Nudity and Divine Symbols

The portraits of women in the guise of goddesses (Pls. 123–4) actually return us to a controversial issue which we have skirted a number of times already, but which now needs to be squarely faced. In the last chapter we attempted to explain why it was that Romans chose to have themselves represented in heroic costume (nude and carrying weapons). But a question of equal importance still remains to be asked. What did it mean when nude portraits were furnished—not with weapons— but with divine attributes (as in Pls. 96 and 99)? Once again the question can only be approached by drawing on, and taking account of, a wide array of different kinds of evidence. And in this case, before we can even begin our discussion, we must first address two widespread modern misconceptions: misconceptions about the general significance of nudity in Roman art, and the use of divine attributesin Hellenistic and Roman portraiture.

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