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How to look good, ancient: The empress as the Imperial model

How to look good, ancient: The empress as the Imperial model

By Hannah-Jane Taskis

Swansea University – Published Online (2010)

Abstract: With the political revolution of Republic to Empire at the end of the late first century BC, came a cultural revolution. Augustus carefully orchestrated this revolution by establishing a pictorial language, which communicated the power and order of Roman society. An extension of this language was his use of traditional dress and appearance codes amongst the elite matronae in Rome. Livia’s image in portraiture was instrumental in the circulation and promotion of these traditional appearance and dress codes amongst the upper echelons of society down to the lower classes. In this paper, the dress and adornment of the elite matrona and their reception in Roman society—including the role of gender and individualism in dress—are discussed and questioned with a close reading of the surviving sources.

Introduction: After a long and bloody civil war, the political stability that came with Augustus’ rise to Imperial power in 31BC was largely welcomed with relief by the urban and rural communities. He sought to heal the devastated city and state of Rome and this was achieved, in part, by establishing a pictorial language. This language sent visual messages of Rome’s power and order, which extended into the realms of dress and material culture. Following years of civil strife, political turbulence and ignoring the traditional Roman dress codes, Augustus renewed the empowered status of wearing the male toga and the female stola upon those who had the right to wear them.



Alongside this cultural revolution, which was born out of the political revolution, and the rapid expansion of Rome’s provinces towards the end of the millennium, imports of foreign luxury goods appeared in villas and city-houses of the elite, much to the distaste of contemporary moralisers. More specifically for this study, exotic textiles (and the materials in their raw, unrefined state), cosmetics, jewellery (worked precious metals and stones) and adornment, were pouring into Rome from all four corners of the Empire.

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