livilla in later Caligulan group dedications,
in MusNazRom 1.9.1, 155-156, no. R 111, with figs. see Rose 1997, 37.
Museo de la Historia de la Ciudad, inv. 7440; Fittschen

226 231
Portraits of Julia Livilla from Lepcis and Russelae
and Zanker 1983, 48, no. 61, n. 1. (Grosseto, Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma)
may be Claudian. Wood 1999, 195 has further noted the
227
Suet. Claud. 29. 1; Tac. Ann. 14.63.2; Sen. Apocol. 10.4; difficulties in identifying a clearlyCaligulanphase at Lepcis.
Dio 60.8.4-6; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 380-381, no. 443;
Barrett 1990, 106-1 10; Barrett 1996, 63-67; Wood 1999, Suet. Claud. 29.1; Sen. Apocol. 10.4; Dio 60.18.4;
232
214, 238. Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 360-361, no. 422.
228
Rose 1997, 68-69. The replicas are in Algiers, Musee; 233Tac.Ann. 4.20.1-2, 12.22; Dio 53.23.5-7, 60(61) 32.4;
Berlin, Staatliche Museen, inv. 1802; Grosseto, Museo Barrett 1990, 132.
Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma, inv. 97740; Malta,
La Valetta, Museo Nazionale; Munich, Residenz, inv. 85; 234
On Lollia Paulina's wealth and her celebrated pearls,
Palermo, Museo Nazionale, inv. 705; Rome, Museo Nazio- see Plin. HN 9.117-118.
72 ERICR. VARNER
surroundingher downfall.235 She is the only other imperialwoman besides ClaudiaOctavia

and Julia Soemiaswho is known to have suffered this form of corpse abuse, and she likely
providedthe precedentfor Octavia.Indeed Paulinaand Octavia'scorpsesarethe first impe-
rialremainsrecordedto havebeen decapitated.Paulina'smemorywas subsequentlyrehabili-
tated under Nero after Agrippina'sexecution when he permittedthe returnof her ashes to
Romeand the erectionof a tomb.236 In 54, Agrippinaalso appearsto havebeen implicatedin
the downfallof her formersister-in-law,Domitia Lepida, who was condemnedto death on
maiestaschargesfor using magic in an attempt on Agrippina'slife; Nero himself testified
againsthis aunt, and it is likely that Lepida'sposition as mother of Messalinaand grand-
motherof Britannicus,Nero's rivalas heir to Claudius,lay behind her persecution.237
The daughterof Claudiusand Aelia Paetina,ClaudiaAntonia,was executed for refusing
to marryNero afterthe death of Poppaeain A.D. 65.238 Antoniahad previouslybeen married
to Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus,as well as to Faustus CorneliusSulla. As the only surviving
child of Claudius,Antonia was the most prominentliving female member of the imperial
house duringthe latter part of Nero's principate.Her refutationof Nero made it clear that
she was unwillingto endorsehis politicalposition. On the contrary,she appearsto havebeen
very willing to use her own influence against the interests of the emperor,and Suetonius
makes it clear that she was condemned on charges of sedition (AntoniamClaudifliam,
recusantempost Poppaeaemortemnuptiassuas,quasimolitricemnovarumreruminteremit).239
Tacitus,in his account of the Pisonian conspiracy,refers to Pliny'sreport that Antonia in-
tendedto accompanyPiso in public afterthe plannedassassinationof Nero in orderto secure
for Piso the approvalof the masses (comitanteAntonia, ClaudiiCaesarisfilia, ad eliciendum
vulgifavorem,quodC. Pliniusmemorat) 240 LikeJuliaLivilla,JuliaDrusilla,LolliaPaulina,and
Domitia Lepida, no extant sculpted images have been plausiblyidentified as representing
Antonia.All four of these womenappearto havebeen executedbecausetheirpositionswithin
theJulio-Claudian dynastygavethemthe powerof legitimizing,throughmarriage,rivalclaimants
to the principate.Theytherebybecamepotentialthreatsto the reigningemperoror empress.
After the end of the Julio-Claudiandynastyin A.D. 68, more than a hundredyearswould
elapsebeforewomenof the imperialhousewere executedagainas a resultof conflictswith the
reigningemperor.Threeimperialwomen,Lucilla,Crispina,andAnniaFundaniaFaustina,were
implicatedin politicalintrigueagainstCommodus,and theirresultingcondemnationsaffected
their sculptedportraits.Indeed, far more physicalevidencesurvivesfor the deliberatedisfig-
urementof femaleimageryin this period than male. There are almostas manymutilatedpor-
traitsof Lucilla(two) as her brotherCommodus(three),and far more for Commodus'swife,
Crispina(six), furtherunderscoringthe political viabilityand liabilityof these women. The
defacementof their imagesis also part of a largertrend that emergesin the late first century
awayfromthe prevalentreuseof imagesand towardmutilationand destructionin the third.241
Following Commodus'saccessionto the principatein A.D. 180, Lucillabecameinvolved
in a plot to assassinateher brother (vita CommodiQuadratumet Lucillamcompulitad eius
235Dio 60.32.4; Voisin 1984, 269-270. 238Suet. Ner.35.4; Raepsaet-Charlier1987, 202-203, no. 217.
236 Tac.Ann. 14.12. 239

Suet. Ner. 35.4.
Tac. Ann. 64.4-6, 65.1; Suet. Ner. 7.1; Barrett 1997,

237
240Tac. Ann. 15.53; Rudich 1993, 136-137.
137-138.
241 Varner, ed., 2000, 15-16; Varner 2001, 51.
interfectionem consilia inire; "Commodus's way of life compelled Quadratus and Lucilla to
undertake a plan for his murder").242As a result, she was exiled to Capri and eventually ex-
ecuted in A.D. 182.243 Several others were murdered as a result of the failed conspiracy,
including Quadratus and Lucilla's stepson, Claudius Pompeianus Quintianus.244
As daughter of one living emperor and wife of his colleague, Lucilla's position was with-
out precedent. During the period of her prominence, especially at the time of her marriage to
Verus, Lucilla was extensively honored with portraits. Her likeness is widely disseminated on
coins minted during the reign of her husband and her father.245Herodian also records that
Marcus allowed her to retain her imperial insignia after the death of Verus and that Commodus
continued this practice.246However, Lucilla's portraits were undoubtedly removed from public
display following her exile and execution. Her first portrait type was probably created at the
time of her betrothal in A.D. 162 or at the time of the marriage in 164.247The type depicts her
with youthful facial features and a Melonenfrisur with the hair waved gently around the face,
and large, rolled plaits, usually three in number, running diagonally along the side of the
head and gathered into a small bun on the nape of the neck. A replica of this type (fig. 11)
formed part of the same sculptural cache and was reused as the portrait of Otacilia Severa
(fig. 5) in a garden wall of the Villa Rivaldi.248Like the portrait of Otacilia, the portrait of
Lucilla is likely to have been warehoused following her downfall.249
Similarly, a fragmentary statue of Lucilla's second type in the Palazzo dei Conservatori
was part of a sculptural depot discovered on the Quirinal in 1901 (fig. 12).250Lucilla's second
type depicts her with more mature facial features, including the heavily lidded eyes common
in portraits of her mother and father. The Melonenfrisur is replaced with a centrally parted
and waved hairstyle, drawn into a bun on the nape of the neck, intended to recall the coif-
fures worn by her mother. Lucilla's second portrait type may have been introduced to cel-
ebrate the birth of her daughter Aurelia in A.D. 166.251 In the Conservatori likeness, Lucilla is
assimilated to Venus Genetrix, with shoulder locks, diadem, and drapery slipping off her
242SHA Comm. 4.1-2; see also Dio 72(73).4.5; Herod. charges of Dio 62(63).4.5 that the inappropriate sexual
1.8.4-6; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 67-69, no. 54. behavior of Lucilla may have been part of contemporary
attempts to blacken the empress's character.
243SHAComm. 4.4, 5.7; Dio 72(73).4-6; Herod. 1.8-9.
247On Lucilla's portrait typology, see Fittschen and
244SHA Comm. 4.4 also mentions Norbana, Norbanus, Zanker 1983, 24-26, nos. 24-25, who associate the in-
and Paralius, and that the mother of Paralius was exiled troduction of the first type with the birth of Lucilla's
with Lucilla. SHA Comm. 4.2, 4.4.7-10 indicates that the first child.
praetorian praefect Tarrutenius Paternus was involved
in the plot, as were the brothers S. Quintilius Condianus, 248 Palazzo dei Conservatori, Braccio Nuovo 3.25, inv.
and S. Quintilius Valerianus Maximus, whose magnifi- 2766 (Centrale Montemartini 2.91), h. 0.21 m; Fittschen
cent suburban villa between the Via Latina and the Via and Zanker 1983, 24-25, no. 24, pl. 33, with previous
Appia was expropriated; Paternus was executed, also literature; Varner, ed., 2000, 18.
apparently in A.D. 182 (Dio 72[73].5.1-2; Herod. 1.9.1-
9). 249Other well-preserved likenesses of Lucilla may have
been warehoused following the empress's downfall: see
245
RIC 3:275-276, nos. 755-792, 252-255, nos. 1728- Fittschen 1982, 75-79, nos. 1-12.
1781, pls. 11.234-238, 13.263; BMCRE 4:568-581, nos.
1140-1228, pls. 76.8-13, 77.1-15, 78.1-7. 250Museo Nuovo, Sala 1.9, inv. 1781 (Centrale Monte-
martini 3.85), h. 0.54 m; Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 25-
246
Herod. 1.8.4. Herodian's contention that Lucilla's 26, no. 25, pl. 34 (with previous literature); Arata 1993,
anger over her loss of precedence when Commodus mar- 195, pl. 51.1-2; Varner, ed., 2000, 15.
ried Crispina provided the impetus for the plot is a bla-
tant attempt to trivialize the conspiracy. Similar are the 251 Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 25.
74 ERICR. VARNER
Fig. 11 (nearright).
Lucilla,Rome, Palazzo .
dei Conservatori,Braccio
Nuovo, inv.2766
(CentraleMontemartini I t X
2.91)(photo
Deutsches . ..........
2,-~ .. ...X . ...
ArchdologischesInstitut, f
Rome, neg. no.

59.1454). e n11, K!'' !i , , lq'RZiF :. F
Fig. 12 (far right).

Lucillaas Venus
Genetrix,Rome,Palazzo 7......
dei Conservatori,Museo
Nuovo, inv. 1781
(CentraleMontemartini
3.85) (photo Deutsches _/
ArchdologischesInstitut,
Rome, neg. no.
36.1737).
right shoulder. This depiction of Lucilla as Venus Genetrix would have been especially ap-
propriate after the birth of her daughter, stressing her position as producer of potential heirs
to the dynasty. Like the portraits of Messalina in the first century, sculpted likenesses of Lucilla
were also intentionally mutilated as a result of her condemnation. The Conservatori portrait
has received considerable damage. It is only preserved from the breast up. Modern restora-
tions mask the destruction of the nose, mouth, chin, much of the left side of the face, and the
neck. The portrait was discovered in an underground room of a domus on the Quirinal which
may have belonged at one point to Plautilla's father Plautianus; the damaged portrait of Lucilla
was found together with a deliberately disfigured portrait of the condemned third-century
emperor Macrinus, while the rest of the sculptural remains, including two private portraits,
had not been intentionally attacked.252 Like the Chiaramonti and Dresden portraits of
Messalina (fig. 10) and the Bonn cameo of Poppaea (fig. 2), the overt divine imagery of the
Conservatori Lucilla may have rendered it especially liable to vandalism after Lucilla's ex-
ecution, and certainly wholly unsuitable for continued display. After its destruction, the por-
trait was stored at the Quirinal domus.
A second fragment from a portrait statue depicting Lucilla with divine attributes, this
time as Ceres, was also deliberately defaced after her death (fig. 13).253 The upper section of
the statue, a replica of Lucilla's first portrait type, has been preserved. The facial features
have been attacked with a hammer and chisel. Most of the right eye, the nose, mouth, and
chin have been obliterated. Like the portraits of Julia Mammaea in Paris and Ostia (figs. 3,
4), the rest of the Guelma statue is well preserved, underscoring the deliberate nature of its
2S2The domus was identified on the basis of an inscrip- other sculpture discovered at the domus, see Bertoletti
tion on a fistula. On the discovery of the sculpture, see et al., eds., 1997, 102-103 (with figs.).
Mariani 1901, 158-179, pls. 9-12; figure 5 depicts the
portrait of Lucilla before restorations. The deliberately 253
Guelma, Museum, inv. M 396, precise measurements
damaged Macrinus is also in the Museo Nuovo, Sala 7.21, unavailable, over-lifesized; Wegner and Unger 1980,
inv. 1757 (Centrale Montemartini 3.82); Fittschen and 68, pl. 5.3-4; Fittschen 1982, 76, no. 7, with previous
Zanker 1985, 112-113, no. 95, pls. 116-117. For the literature.
*.Rt~~~ ~ ~ Fig. 13 (far left). Lucilla

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
....t .. ...
as Ceres,Guelma,
Museum, inv. M 396
(after Wegnerand Unger
#:. 1980, 68, p1.5.3).
Fig. 14 (near left).

Lucilla, Izmir,Museum,
~~4m~~ ..... ~~~~ iv. 3694 (afterInan and
Rosenbaum1966, pl.
23.2)
destruction. The image was discovered earlier in the last century during the excavations in
the Forum of Madauros (in Roman Mauretania), where it is likely to have been originally
displayed. Following its mutilation, it must have been buried, or stored in a structure associ-
ated with the Forum
A colossal portrait from the Forum at Smyrna has also been similarly mutilated (fig. 14).25
The head is another Type I replica and is worked for insertion into a draped statue body. The
facial features have been obliterated with a chisel, resulting in the characteristic T-shaped
damage. Furthermore, the eyeballs have been gouged out, as was also the case with the Ostian
Julia Mammaea. The Guelma and Jzmir depictions of Lucilla demonstrate that the removal
and destruction of Lucilla's images were not limited to the capital but also extended into the
provinces. Lucilla's extraordinary position as the daughter of one Augustus, widow of an-
other, and Augusta in her own right, as well as her apparent willingness to use this position
against her brother, made her a volatile threat to the reigning emperor. In order to maintain
his regime, Commodus must have deemed the execution of his sister necessary and the de-
struction of her likenesses desirable.
The reconfiguration of portraits either decades or even centuries after a condemnation
lacks the ideological impact of those enacted in the immediate aftermath of a downfall from
power. Such reconfigurations do, however, attest to the warehousing of imperial likenesses,
as in the case of the portrait of Agrippina Minor in Naples, which visually cannibalized the
preexisting image of her rival and predecessor, Messalina (fig. 9). These later recyclings were
motivated more for practical or economic reasons than as political vendettas.25 Two well-
254Izmir, Museum, inv. 3694, h. 0.320 m; Fittschen 1982, National Museum, Roman Collection, inv. 348; Boschung
77, no. 11, with previous literature. 1989, 112-113, no. 21, pl. 22.1-4 [with previous literature]),
and to Claudius Gothicus (New York, Shelby White and
Examples of such delayed recyclingsfor first-centuryem-
255
Leon Levy collection; Varner,ed., 2000, 11-12, fig. 1); Nero
perorsinclude portraitsof Caligulareworkedto Titus (Arles, reworked to Gallienus (Columbia, University of Missouri,
Musee Reattu, Cellar Depot; Boschung 1989, 113, cat. no. Museum of Art and Archaeology,62.46; Varner,ed., 2000,
22, sketch 21, pl. 23.1-4 [with earlier literature]; Athens, 146-148, no. 30, with figs.) and to an unidentified fourth-
76 ERIC R. VARNER
Fig. 15. Lucilla/Helena, Rome,

Museo Capitolino,Stanzadegli . ....
Imperatori59, v. 496 (photoe
DeutschesArchdologisches
Institut, Rome, neg. nos.
77.1717, 57.1378).
*..;'........I..;_ R _-
known seated portraits of Constantine's mother, Helena, as Venus, in the Museo Capitolino
(fig. 15)256and the Uffizi (fig. 16) 257 have been recarved from images of Lucilla and also at-
test to such warehousing. The coiffures of both portraits have been radically recut into
conflationsof Helena'sScheiteizopfandHaarkranz
arrangements.258 Nevertheless,cleartraces
of the deep (vertical) waves of Lucilla's second portrait type are visible. Like the fragmentary
representation of Lucilla as Venus from the Quirinal, these impressive seated images of the
empress in the guise of the goddess may have been designed originally to celebrate the birth
of Lucilla's daughter in A.D. 166. As such, they would have been wholly inappropriate for
display after her downfall and must have been removed and warehoused until their reuse in
the Constantinian period 259
The portraits of Crispina were disfigured like those of her sister-in-law Lucilla. Bruttia
Crispina's date of birth is unknown, but she was the daughter of Lucius Fulvius Rusticus
Gaius Bruttius Praesens and married Commodus in A.D. 178, after he had been raised to the
rank of Augustus by Marcus Aurelius.260At the time of her marriage, Crispina received the
century emperor (Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano delle Wegner 1984, 144; Arata 1993, 194-196, pls. 48-49;
Terme,Magazzini,inv. 126279;Bergmannand Zanker 1981, Varner, ed., 2000, 13, fig. 5.
320, 408-409, no. 47, fig. 64a-c); and Domitian reworked
to fourth-centuryemperors (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 258OnHelena's hairstyles, see most recently Arata 1993,
89.6; Varner,ed., 2000, 172-174, no. 40; Paris, Bibliotheque 190-192.
Nationale, Cabinet des Medailles; Bergmann and Zanker
1981, 409-410, no. 48, fig. 65a-c). 259
Similarities in the female coiffures of the Constantinian
period to those of the Antonine period, as well as the
256
Stanza degli Imperatori 59, inv. 496, h. 1.21 m; evident Constantinian predilection for Antonine sculp-
Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 35-36, no. 38, pls. 47-48 ture in general, may have made the reuse of these stat-
(with previous literature); L'Orange and Wegner 1984, ues particularly attractive. Arata 1993, 200 has plausibly
146, pl. 74b-c; Arata 1993, 185-200 (pls. 42-45); Varner, suggested for the recutting of the Capitoline statue a date
ed., 2000, 13, fig. 4. of either 324, the year in which Helena received the title
of Augusta, or 326, the year in which Constantine cel-
257Inv.1914.171, h. 1.0 m; Mansuelli 1961, 131, no. 171, ebrated his vicennalia in Rome.
fig. 168a-c (with previous literature); Calza 1972, 171-
172, no. 81, pls. 53.164, 54.167-168; L'Orange and 260SHA Marc. 27.8; Comm. 5.9; Dio 71(72).33.1; Herod.
Fig. 16.Lucilla/Helena,
*. .... | I
Florence, Galleriadegli
Uffizi,inv.1914.171(photo
..........I. X sDeutsches
: Archdologisches
.. ...
..... |I-Institut, Rome,neg.nos.
65.2145,65.2147).
Xf%.-,:,s,,5,
j>fsss I I _w_
.~~~L .....
.
.:.....
......
M ; XZ_ ; _ II
. t
. . -..................
................... I.... .......

'''
.........
............... ...............................
: :.}::. : i
....................
..............................
. .. .
......
.... .........._..
_: X.
- -- ---- ~ ~ ~ ,- ~ ~ . .
...InscIptiona,
Alhog
e,,,22 ee|e Dio sem .................... ... ................................s<<- to inict tha sh wa excue tha _lsam yea, evienc
ssvmx.
*:_.,......................t4.
,x
. :::: .#w.{v w \ : e ~
X=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-,;:sfff:.:
title of Augusta,261 but in A.D. 182 Crispina was exiled to Capri on charges of adultery.262
trngesos!eehde
Although bein that
Dio seems to indicate thSe_trdiioa
she rhtoithatofsame
was executed seulmsodctshdhp
year, inscriptional evidence
suggests that she continued to live, and she was probably murdered in A.D. 187 or as late as
p91/192.e
b Crispina
r was exiled in the same year as Lucilla, and both women were relegated
to Capri. Dio mentions Crispina's exile and execution in his account of Lucilla's plot, so it is
highly possible that Crispina was also implicated in the same conspiracy, and her political
transgressions were hidden behind the traditional rhetoric of sexual misconduct, as had hap-
pened to so manyimperialwomen before.
As the principalAugusta during the last two years of Marcus'sreign and the first two
yearsof her husband's,Crispinamust have been extensivelyhonored with public images.26
Using the evidence of her numismatic representations, Fittschen has convincingly demon-
strated that Crispina enjoyed two portrait types that were likely in use during the four-year
period before her exile.26l The first type was introduced at the time of her marriage in A.D.
178. In it, Crispina wears te theStirnrollen-melonenfrisur, which combines the typical
Melonenfrisurwith a heavyrolled plait, partedover the centerof the foreheadand surround-
ing the face. The plaits on the side of the head are usuallyfour or five in number and are
drawn up into a large bun which covers much of the back of the head. Her ears are left
uncovered.Crispina'sforeheadis straight,her eyes long and almondshaped, her nose short,
and her mouth smalland full. Crispina'ssecond type was createdat the time of Commodus's
accessionin A.D. 180. In this type, the Stirnrollen-melonenfrisur
is replacedby a coiffure in
1.8.4; CIL 8:2366 = ILS 405; CIL 10:408 = ILS 1117; 263CIL3:12487; CIL 8:16530 = ILAig 3032; CIL 22689 =
Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 249-250, no. 149. IRT2.
261 CIL 3:12487; CIL 8:2366 = ILS 405; CIL 8:16350 = 26See Herod. 1.8.4 on Crispina taking precedence over
ILAig 3032; CIL 8:22689 = IRT2; CIL 10:408 = ILS 1117 Lucilla; for Crispina's coinage, see BMCRE 4:765-769,
= II 3.3.18; IGR 4:935. nos. 406-441, pl. 102.1-15.
262SHAComm.5.9; Dio 72(73).4.6. 265

Type I: Fittschen 1982, 82-86, nos. 1-11, pls. 49-52;
Type II: Fittschen 1982, 86-88, nos. 1-6, pls. 53-56.
78 ERICR. VARNER
Fig.17 (nearright). ; - :
Crispina,Florence,
GalleriadegliQffizi, attacked a
inv. 1914.13(after .
Mansuelli 1961,44
no. 143).
Fig.18 (farright).
Crispina,Ostia,Museo, time of her Tr
inv. 1954(afterCaiza f on
1977,PI.19).
.f.
which the hair is gently waved, parted in the center and again drawn up into a large bun.
The hair descends fairly low on the nape of the neck and entirely covers the ears.
Crispina's portraits were removed from public display, and surviving sculpted replicas of
both types were forcefully attacked and damaged after her downfall, either at the time of her
banishment or at the time of her death.26 Type I portraits from Rome26 n si2mhv
had most of their facial features obliterated. Modern restorations to the eyes, nose, mouth,
and chin of a bust-length Type II portrait in the Uffizi masks the intentional damage inflicted
on this portrait (fig. 17).269 A portrait in Castle Howard also has had extensive modern resto-
rations to the facial features, which were apparently disfigured in antiquity.270 The fragmen-
tary state of a likeness from Ostia, a replica of Crispina's Type II, may also be the result of
heavy blows dealt to the portrait during demonstrations against Crispina's images (fig. 18).27
Only the top of the head, forehead, left eye, and cheek of the portrait have been preserved.
The damaged likeness was reused as construction material near the Capitolium in a later pe-
riod.272Likewise, the rear section of another Type II portrait from Rome may be a surviving
fragment from a vandalized likeness.273 As was the case with Messalina and Lucilla, the vehe-
ment destruction of Crispina's images at Rome and Ostia suggests that her exile and execu-
tion were the result of intrigues against Commodus rather than adultery.
266
As with Lucilla, other well-preserved portraits of 269Inv.1914.13, h. 0.6 m; Fittschen 1982, 85. no. 3, pl.
Crispina may have been warehoused after her fall from 56.1-2 (with earlier literature).
power; see Fittschen 1982, 84-88, nos. 1-11, and 1-6,
pls. 49-56. 270Fittschen 1982, 85, no. 6, pl. 50.3-4.
267
Formerly in the Magazzini of the Domus Aurea; 271Magazzini, Sala 7, inv. 1954, h. 0.16 m; Calza 1977,
Jucker 1981b, 718-719, no. 189, pl. 53.48a-b (with 25, no. 25, pl. 19 (with earlier literature); Wegner and
previous literature); Fittschen 1982, 85, no. 5, n. 9, Unger 1980, 101.
pl. 51.2.
272
Notizie degli scavi (1913) 210 (Vaglieri).
268Magazzini,Sala 1, inv. 452, h. 0.23 m; Calza 1977, 24-
25, no. 24, pl. 19; Wegner and Unger 1980, 101. 273MuseoCapitolino, Magazzini, inv. 2106/S, h. 0.20 m;
Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 95-96, no. 139, pl. 165.
Fig. 19. Annia FundaniaFaustina(?),

Ostia, Museo, inv. 1123 (photo
DeutschesArchdologischesInstitut,
Rome, neg. nos. 70.1957, 70.1964).
...,.
.._...iS...'..'
~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~.
........... . ... . r
Two other female members of the imperial family were executed during the principate of
Commodus, namely his father's cousin Annia Fundania Faustina and her daughter Vitrasia
Faustina.274Vitrasia was probably executed in A.D. 182, the same year that witnessed the down-
fall of Lucilla and Crispina.27'Her mother was executed in Achaea ten years later in 192.276
An intentionally mutilated statue with an erased inscription on its plinth from Ostia may
represent the older woman (fig. 19).277 The physiognomy of the portrait is similar to that of
female members of the Antonine dynasty, especially in the treatment of the heavily lidded
eyes. The hairstyle, which closely resembles coiffures worn by Faustina Minor, suggests that
the subject should be a woman like Annia Fundania Faustina, who was closer in age to Faustina
Minor, rather than a younger woman like her daughter Vitrasia, or Annia Aurelia Cornificia
Faustina, the sister of Commodus.78 The right eye, nose, mouth, and chin of the Ostia por-
trait have all been deliberately damaged with a chisel, and a one-line inscription, undoubt-
edly giving the name of the woman, has also been eradicated from the statue's base. As with
other intentionally mutilated images, the rest of the statue is generally well preserved. The
portrait was excavated in 1913 near the Horrea of Hortensius, where it may have been bur-
ied after its defacement.279If the statue does indeed represent Annia Fundania Faustina, it
274Annia Fundania Faustina: CIL 6:1540 = ILS 1112'; Wegner and Unger 1980, 101 (not Crispina); Fittschen
CIL 12:361 = ILS 1114; CIL 15:520; II5679 = ILS 1113; and Zanker 1983, 91, no. 130, n. 1 (private Antonine
SHA Comm. 5.8, 7.7; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 76-77, no. woman); Pavolini 1983, 90.
60. Vitrasia Faustina: SHA Comm. 4.10; Dio 72(73).5.1;
CIL 10:4625 = ILS 1115; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 642- 278Assuggested by Calza 1977, 21. Fittschen has raised the
643, no. 820. possibility that portraits in the Capitoline (Salone 47, inv.
667), the Terme (113 110), and Naples (6197), which clearly
275SHA Comm. 4.10; Dio 72(73).5.1. form a replica series, might represent Annia Fundania
Faustina. The evidence of the Ostia statue suggests, how-
276SHA Comm. 7.7. SHA Comm. 5.8 also alleges that ever, that these portraits depict some other female member
Commodus had an affair with Fundania. of the imperial family or an important private person
(Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 74, no. 97, nn. 6, 8, and 9).
277Museo, Sala 6.2, inv. 1123, h. 1.8 m; Calza 1977, 20-
21, no. 17, p. 14 (Cornificia?), with previous literature; 279Notiziedegli scavi(1913) 178 (Vaglieri).
80 ERICR. VARNER
must have been attackedafterher murderin 192, and its destructionwould suggestthat her
murderwas politicallymotivated.Commodustook a greatinterestin Ostia. As a resultof his
numerousbuildingprojects,the theaterwas substantiallyrefurbishedand the GrandiHorrea
were rebuilt. The defacementof images of Annia FundaniaFaustinaand Crispinaat Ostia
would have been effective ways for the city to manifestits loyalty to the princepsand ac-
knowledge his munificentia.280
The intentional mutilation of the portraits of Lucilla, Crispina, and Annia Fundania
Faustina represents a move away from the more common practice in the first century of
simply removingand warehousinglikenesses of condemned women. This trend continues
in the Severan period, as witnessed by the deliberately defaced images of Plautilla and,
later,Julia Mammaea(figs. 3, 4).2 Publia Fulvia Plautillawas the daughterof Plautianus,
the praetorianprefect and kinsman of Septimius Severus. In A.D. 202 she was marriedto
Severus'seldest son, Caracalla.282 At that time, she was grantedthe title Augusta.However,
the marriagewas far from felicitous, and the contemporaryhistorians Dio and Herodian
both record Caracalla'sloathing for his bride.283In A.D. 205, Plautilla'sfatherwas accused
of plotting againstCaracallaand Severusand was executed.284 Plautillasharedin her father's
downfall, and she was banishedto Lipariand perhapsdivorced. After the death of Severus
in A.D. 21 1, CaracallaorderedPlautilla'sexecution and rigorouslypursueda damnatioagainst
her images and inscriptions.285
During the brief period of her prominencefrom A.D. 202-205, Plautillaenjoyedunprec-
edentedportraithonors.Fivenumismaticportraittypeswerecreatedin less thanthreeyears.286
Type I portraysher with full, girlish facial features and a Melonenfrisurwith five to seven
horizontalplaits on the side of the head.287Curls often escape the hairstylein front of the
ears and on the temples. The plaits of hair are gatheredinto a bun at the back of the head.
The second portrait type combines more mature facial features with a version of the
Melonenfrisur in whichthe plaitsrunvertically,insteadof horizontally,anda gentlywavedband
of hairframesthe face.288 The bun is usuallyflatterin this type and coversmuchof the back of
the head. In TypeIII, the facial featuresare yet more mature,less plump and much thinner
280Ostia was briefly renamed colonia felix Commodiana. Herod. 3.13.2-3, 4.6.3. Inscriptional evidence suggests
On Commodus's building activities in Ostia, see Pavolini that the damnatio was instituted at the time of her mur-
1983, 32. der, rather than earlier when she was exiled. Where
Plautilla's name and titles are erased in inscriptions, they
The trend can also be seen in later male portraits,
281 are often replaced by titles that were not awarded to Julia
namely those of Geta, Macrinus, Severus Alexander, Domna until 211/212, as on the Arch of the Argentarii
Maximinus Thrax, and Maximus. and an inscription from Lambeisis (Paris, Musee du Lou-
vre, MA 2044; Baratte in Seefried Brouillet, ed., 1994,
282Dio 75(76).14.5, 15.2, 76(77).1.2; Herod. 3.10.5-7. 102-103, no. 71, and color pl. page 167).
283
Dio 76(77).2.5-3.1; Herod. 3.10.8. Concordia is 286 For Plautilla's coinage see: BMCRE
5:234-239, nos.
stressed on the coins of Caracalla and Plautilla, and this 398-430,300-301, nos. 734-740,322-324, nos. 804-808,
may have been designed to counteract any public per- pls. 37.17-20, 38.1-11, pls. 46.5-7, 48.7-8; Hill 1964, 8.
ceptions of discord between the imperial couple; see F.
S. Kleiner in Kleiner and Matheson, eds., 1996, 89, no. 287
For instance, BMCRE 5:234-235, nos. 395, 400, pl.
52. 37.15, 18; Plautilla's earliest coins give her name in the
dative, indicating that the coins are being minted as an
284Dio 76(77).3-4. honor for her, rather than that she is minting coins in
her own right.
Plautilla had been banished with her brother Plautius,
285
who was also killed with her; Dio 76(77).6.3, 77(78)1.1; 288BMCRE5:235-237, nos. 398, 412, 417, pls. 37.17, 38.6.
;:s~~ ~ ~~~~~~
~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
......... . .
j7,,j |
~~~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R~~~~~
.e ,
_ Ei 1i i Ni !l 11 r,,;
......., *
x; ffi~~~~~~
. . . .... ..
. ^ . .E X. . tM2
u E
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~M
.
r -;:
t . . '
r s;:
k
: .
A
, ......................
W.r.........
.
....... ..
Fig. 21. Plautilla, Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, 70-39,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MM
purchased with fund~~~-sprvddbthLarneHFartBqet(oosM eu)
Fi.0 Platla Roe Musi Vaicani'Ta _X,,
:.
Maazii 73 1 inv 42 78 (pot Museum)
than in the earlier types.289The Melonenfrisur is replaced by the first datable example of the
Scheitelzopf, in which the plaits of hair are folded over on the nape of the neck and pulled up
the back of the head. In Type IV, the Scheitelzopfis replaced by the Nestfrisurwith gently waved
hair, ears uncovered, and small bun tucked into the mass of the coiffure on the nape of the
neck.290Finally, Plautilla's fifth type depicts her with a version of the Helmfrisur, very similar to
that worn by her mother-in-law Julia Domna, which descends low on the nape of the neck and
entirely covers the ears.291The great number and variety of her numismatic images underscore
the enormous emphasis that was placed on Plautilla as a potential producer of heirs in the
dynastic propaganda of the period. They fully attest to her father's extremely influential posi-
tion as praetorian prefect, kinsman and advisor to Severus, and father-in-law of Caracalla.292
Sculpted replicas exist for the first three of Plautilla's numismatic portrait types.293Two
of these portraits have been violently attacked. A Type I portrait in the Vatican (fig. 20)294
and a Type III portrait in Houston (fig. 2 1)295 have suffered extensive damage to the facial
289BMCRE
5:237, no. 415. identified sculpted images and are likely private por-
traits; see Cambi 1988,221-228 and Fileri in MusNazRom
290BMCRE
5:237 no. 422, pl. 38.9. 1.9.2, 357-360.
294
291BMCRE5:238, no. 427, pl. 38.10. Magazzini 731, inv. 4278; von Kaschnitz Weinberg
1936-1937, 297, no. 731; Nodelman 1965, 41; Wiggers
292 Nodelman 1965, 227 and in Erhart et al. 1980, 81. and Wegner 1971, 117-118, 127-128, pl. 29a-b.; Varner,
ed., 2000, 176-178, no. 41, with figs.
The last two portrait types were probably introduced
293
shortly before the downfall of Plautilla and her father, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. 70-39, h. 0.355 m; Vermeule
295
and if they were disseminated in sculpted replicas, they 1981, 355, no. 306, with fig. and previous literature;
must have been very few in number. Heads in the Terme, Nodelman 1982, 108-117, figs. 6-9; Varner in Kleiner
Zagreb, and Ravenna identified as Plautilla lack close and Matheson, eds., 1996, 85-86, no. 46, with fig.; Varner
correspondences with her numismatic and securely 2000, 15, fig. 8.
82 ERICR. VARNER
Fig.22 (nearright). . ....

Plautilla, Malibu,J. Paul '-! .. .. .......
GettyMuseum,
72.AA.118(photo
J. PaulGetty
courtesy
Museum,Malibu,
California).
Fig.23 (farright).
Plautilla/Constantinian
Irvine,Robert
Empress,
K.Martincollection
(afterNodelman 1982,
fig. 1 1) .
the forehead, eyebrows, left eye, ...

...nose,mouth,andchin.Aswithotherdeliberatelydam-
. ., ....,Y.*___
. ...%W..|E
the forehead, eyebrows,:: left eye, nose, mouth and chin As wit ote-.lbrteydm
whichris.worked fticansrtion, has beengouged with aclawmchisel,sevrcely dam agin both
of the eyes and the right cheek. Like the portrait of Julia Mammaea from Ostia (fig. 4), the
body into which the Houston head was inserted may have been reused via the insertion of
a new head. Another Type III portrait in Los Angeles may also have been attacked (fig.
22).29 This head has been cut from a bust or statue and suffered long immersion in water,
as was the case with the Chiaramonti portrait of Messalina (fig. 1O).298 K. Fittschen has also
identified a badly weathered portrait as a replica of Plautilla's second type.299Although the
head's poor state of preservation makes a secure identification impossible, if it does in fact
represent Plautilla, its depredations may be the result of an intentional attack on the image
in antiquity.
In contrast, two extremely wel preserved bust-length portraits in the Sala dei Busti of
the Vaticant00and the Museo Torloniadsemay have been warehoused after Plautilla's down-
fall. A Type III likeness in a private collection that was recarved in the Tetrarchic or
Constantinian period confirms that Plautilla's likenesses were stored to await some form of
296Apoorlypreservedheadin the Magazziniof the Museo Minor (as Inan and Alfoldi-Rosenbaum 1979, 333-334,
Capitolinohas been identified as possiblybeing a rep- no. 333, pl. 240.3-4).
lica of Plautilla'ssecond portrait type (Fittschen and
Zanker1983,30, no. 32, pl. 40). 299Rome,Museo Capitolino, Magazzini, inv. 79, h. 0.19
m; Fittschen and Zanker 1983, 30, no. 32, pl. 40.
297J. PaulGettyMuseum,72.AA.118,h. 0.305m;Frel
1981, 93, no. 76, 130, with fig. and previousliterature; 300No. 300, inv. 687; Wiggers and Wegner 1971, 119, 128
Yegiil 1981, 65-66, figs. 8-10; Nodelman 1982. Varner, pl. 29 c-d (with earlier literature).
ed., 2000, 180-182, no. 42, with figs.
301No. 609; Wiggers and Wegner 1971, 127, with earlier
298Theportraitis carvedof Italianmarble,so it is likely literature; Caruso and Gasparri 1980, 228, no. 609;
to be from Italy (Frel 1981, no. 76) and not from Asia Nodelman 1982, 110 n. 12, fig. 10.
reuse (fig. 23).302 The portrait was originally a diademed replica of the empress's third por-
trait type with the Scheitelzopf. The artist who recarved the image has left the distinctive
coiffure intact, but has reworked the physiognomy in an effort to make the new likeness more
mature. The chin has been cut back in order to reduce the long oval shape of Plautilla's face,
causing the neck to appear more thick and heavyset and adding a fleshy underchin in profile.
The sculptor has also concentrated his efforts on recutting the eyes, making them larger and
endowing them with the heart-shaped pupils that are a hallmark of Tetrarchic and
Constantinian portraits.303Because the portrait includes a diadem, it is likely that it has been
reworked into the image of an empress. But the recarved portrait has retained too many ele-
ments of the original likeness of Plautilla to permit positive identification of the new image.
Helena, Fausta, and other later empresses wore coiffures that were similar to Plautilla's
Scheitelzopf, making the portrait particularly well suited for reuse.
Plautilla's likeness, together with her name and titles, has also been obliterated from the
Arch of the Argentarii in Rome.304The trabeated arch was initially dedicated by a guild of
silversmiths or bankers (the argentarii) to Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla, Geta,
Plautilla, and Plautianus between 10 December 203 and 9 December 204.305 All trace of
Plautilla, as well as of her father, Plautianus, and her brother-in-law, Geta, has been eradi-
cated from the monument as a result of their damnationes memoriae. Plautilla was originally
depicted with her husband and father in a relief panel from the interior western bay of the
arch (fig. 24). Caracalla is the sole remaining figure in this panel, but the pattern of abrasions
in the blank sections of the relief confirm that Plautilla appeared at the proper right of the
composition. S. de Maria has plausibly suggested that the arch was surmounted by a bronze
statuary group of the imperial family, and if he is correct, Plautilla's portrait would certainly
have been removed from the group after her death and condemnation.306Plautilla was in-
voked in line four of the inscription on the attic of the arch as Augusta and the wife of
Caracalla. The reference to Plautilla was erased and replaced with additional titles for Julia
Domna that had been awardedin A.D. 211, MATERSENATUSET PATRIAE.307 As a consummate
expression of abolitio memoriae, great care has been taken to obliterate any vestige of Plautilla
on the Arch of the Argentarii. The vehement eradication of Plautilla's public images is as much
a testament to her own former prominence as to the power of the reigning emperor to deni-
grate the reputations and destroy the monuments of those who had transgressed against him.
Additional evidence for the condemnation of imperial women as a result of political in-
trigue or their political allegiances survives from early in the fourth century. Flavia Maxima
Fausta, the daughter of Maximian and sister of Maxentius, was married to Constantine in
A.D. 300 and bore five children, three sons (Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans)
Irvine, collection of Robert K. Martin, h. 0.275 m;

302 figs. 2-3.
Yegiil 1981, 63-68, figs. 1-4; Nodelman 1982, 110, figs.
11-12. 305On the argentarii, see de Maria 1988, 308. The monu-
ment is dated on the basis of Severus's titles given in line
303
Yegiil 1981, 66 n. 14 compares the pupils of the 2 of the inscription: PONTIF. MAX. TRIB. POTEST XI IMP. XI
recarved portrait to those of a likeness of one of COS. III PATER PATRIAE.
Constantine's sons in New York (Rogers Fund 67.07);
for similarly carved pupils, see Fittschen and Zanker 306DeMaria 1988, 308.
1983, nos. 38, 173, 175, 178, 179 and 1985, nos. 122-
128. 307 Line four originally read: IVLIAE AVG. MATRI AVGG. ET
CASTRORUMET FVLVIAEPLAVTILLAEAVG. IMP. CAES. M. AVRELI
De Maria 1988, 307-309 (with earlier literature);
304 ANTONINI Pll FELICIS AVG.; Haynes and Hirst 1939, 324;
LTUR 105-106, fig. 57 (Diebner); Kleiner 2000, 51, de Maria 1988, 308.
84 ERIC R. VARNER
Fig. 24. Rome, Arch of the Argentarii,western

interior bay, [Plautilla, Plautianus,and] Caracalla
(photo DeutschesArchdologischesInstitut, Rome,
neg. no. 70.1000).
y.1
,. . .. . ..*....
and two daughters (Constantia and Helena III).308 She held the title of Nobilissima Femina,
and on 8 November 324 she was awarded the additional title of Augusta. In 326 she was
accused, together with her stepson Crispus, of plotting the assassination of Constantine.
Fausta was locked in the caldarium of her baths in the Domus Faustae and burned or
suffocated to death. Her memory was officially condemned. For his part in the conspiracy,
Crispus was executed and his memory also condemned. Furthermore, Fausta was also
rumored to have been the lover of Crispus. As in the past, charges of sexual misconduct,
in this case of a quasi-incestuous nature, were used to denigrate the empress's posthu-
mous reputation.
At the time of her marriage, Fausta cemented the ties between the families of Maximian
and his junior colleague, Constantius Chlorus. The union, and Fausta's beauty and illustri-
ous lineage, are duly celebrated in a panegyricus of A.D. 307.309 Fausta enjoyed an important
position as the daughter of one tetrarch and eventually the wife of another. After the break-
down of the tetrarchy and the death of her brother Maxentius, Fausta's importance no longer
lay in her ties to the house of Maximian, but in her role as the mother of Constantine's
heirs. As such, Fausta's image was disseminated on coins, where she is depicted with a
version of the Scheitelzopf, or coiffures in which the hair is parted in the center, waved, and
brought into a bun, fairly low on the nape of the neck. The centrally parted coiffure can
also be combined with the braids of the Scheitelzopf that run back up over the top of the
head. Her facial features are regular, with a low forehead, aquiline nose, small pointed chin,
308RE6.2, "Fausta," 2084-2086, no. 3 (0. Seeck). 309Pan. Lat. 6.8-10; see also MacCormack 1981, 177, 264.
Faustais celebratedas the motherof Constantine'ssons on the Ada Cameo,

and long neck.310
which was created ca. A.D. 317-320.311 In the cameo, bust-length portraits of Fausta, her hus-
band, their two sons Constantius II and Constantine II, and Helena are depicted carried
aloft on the backs of two eagles. Fausta and Constantine are emphasized by their position
and scale in the gem. Fausta is also prominently featured on a bronze medallion in Nantes,
together with her husband, and in this instance, all three of her sons.312Despite Fausta's ap-
pearance on coins, medallions, and cameos, no sculpted portraits can be identified with cer-
tainty as representing the empress. The surviving marble and bronze portraits of her hus-
band, sons, and mother-in-law indicate that Fausta must have been similarly honored with
portraits.313But, as happened earlier in the empire, Fausta's damnatio has ensured that no
securely identified sculpted representations of the empress have survived.314
Prior to the condemnation of Fausta, two other imperial women were executed as a re-
sult of their political alliances. Prisca, the wife of Diocletian, and her daughter Galeria Valeria,
the wife of Galerius, were both murdered on the orders of Licinius. Galeria Valeria was mar-
ried to Galerius in A.D. 293 (the year in which the diarchy of Diocletian and Maxentius for-
mally became a tetrarchy). Like the marriage of Fausta to Constantine, Galeria Valeria's mar-
riage was used to legitimate the ties between the Augustus and his junior colleague. Since the
tetrarchy was not strictly based on dynastic succession, such marital alliances took on an in-
creased significance during this period, as witnessed also by the marriage of Maximilla and
Maxentius, Fausta and Constantine, and Theodora and Constantius Chlorus. Galeria bore
Galerius one son, Candidianus, and she was awarded the title of Augusta in 305, at the time
of her father's retirement and her husband's assumption of the position of Augustus. As the
daughter of the most senior of the tetrarchs, Diocletian, and the wife of his successor in the
East, her position was preeminent. After the death of Galerius in 311, both Galeria Valeria
and her mother, Prisca, could potentially validate or threaten the successors of Diocletian
and Galerius in the East. Galeria, as the mother of Candidianus, Galerius's surviving heir,
was particularly important and influential, and indeed she and her mother lent their support
to Maximinus Daia over Licinius (who had been the junior colleague of Galerius). Maximinus
310For Fausta's numismatic portrait typology, see Calza tated, as there is a later tradition that she was eventually
1972, 249; LOrange and Wegner 1984, 152-155; Kleiner buried next to her husband at Constantinople; see Calza
1992, 443. 1972, 249 n. 3.
311Trier, Stadtbibliothek; L'Orange and Wegner 1984, 314

Severallikenesses have been associated with Fausta, but
127, 138, 147, 154, pl. 74a, with previous literature. Al- none of them find sufficient correspondences with her
though the cameo has been variously dated, even as early numismatic representations to permit secure identifica-
as the Claudian period, a Constantinian date is virtually tion; see LOrange and Wegner 1984, 152-155. Although
assured by the configuration of the imperial family (older Wegner identifies an under-lifesized bronze bust in Arles
veiled woman, emperor, son, empress, son). Because of as a secure likeness of Fausta (Musee Lapidaire; L'Orange
the appearance of two rather than three sons, the cameo and Wegner 1984, 153, pl. 75a-c; see also Kleiner 1992,
is likely to have been made between the birth of 443, fig. 405 and Arata 1993, 194, pl. 47.1-20), the hair-
Constantius II in A.D. 317 and Constans in 320; see style of the bust is quite different from any of those worn
Kleiner 1992, 441-442, fig. 403. by Fausta on coins, medals, or gems. The Arles coiffure is
closest to that seen on a follis from Lyon (RIC 7:137, no.
312 Nantes, Musee Debree; LOrange and Wegner 1984, 235), a medallion from Trier (Carson 1981, 31, no. 1284,
123, 132-133, 145, 149-150, pl. 75a, with previous lit- with fig.), and a follis from Heraclea (Carson 1981, 36,
erature. The woman in the medallion has also been iden- no. 1308). However, the hair on the Arles bust is pulled
tified as Helena, with whom Fausta may have been de- directly back from the face, causing the locks to run in a
liberately conflated; see Kleiner 1992, 442-443. conspicuous horizontal direction, while Fausta's coiffure
on the coins has the locks running vertically, framing the
313 Fausta's memory may have been somewhat rehabili- face, and then crimped in large horizontal waves.
86 ERIC R. VARNER
Fig. 25. Galeria Valeriarecuttoaa : ..
female deity, Thessalonike,smaller

Arch of Galerius,Museum, inv. 2466
(after L'Orange and Wegner 1984,
pl. 21b).
.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"A~~~~~~~~~1
Daia may even have planned to marry Galeria Valeria to legitimate his position further.315
However, Maximinus was defeated by Licinius in A.D. 314/315, and, as a result, Prisca, Galeria
Valeria, and Candidianus were all executed.31
Prisca was not honored with numismatic portraits, but her likeness may occur on a frieze
from the Mausoleum of Diocletian at Split.317 Images of her daughter Galeria Valeria do,
however, appear on coins.31 She may also have been originally depicted in a tondo on the
smaller Arch of Galerius at Thessalonike (fig. 25 ).3 19 This relief portrait appears to have been
recut to represent a female deity with turreted crown as a result of Galeria Valeria's condem-
nation. No three-dimensional portraits of either Prisca or Galeria Valeria can be positively
identified. As with Fausta, the lack of sculpted portraits must have been caused by their fall
from power and their subsequent condemnations under Licinius.
Female representations were destroyed, warehoused, or altered in great numbers and
with astonishing frequency from the Augustan through the Constantinian periods. Imperial
women were subjected to damnationes memoriae because of their collateral position as con-
sort or daughter of a condemned emperor or, more significantly, because of their willingness
to use their own influence and prestige in opposing the reigning princeps. No significantly
gendered approach emerges in the negation of female images since the process essentially
corresponds in all particulars to that of men. Although the political importance of these con-
demned women has been obscured by their damnationes, as well as by the concomitant liter-
ary and historical attempts to blacken their characters for posterity, the dramatic visual evi-
dence provided by mutilated portraits confirms the pivotal roles that women played in deter-
mining the dynamics of Roman political power.
315Cullhed 1984, 81 n. 104. 318RIC6:15, 33, 64, 109, 478, 489, 524-525, 547-549,
572-573, 626-628, 637, 654-655, 671-673, pls. 9.196,
316Lact.Mort. Pers. 36.1-2, 50.1-2. 10.43, 11.29, 11.34, 13.57, 14.58.
317L'Orange and Wegner 1984, 141, pl. 13c (with earlier 319Museum, inv. 2466; L'Orange and Wegner 1984, 151,
literature). pl. 21b (with earlier literature).
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BMCRE Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum (London 1923-)
BSA Annual of the British School at Athens
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
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IG Inscriptiones Graecae.
IGR Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes
II Inscriptiones Italiae
ILAlg Inscriptions latines de l'Alge'rie (vol. 1, ed. S. Gsell, 1922; vol. 2, ed. H. G. Pflaum,
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RIC Roman Imperial Coinage, 9 vols. (London 1923-1981, vol. 1 rev. 1984)
RPC Roman Provincial Coinage (London 1992)
SIG S. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (Leipzig 1883-)
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Portraits, Plots, and Politics: "Damnatio memoriae" and the Images of Imperial Women

Author(s): Eric R. Varner

D espite recent work on the subject,the phrasedamnatiomemoriaehas itself often been

MAAR 46, 2001

the process of condemnationhas crucialrepercussionsfor the developmentof the visualico-

Collateraldamnationes,in which likenessesof imperialwomen were removed,destroyed,or

fant. overthrew the representations of Poppaea"). The

Fig. 1 (near right).

Fig. 2 (far right).

Galbawas succeededby Poppaea'sformerhusband,Otho, her statueswere returnedto pub-

4 Tacitus describes her character in very unflattering wouldhavebeenremovedfrompublicdisplay,mutilated,

The name of Elagabalusprobablyappearedin the missing section of line one, followed by

Fig. 3 (far left). Julia

Fig. 4 (near left). Julia

Fig. 5. OtaciliaSevera,Rome, Palazzodei

did grantCorneliaSuperathe title of Augusta,and she is honored with coin portraits.89 No

Fig. 6. ValeriaMaximilla (?), Rome, Museo

time, provides evidence for such portrait honors.'09

114Meise1969, 3-34; Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 358-359, knowledgethe use of accusationesadulteriias substitu-

117 Tac. Ann. 1.53.1-2; Dio 57.18.la. On the political "W9Vell.

position would have been furtherstrengthenedafterthe eliminationof Tiberiusby marriage

but for posterity.Augustus'sseveretreatmentof Juliaeffectivelynegatedany social and politi-

Julia'seldest daughter,JuliaMinor(VipsaniaJulia),followedin her mother'sfootsteps.148

151 Tac.Ann. 3.24. 15'Linderski 1988, 190-191.

in charge?"'162Tiberiusrefused to let her remarry,perhapsout of fear that any husbandof

166AFA 49.1-4 = Smallwood 1967, 9:11-15; Suet. Tib. 169

plotting againstthe emperor.174 Chargesof adulterywith Sejanusand complicityin the mur-

182Raepsaet-Charlier1987, 606-608, no. 774. havebeen removedor destroyedafterhis execution.

183Tac.Ann. 11.25-38; Suet. Claud.26.2;Juv. Sat. 10.329- 87Vinson 1989, 440.

Fig. 10. Messalina,Rome, Musei Vaticani,Galleria

..... ? t r ........... illlS>?s......... 1|1 |

portraitsportrayMessalinawith complex divine attributes.The Chiaramontihead combines

211 Tac.Ann. 14.9.2-5; Barrett1996, 190. 216 Suet. Ner. 35.2.

Museo de la Historia de la Ciudad, inv. 7440; Fittschen

214, 238. Raepsaet-Charlier 1987, 360-361, no. 422.

surroundingher downfall.235 She is the only other imperialwoman besides ClaudiaOctavia

236 Tac.Ann. 14.12. 239

Tac. Ann. 64.4-6, 65.1; Suet. Ner. 7.1; Barrett 1997,

Rome, neg. no.

Fig. 12 (far right).

*.Rt~~~ ~ ~ Fig. 13 (far left). Lucilla

Fig. 14 (near left).

Fig. 15. Lucilla/Helena, Rome,

................... I.... .......

262SHAComm.5.9; Dio 72(73).4.6. 265

Fig. 19. Annia FundaniaFaustina(?),

Fig. 21. Plautilla, Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, 70-39,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fig.22 (nearright). . ....

the forehead, eyebrows, left eye, ...

whichris.worked fticansrtion, has beengouged with aclawmchisel,sevrcely dam agin both

Irvine, collection of Robert K. Martin, h. 0.275 m;

Fig. 24. Rome, Arch of the Argentarii,western

Faustais celebratedas the motherof Constantine'ssons on the Ada Cameo,

311Trier, Stadtbibliothek; L'Orange and Wegner 1984, 314

Fig. 25. Galeria Valeriarecuttoaa : ..

female deity, Thessalonike,smaller

Bartsch,S., Actorsin the Audience.Theatricalityand Doublespeakfrom Nero to Hadrian(Cambridge,

GraziaVanderpool,E. de, "Fathersand Daughters:Juliaf. Augusti,"AmericanJournalof Archaeology

Kleiner,D. E. E., and S. B. Matheson,eds., I Claudia.Womenin AncientRome (New Haven 1996).

Raepsaet-Charlier, M. T., Prosopographiedesfemmesde l'ordrese'natorial

Voisin,J. L., "Les Romains,chasseursdes tetes," in Du cha^timent

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