It is difficult to sustain that argument when there is no labeled portrait of Livia on the coinage produced by the imperial mint in Rome under either her husband Augustus or her son Tiberius. xii) and “in the visual communication of the public persona of Livia” (p. Based on the provincial issues, she argues that the coins portraying Livia “played a significant role in the promotion of Livia as the predominant female in the Roman imperial family” (p. There is, nonetheless, a problem with Harvey’s treatise that she does not adequately acknowledge. Harvey deserves praise for her comprehensive catalogue and meticulous discussion of the material she has collected, especially the all-too-often overlooked coins issued by individual provincial cities. 230–235) compiles the relevant epigraphical data. 228–229) consists of excellent drawings by Carrie Allen of the various coiffures reproduced on Livia’s coins. 202–227) is a valuable catalogue of all the numismatic representations of women that Harvey considers portrayals of Livia. 199–202), Harvey argues that the representation of Livia on coins “laid the foundation for the manner in which future female imperial family members would be portrayed” (p. 156–198) seeks to “affirm Livia’s power and gender roles through the coins,” and in the brief Conclusion (pp. Harvey’s discussion of the provincial issues is a major contribution to the study of Roman numismatics as well as Roman gender studies.Ĭhapter 4 (pp. The differences between the images on the coins of Rome that Harvey believes portray Livia (see infra on this important point) and those on provincial coins are described and analyzed in Chapter 3 (pp. The chapter opens with the statement that the earliest known numismatic images of Livia are not from Rome but from the civic mints of the eastern provinces, where there was a long tradition of portraying Hellenistic queens. Hairstyle is the most reliable determinant, followed by facial features, and least convincingly, the similarity of the poses, dress, and attributes of full-length images on the coin reverses to securely identifiable statues of the empress. 57–106), “To be or not to be Livia,” Harvey attempts to establish the criteria that need to be met to identify an unlabeled numismatic image of a Roman woman as Livia. Harvey follows others in suggesting that the first image of a living woman on a Roman coin is a denarius of 43 BCE struck by Mark Antony at Lugdunum in Gaul bearing on the obverse the head of his wife Fulvia in the guise of winged Victory, a hypothesis made more credible because Antony, unlike Octavian, later placed portraits of the other women in his life (Octavia and then Cleopatra) on his coinage. 18–56) treats the representations of women on Hellenistic and Roman Republican coins. 1–17) summarizing the historical context and briefly surveying the literature on Roman women on coins as well as setting goals for the rest of the book, Chapter 1 (pp. It is an important addition to the scholarly literature on Livia and on Roman women in general.Īfter a short introductory chapter (pp. Harvey’s new book, which is the revised version of her 2011 doctoral dissertation at the University of Alberta, builds on these earlier studies and focuses on the numismatic portraits of Livia but also treats images of her in all media. Also noteworthy is the 2016 monograph by Lovissa Brännstedt. The most important discussions of Livia’s portraiture began with the 1962 monograph by Walter Gross, followed in the ‘90s by studies of Livia’s iconography by Rolf Winkes, Elizabeth Bartman, and Susan Wood. The first “first lady” of the Roman Empire, Livia has long been the object of study by historians and art historians, especially with the growing interest in recent decades of gender studies. She was formally adopted into the gens Julia in 14 CE upon the death and deification of Augustus, her second husband, whom she married in 38 BCE. Livia Drusilla of the distinguished gens Claudia was the mother of Tiberius and Drusus the Elder and paternal grandmother of Claudius.
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