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.
Author(s): Tracene Harvey
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: xiv+264
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Impressions of Livia in the literary context
Setting the stage for the visual representation of Livia
Representations of Livia in visual media
Notes
Chapter 1: Designing Roman women on coins: origins and early
typology
Hellenistic prototypes: the conception of the visual canon
Roman republican precursors: traditions of numismatic commemoration and self-representation
Signature symbols and standard types: early images of women on coins
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 2: To be or not to be Livia: rendering readable gender-based
coin images
Intelligible images of Livia on coins: a semiotic approach
Livia’s coin images as visual constructions of gender
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 3: Making an impression? Livia on coins of Rome versus
the provinces
Distribution and repetition of Livia’s coin types throughout the Empire
Livia incognito: the presence and absence of Livia’s image on the coins of the mint of Rome
Livia and the perpetuation of the Augustan dynasty
Livia and the mother goddesses
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 4: “Ulixes stolatus”: affirming Livia’s power and gender
roles through coins
Hierarchy or heterarchy? Understanding gender-infused male-female power ideologies in Livia’s coin images
Livia as “femina princeps” and her exceptional numismatic accolades
Livia as priestess and associations with Vesta
Conclusion
Notes
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix A: Catalogue of coins
Rome, Italy and Sicily
Asia
Achaea, Cyprus and Crete
Macedonia
Bithynia-Pontus, Thrace and Moesia
Syria
Judaean Kingdom
Egypt and Africa
Spain and Gaul
Uncertain coins
Appendix B: Illustrated conspectus of Livia’s coin portraits
Livia’s nodus hairstyle
Livia’s middle part hairstyle
Appendix C: Epigraphic data
Rome, Italy and Sicily
Asia
Achaea, Cyprus, Crete and Dalmatia
Thrace
Egypt and Africa
Spain and Gaul
Bibliography
Index
