C. Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology and curator-in-charge, Mediterranean section, University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
When Rome began deifying imperial women in 38 AD, sculptors developed new, divinely inspired iconography for their portraits, drawing from depictions of goddesses, priestesses, and even sacrificial animals. They used agrarian symbols to emphasize fecundity, while peacocks, linked to the god Juno, signaled their mode of ascension into the afterlife. These evocative sculpted portraits reveal imperial women’s dual roles as power brokers and fashion connoisseurs, not unlike contemporary women in politics.
