A study of the influence of the Roman empress Livia's artistic patronage.

Julia Augusta examines the socio-political impact of coin images of Augustus’s wife, Livia, within the broader context of her image in other visual media and reveals the detailed visual language that was developed for the promotion of Livia as the predominant female in the Roman imperial family. The book provides the most comprehensive examination of all extant coins of Livia to date, and provides one of the first studies on the images on Roman coins as gender-infused designs, which created a visual dialogue regarding Livia’s power and gender-roles in relation to those of male members of the imperial family. While the appearance of Roman women on coins was not entirely revolutionary, having roughly coincided with the introduction of images of powerful Roman statesmen to coins in the late 40s BCE, the degree to which Livia came to be commemorated on coins in the provinces and in Rome was unprecedented. This volume provides unique insights into the impact of these representations of Livia, both on coins and in other visual media. Julia Augusta: Images of Rome’s First Empress on the Coins of the Roman Empire will be of great interest to students of women and imperial imagery in the Roman Empire, as well as the importance of visual representation and Roman imperial ideology.

From the end of the Roman Republic to the death of the last Julio-Claudian emperor, portraits of women - on coins, public monuments, and private luxury objects - became an increasingly familiar sight throughout the empire. These women usually represented the distinguished bloodlines of the head of the state, or his hopes for succession, but in every case, their images were freighted with political significance. These objects also communicated social messages about the appropriate roles, behavior, and self-presentation of women. This volume traces the emergence and development of the public female portrait, from Octavia, the first Roman woman to be represented in propria persona on coinage, to the formidable and ambitious Agrippina the Younger, whose assassination demonstrated to later women the limits of official power they could demand.

The author of Rome Is Burning separates fact from fiction as he examines the life of an ancient Roman figure made famous in the TV miniseries I Claudius. Livia—wife of the first Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, and mother of the second, Tiberius—wielded extraordinary power at the center of Roman politics. In this biography of Livia, the first in English, Anthony Barrett sets aside the portrait of a cunning and sinister schemer to reveal Livia as a complex figure whose enduring political influence helped shape Roman government long after her death. “An excellent biography of Livia—as appealing to the general reader as it is satisfying to the scholar.” —Colin M. Wells, Trinity University, San Antonio “In reading Anthony Barrett’s biography of Livia, I not only learned about this remarkable woman, but also gained a meaningful appreciation of life and society in her time.” —Howard Alper, President, The Royal Society of Canada “First-rate.” —Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement

Textures of Images presents for the first time a fundamental analysis and synopsis of the printed relic-book genre. The author brings into focus the specific mediality and aesthetics of this kind of printed books between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period.

Gender and the Body in Greek and Roman Sculpture offers incisive analysis of selected works of ancient art through a critical use of cutting-edge theory from gender studies, body studies, art history and other related fields. The book raises important questions about ancient sculpture and the contrasting responses that the individual works can be shown to evoke. Rosemary Barrow gives close attention to both original context and modern experience, while directly addressing the question of continuity in gender and body issues from antiquity to the early modern period through a discussion of the sculpture of Bernini. Accessible and fully illustrated, her book features new translations of ancient sources and a glossary of Greek and Latin terms. It will be an invaluable resource and focus for debate for a wide range of readers interested in ancient art, gender and sexuality in antiquity, and art history and gender and body studies more broadly.

Portraits, sometimes crude in their realism or gripping in the sense of a living person, were one of the great achievements of Roman Art. The collection of one hundred portraits in the Getty Museum is one of the largest in the world. Dr. Frel surveys the history of Roman portrait art in an often controversial introduction on the purpose of portraits in Roman life and society, continuing his arguments through the catalogue analyses of the individual pieces. The occasion for the book was a loan exhibition of the portraits to the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa. This lavishly illustrated book presents a discussion of the principal views and the uses of the portrait in ancient times. The photographs include unusual views of the back and profiles of many portraits to show the care with which they were created and their damages and reworking over the centuries. The catalogue also includes five portraits that are late evocations of the antique and outright forgeries.

Examines portraits of Rome's Vestal Virgins as artistic documents and political vehicles

This work attempts to integrate the architecture and iconography of the Villa of Livia, ad Gallinas Albas . This was a very important residence in its heyday, so it is perhaps surprising that it was only partially excavated until fairly recently. This study examines the villa's construction, dating, architecture, and iconography.

This smart, sweeping fantasy with a political edge and a slow-burning romance will capture fans of The Lumatere Chronicles and An Ember in the Ashes. A healer who cannot be healed... When Zivah falls prey to the deadly rose plague, she knows it's only a matter of time before she fully succumbs. Now she's destined to live her last days in isolation, cut off from her people and unable to practice her art—until a threat to her village creates a need that only she can fill. A soldier shattered by war... Broken by torture at the hands of the Amparan Empire, Dineas thirsts for revenge against his captors. Now escaped and reunited with his tribe, he'll do anything to free them from Amparan rule—even if it means undertaking a plan that risks not only his life but his very self. Thrust together on a high-stakes mission to spy on the capital, the two couldn't be more different: Zivah, deeply committed to her vow of healing, and Dineas, yearning for vengeance. But as they grow closer, they must find common ground to protect those they love. And amidst the constant fear of discovery, the two grapple with a mutual attraction that could break both of their carefully guarded hearts.