Mirror of Venus

Though images of women were ubiquitous in the Roman world, these were seldom intended to be taken simply at face value. The importance of marriage, motherhood and political stability was often conveyed to the Roman people through carefully constructed representations of the women of the ruling house. Mythological representations were used to present moral and political lessons to the women of Rome. Ancient sexual politics are apparent everywhere. Roman society was, on most levels, male dominated and women's roles were sometimes subordinate to political and cultural needs and imperatives. This is the first general book to present a coherent, broad analysis of the numerous images of women in Roman art and to interpret their meaning and significance, all set against the broader geographical, chronological, political, religious and cultural context of the world of the Roman republic and empire and of Late Antiquity. Images of mortal women - empresses and other female members of the imperial family, elite women from around the empire, and working women from Rome, Ostia, Pompeii and elsewhere - will be analysed alongside images of goddesses and personifications of complex mythological figures such as Amazons. This book will examine images of women in the form of sculptures and coins, historical friezes and decorated tombstones, mosaics and wall paintings, metalwork and many decorated everyday items.