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Image
3D Model
© Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona
Omeka ID 1825
Tàrraco
Roman world

Livia

MNAT-7602

Object type
statue, portrait head
Production date
1 / 25
Fabric
-
Museum
Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona
Culture
Roman world
Discovery location
Tàrraco
Materials
Paros marble
Township
Tarragona (Europa, Espanya, Catalunya, Tarragona, Tarragonès)
Technique
sculpting
Where is it?
Exposició permanent
Dimensions
31 x 20 x 16 cm
Description
Official portrait of Augustus' second wife, Livia. The overly youthful features of her face indicate this is an iconographic, almost deified idealisation, which can be explained if we take into account that it was probably made when her son Tiberius was already emperor. We do not know where this piece was found, although it has been suggested that it came from the area of the Roman theatre or, perhaps, the Forum of the Colonia, where there was a gallery of portraits of members of the Julian-Claudian imperial family. Although the back of the head —which would have been carved separately and added later— has been lost, we can suppose, in accordance with the best known parallels, that her hair was tied up in a bun at the nape of the neck, contrasting with the toupee (nodus) she wore on her forehead (lost due to fragmentation).

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