THE HISTORY OF HAIRSTYLES IN THE MIRROR OF ANCIENT COINS
Minarovičova, Elena
BIATEC, Volume XIII, 10 (2005)
Abstract
The admirer of the monuments of ancient Rome will certainly ask how ancient Roman women had their hair arranged, combed and decorated. The answers to these questions are preserved not only on wall paintings, reliefs and statues, but also on ancient coins. Especially Roman imperial issues with their effective and perfected classical depiction, superb composition of design on the small surface of the coin, 
are also remarkable from the iconographic point of view. The iconography of Roman rulers on coins is extraordinarily valuable from the historical point of view. They include a whole range of portraits not only of emperors, but also of an endless series of family members: wives, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. Ancient coins with portraits of women have attracted the special interest of many collectors. This article is devoted to some famous women – empresses of ancient Rome, active in the 2nd to 4th centuries AD, whose perfectly realistic coin portraits appear on gold and silver coins. No collector would be ashamed to have them in his collection, because almost every woman in ancient Rome had her characteristic hairstyle typical of the period, in which she lived. We direct our attention to the appearance of the female head on Roman coins.
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