CLAS 242 - The Julio-Claudian Period

Identify and Analyze

Portrait of Tiberius, from the Fayum in Egypt

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Next Emperor

  • adopted son of Augustus, Livia’s biological son from her previous marriage

  • by being deemed an heir, created the dynastic succession of the Julio-Claudians

    • Julio - Augustus’ household, from Julius Caesar’s family

    • Claudians - from Livia’s household and family

  • essentially a creation of a monarchy without calling it that

  • all art of this period represents the dynasty as a way to get the public used to this new concept

• Good General and Strategist

  • won almost all the wars he was in charge of

• End of Life

  • suffered from a skin condition

  • moved to an area that was well known for its salt baths which presumably helped relieve his suffering

• 14 years old at the time of this portrait

• Augustan Classicism

  • hair + lobster claw

  • Tiberius relying heavily on trends established by Augustus

    • idea of him sharing qualities with his predecessor

  • Individual characteristics

    • high forehead

    • large eyes

    • long nose

    • small mouth with a notably protruding lower lip

Identify and Analyze

Portrait of Caligula, from Asia Minor

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Next Emperor

  • adopted son of Tiberius, his nephew and son of Germanicus

  • 4 year reign before being assassinated

• “Caligula”

  • means “little boots”

  • as a child, would mimic his father, a war general, by wearing his boots which were too big for the boy

  • the troops then started calling him “little boots” and it stuck

• Insanity

  • a notable reputation for being crazy

  • a bit of preserved paint on the proper left eye

    • distinct pupil, iris, and lashes, which give an imbalanced look

    • reinforces this reputation

  • Various stories of his insanity

    • believed he was the reincarnation of Zeus

    • tried to elect his horse as a senator

    • sexual relations with all of his sisters

      • married one of them too

    • declared war on Poseidon

      • had his army go and stab at the sea

  • True stories?

    • good emperors were often represented by good stories, though bad emperors were later depicted as being alcoholics who cheated on their wife and etc

    • stories could have just been later writers changing certain stories to seem worse

    • “You guys suck. My horse could be a better senator than you.”

    • “Look how powerful and how such good of a commander I am, I can make my army do whatever I want. Hey army, go fight the sea.”

• Augustan Classicism

  • Unique pieces of individualism

    • Protruding ears

    • deeper, closer set eyes

    • Protruding upper lip

  • Portraits not images, just messages for propaganda

• Julio-Claudian Hair + Lobster Claw

Identify and Analyze

Gemma Augustea

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Gem Carving

  • elite gifts within royal circle

  • could be to family or just a gift to the king of a province

• Cameo Carving

  • this style needed a stone with two differently coloured veins

    • agate, carnelian, and sardonyx

  • the images were then carved into one set of veins, with the other being used as the background colour

• Bottom Register

  • Military Victory by Romans

    • spears and helmets

  • Tropeion

    • a trophy being erected where they have won

    • used to display the enemy’s armour to show that they were defeated

    • like a military scarecrow

  • Series of Captives

    • Men

      • Barbaric representations

        • beards and long hair

          • neither of which are Roman attributes

        • Torq

          • cultural necklace

        • Tunics

          • rather than togas

  • possibly showing Tiberius’ most famous victory

    • in Germany over the Celts

    • story exists that Celts didn’t wear armour into battle

    • Shield - Scorpion - Scorpio - Tiberius’

• Upper Register

  • complicated

    • differing opinions on what is happening

  • Middle Figure

    • Augustus in afterlife, on throne,

      • represented like Jupiter - eagle and staff of office

      • crowned in victory of eternity

  • Right Figures

    • Roma and Tellus

      • Cornucopia representing the abundance of Rome

    • Two Babies

      • possibly Romulus and Remus

      • possibly Gaius and Lucius, Tiberius’ sons, not twins but were very close in age together

    • River God - Tiber personification

      • however, if Tellus is there, it could be a representation of Oceanus

        • “all the land and all the waters

  • Left Figures

    • Germanicus and Tiberius

      • together: German triumphs by Tiberius?

    • Tiber in Chariot

      • driven by Victory

        • implies triumph in military

      • incoming of his reign following Augustus' death

  • Upper Middle

    • Zodiac Figure - Goat of Capricorn

      • Augustus’ birth sign

      • Romans were super into astrology

        • Tiberius to the point it bordered on superstition

        • Time period where there was no difference between astronomy and astrology

  • Slight Hierarchy of Scale

    • Gods on top are bigger than figures below

    • could be completely unintentional

Identify and Analyze

Boscoreale cups A and B, Boscoreale

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• found in a big villa just outside of Pompeii, covered from Vesuvius

  • a far away, big, rich family - could be Julian-Claudian offshoots

  • probably given as gifts under Tiberius

• set of silver decorative cups

  • small scale copies of large public reliefs in Rome

    • do not survive

• Cup A

  • Chasing

    • hammering in details from the front of the piece, opposite of repoussé

  • two scenes devided by the handles

  • Augustus on Magistrate Chair

    • Deified

    • a repeated image to be engrained in society’s mind

    • Patera

      • religious context given

      • could also be a globe for representing the expansion of the Roman Empire under Augustus

  • Right Figures

    • Mars, God of War, dressed in full armour

      • leads a series of captives

        • representations of barbarians/people of the provinces

      • Roman power that has taken over all the places

  • Left Figures

    • Venus Genetrix handing over Victoria

      • little baby cupid with her to show it;s Genetrix - head of Julio-Claudian line

      • crowning Augustus as a victor for all eternity

    • Virtus

      • personification of male military achievement

    • Honos

      • personification of male civic achievement

      • holds a cornucopia showing Roman prosperity under Augustus

    • Honos + Virtus together

      • virtues of Rome that has fed the military and expanded/kept Rome safe

      • Ethos of Rome

        • military expansion + Julio-Claudians wre the ones to bring that about

      • Jupiter’s famous promise to Romans from Vergil’s Aeneid: imperium sine fine - “empire [power] without end”

• Cup B

  • Front Side

    • Tiberius in Victory Procession

      • Triumphal Quadriga - Victory Procession

    • Slave holds victory crown over his head

    • Victorious soldiers of Tiberius follow him

    • Individuals in front

      • leading cattle to sacrifice to the Gods

  • Back Side

    • altar and temple

    • Tiberius standing between, presiding over bull sacrifice

  • Building

    • Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus

      • where victory processions ended in Rome

• Cups, although separate, were meant to be seen and understood together

  • Reinforce themes of the Gemma Augustea

    • divinity of Augustus

    • terrestrial military triumps of Tiberius

Identify and Analyze

Sculpture group of Polyphemus, grotto dining room of Tiberius, villa at Sperlonga

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Villa at Sperlonga

  • private garden/grotto for Emperor Tiberius

  • dining area inside with Mediterranean around the outside

    • fish to scoop up and eat

• Sculpture

  • Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey, the blinding of Polyphemus by Odysseus and his men

  • represents anticipatory moment in the narrative

  • Hellenistic

    • after Alexander the Great became way bigger

    • freaked everyone out when found because they had been expecting Augustan Classicism

  • Bodies

    • insane detail

      • Polyphemus Groin

        • flaccid penis and curly pubes showing intricacies of marble sculpture

  • Possibly stolen?

    • blew apart stylistic chronologies which used to be very strict

    • or Tiberius just liked the style and commissioned it

Identify and Analyze

Wine skin bearer, grotto dining room of Tiberius, villa at Sperlonga

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 Ce - 68 CE

• Wine bearer - the one who got Polyphemus drunk

• Furrowed Brow + Wild Hair

• Use of bow drill

Identify and Analyze

Odysseus, grotto dining room of Tiberius, villa at Sperlonga

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Figure Held

  • Archaic - ish?

    • more like Julio-Claudian Classicism of the time

  • Troy - Odysseus steals Palladium - representation of Minerva

    • Even though Minerva loves Odysseus, you just stole her statue so now she’s gonna curse you

    • plus he killed Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, so now you’re double whammied

• Metaphor for parallel acts in Tiberius’ life?

  • returned the Palladium to the temple of Vesta

    • also rebuilt it after a devastating fire

Identify and Analyze

Portrait of Claudius with attributes of Jupiter, Lanuvium, Italy

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Next Emperor

  • Caligula assassinated

  • hey maybe we should go back to the republic? last guy sucked

    • lots of panic

• Praetorian Guard

  • almost exclusively from foreign mercenaries

  • bodyguard of the Roman emperors, formed by Augustus

    • guarded emperor, his palaces, and sometimes acted to remove or create emperors

  • knew they were out of a job with no heir from Caligula

  • found Tiberius Claudius Nero, Caligula’s uncle, hiding behind a curtain in the palace, fearing for his own assassination, and was then named emperor

• Claudius

  • club foot - some birth defect that made him limp

  • facial twitch and stuttering - affected his speech

  • fairly bookish/nerdy

    • couldn’t serve in the military due to his leg

    • last person to be able to read/speak/write Etruscan

  • super into beast fights

    • didn’t like the blood of Gladiator fights

  • ~50 years old when crowned

• In Art

  • references to Julius + Old Republic

  • not to restart republic but because of his education

    • he had an appreciation

  • Verism + Idealism

    • Italic accents

      • because he’s older - showing his age

        • pronounced nasolabial grooves

        • creased forehead

        • bags under his eyes

        • later portraits - loose skin around his jaw and neck

    • Hellenistic ideal body

    • his own spin on previous emperors

  • Individual Traits

    • protruding ears

• Late Republican Forms

  • Jupiter Attributes - Claudius acting as his representative

    • Eagle, laurels, staff of office, patera

    • portraying emperor/empire as having being given the divine right to rule forever by Jupiter

  • Claudius worshipped as a god during his lifetime in far provinces, deified after his death

Identify and Analyze

Bronze head of Claudius, Rendham, Suffolk, perhaps originally from Colchester

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• England conquered under Claudius

  • mostly everywhere else of Europe was already conquered

• Region Portrait Variation

  • Julio-Claudian classicism style

  • Protruding ears + Hair combined with smoother face

Identify and Analyze

Grand Camée

The Julio-Claudian Period

14CE - 68 CE

• bigger than Gemma Augustae

• Name - ended up in a French museum

• Bottom Register

  • defeated enemies - men, women, and children

  • Left - traditional Eastern/Northern barbarian style

• Upper Register

  • who are all these people? - 2 debates

  • 1. Tiberius, deceased, with Germanicus and Livia (Tiberius’ wife) or Roma

  • 2. Claudius as Jupiter with wife, Agrippina, Nero as next Emperor

    • Nero is adopted son, Agrippina’s son from her previous marriage

  • Problem with Julio-Claudian Art - everyone looks the same

  • Claudius after Nero

    • has to pull out the whole dynasty thing

      • as he’s not apart of the direct line so he had to remind people how he was related

      • also wasn’t publicly selected by Caligula

Identify and Analyze

Relief of the Julio‐Claudian dynasty, Ravenna

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Almost entirely classical

  • contrapposto

• Far Right

  • Augustus

    • corona civica - crown - head of empire

    • thunderbolt - power of jupiter

    • globe under foot - the entirety of the world (the far reaches of the Roman empire) under Rome’s rule

      • imperium sine fine

• Middle Right

  • Livia

    • dressed like Venus Genetrix

      • founder of the dynasty

• Middle Left

  • Julius Caesar - Divus Julius

    • small star in his hair - deified

      • shooting star that passed over during his funeral games

        • his soul ascending to be with the gods

• Far Left

  • Drusus and Antonia

    • Claudius’ parents

• All Together

  • all of our family/ the dynasty

  • Claudius associating himself with direct Julio-Claudian line

    • Julius - father of the house

    • Augustus/Livia - parents of the dynasty

    • Drusus/Antonia - parents of Claudius/current emperor

• Representartion of holiness in figures from front

  • subtleness of body facing full forwards

    • becomes more standard from here on

• Bare Feet - divinity/deified after death (maybe, debated)

Identify and Analyze

Relief from the Altar of the Vicomagistri, Rome

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Vicomagistri

  • magistri (priests) vico (neighbourhoods)

  • ministers in charge of the neighbourhood’s religious happenings to make sure they went right

  • worshipped at shrines erected at the boundaries of their districts, usually at significant crossroads

• Sacrificial scene

  • bulls being led off

  • characters with veils

• Non-Classical Elements

  • increase in front-ality in a couple figures on the left

  • different heights/levels of heads

    • people in behind are taller to be able to see their faces

• Classical Elements

  • bodies and faces

• Composition

  • breaks “Greek” rules with Italic composition

Identify and Analyze

Sebasteion at Aphrodisias, Turkey

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• major sculpting centre in Greece

  • marble mines nearby

• Augustus labished all kinds of money into this

  • town was named after Venus (Aphrodite)

  • Sebastos - Greek name from Caesar

    • name for place meaning “Emperor’s/Caesar’s palace”

• Probably built under Nero, but was started under Claudius

  • very famous picture of Claudius resides here

• 3 stories

  • all covered in reliefs

  • mostly mythological

  • also some of emperors

Identify and Analyze

Relief of Claudius conquering Britannia, Sebasteion at Aphrodisias

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Claudius

  • as a supreme Greek hero figure

    • we know it’s him because his name is written underneath

    • and facial features

  • in line with other myths on the building

  • cloak common in representations of Greek heroes

  • under his helmet - Julio-Claudian hair lobster claw

• Britannia

  • personification of Britain

  • Greek pleading/begging for mercy

    • laying on ground with one hand in the air

  • Amazon

    • one breast exposed

    • word comes from “no breast”

      • myth that they mostly used bows so they would cut off one breast for better usage of it

    • Amazons being subdued by heroes

      • common depiction

      • Greek subduing enemies - Amazons were apparently enemies

  • Claudius’ conquer of England

    • metaphorical rape as a new variation of triumph imagery in Roman art

Identify and Analyze

Porta Maggiore, Rome

The Julian-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• not much architectural things under Claudius

• Beside Tomb of Breadmaker

• Monumental gateway coming into the city

• 2 other purposes

  • 1. superstructure on top

    • for aqueduct

  • 2. city walls

    • for protection

    • made under Augsutus in 3rd century bce

Identify and Analyze

Portrait of Nero, Palatine Hill, Rome

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Next Emperor

  • adopted son of Tiberius, Agrippina’s son from her previous marriage

  • changed his name after adoption

  • became emperor at 17

• Early Rule

  • good emperor

    • legislations, competent military

  • Civil servants/slaves

    • Seneca, Roman philosopher, Nero’s helper

    • Burrus, commander of the guard

    • later on, after Agrippina’s murder, they were all fired and everything went array

• Artistry

  • thought of himself as an artist

    • competing in Olympics (came in all firsts)

  • music, arts, etc.

• Famous Story of Nero

  • fiddling while Rome burned

    • thought that he may have started it in order to build himself a new palace

  • led to creation of volunteer firefighters/creating fire safety

• Later Rule

  • lots of little revolts from officials

    • Nero was declared as a public enemy and commited suicide

• Last Julio-Claudian Emperor

• Individual Characteristics in Portraiture

  • mutton-chops/neck beard

    • emperors were meant to be clean shaven

  • represented with a huge neck

• No Julio-Claudian Hair

  • instead - thick waves of hair and bangs that lie in parallel commas

    • may reflect his actual hairstyle as described in one of his biographies

Identify and Analyze

Portrait of Livia Augusta, mother of Tiberius, Paestum

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Rome as a patriarchy

  • not many representations of royal women outside of funeral contexts

• Livia

  • Augustus’ wife

  • earliest imperial women granted public statues

• Female Portraiture

  • meant to be face of female morality

    • seen not heard, no politics

    • maybe important in religion/household

  • always Classical

    • everyone looking the exact same - like Greek Goddesses

  • reflection of the ideology of imperial rule

• Hair Vegetation

  • stylized grain

  • maybe in guise as Ceres, goddess of agriculture (Demeter)

    • establishing an imperial identity and bolstering regimes of her husband

    • elevates Livia above mortal women

• Hair Veil

  • role as matron

    • wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius

Identify and Analyze

Antonia (Minor) Augusta, as Venus Genetrix statue, villa at Punta Epitaffio, Italy

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• “Minor” - younger, “Major” - older

• Claudius’ mother

  • redirecting divine founder imagery from Livia to Antonia

• Venus Genetrix

  • holding baby cupid

  • Antonia represented as head of household

  • consistency in use of divine imagery among Julio-Claudian imperial women

• Crown idealized in Greek Classical

Identify and Analyze

Claudia Augusta as Psyche statue, imperial villa at Punta Epitaffio, Italy

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• believed to be Claudia Augusta

  • Nero’s daughter who died at 3 years old

  • simply meant to represent a sense of a “young woman/girl”

    • body plump and pre-pubescent

• Classical

  • clothes, face, hair, drapery, etc.

• Right Hand - Butterfly

  • “Psyche” - Greek word for butterfly, also the same word for soul/spirit

    • Greek myth/famous poem of Psyche who fell in love with Eros/Cupid

      • was making its rounds/very popular at the time

  • representation of his daughter as Psyche

    • fulfulling that “innocent young love” as Psyche

Identify and Analyze

Plan of the Domus Transitoria, Rome

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• “Passageway Palace”

• Nero famous for palace architecture

• As an imperial palace, it was huge

  • mostly typical layout, just big

• Original destroyed by fire

  • thought to be set by Nero so he could build a new palace for his magnificence as Roman Emperor

  • reported that when the new palace was finished, he stated “Now at last i can begin to live like a human being”

• Post and Lintel Architecture

  • a building system with a horizontal feature (lintel) supported by two vertical features (posts or columns). to create open space such as rooms or doorways

  • utilized concrete to create barrel vaults

    • lifted the ceilings of rooms to allow more space and create windows to let in light

• Interiors

  • designed with water features such as fountains and pools

    • added visual interest, light, and helped cool the rooms

  • decorated with cut marble floors

    • and wall paintings

      • large amounts of white backgrounds that emphasized the available light

Identify and Analyze

Ceiling painting from the Domus Transitoria, Rome

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• wall painting on a ceiling now

• 4th style Wall Paining

  • combination of all 3 styles

    • from 1st - faux imported stones, now relegated largely to the dado

    • from 2nd - illusion of space and architecture

    • from 3rd. - faux framed panel paintings

  • founded under Nero

  • more eclectic and complex

  • brighter colours

    • help emphasize the light coming in through the bigger windows

Identify and Analyze (two images)

Plan and map, Domus Aurea, Rome

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• “Golden House”

  • overlooked Forum from atop Palatine Hill

  • covered around 300 acres

    • dominated four of the fourteen neighbours of Rome

    • front portico a mile long

  • many rooms with many different purposes

    • no more atriums

    • busier than previous architecture

  • first imperial building in Rome done entirely in concrete

    • most ambitious and innovative use of concrete yet

• built after Domus Transitoria burnt down in the great fire of 64 CE

  • many believed that Nero set the fire as a desire to build a new palace for himself

  • upon completion he is reported to have said “Now at last I can begin to live like a human being”

• Vaults

  • arches, but now done with concrete

    • create wooden form, pour concrete, let it dry, bada bing bada boom you’ve got a vault

  • Four Kinds - see vault deck for pictures/to practice

    • Barrel Vault

      • arches extended to create corridor

    • Groin Vault

      • 4 way cross

      • top connects to create larger area

      • like a crossroads

    • Fenestrated Sequence of a Groin Vault

      • extended groin vault with a series of windows on top

    • Hemispherical dome

      • an arch, spun on 360 degree axis to create a dome

Identify and Analyze

“Dining room” in the Domus Aurea, Rome

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Resembles a dome, but is not perfect

  • sits on an 8 sided wall to mimic a circular shape

  • poured concrete + faced brick to add to illusion

  • segmented dome

• Oculus

  • “eye”

  • opening at top for light/air

• Theatrics Inside

  • beneath dome ceiling, a secondary dome with a space between the two to hide things

    • trap doors could be opened to reveal things

      • rose petals to fall on guests, perfumes, etc.

Identify and Analyze

Ceiling painting of Achilles on Scyros, Room 119, Domus Aurea, Rome

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Achilles on Scyros myth

  • sent there by his mother to avoid being drafted into the war

  • an island of women, Achilles dressed up in disguise as a women

  • Odysseus went there, saw him and went “wow what a masucline man”

    • threw armour on the ground and while all the other women were disinterested, Achilles ran up thinking “wow how cool”

    • Odysseus said “ha gotcha you’re coming to fight for me now demi boy”

• 4th Style Wall Painting

• like domus transitoria - subjects almost exclusively related to the Trojan War

• Hellenistic Greek painting conventions

  • skin tones, dramatic diagonals, and atmospheric perspective

  • based on battle scenes

Identify and Analyze

Painting of amphitheater riot, from house 1.3.23, Pompeii

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Historical paintings were rarely made

• Famous Riot

  • 59 CE at Pompeii in amphitheatre

    • gladiator fights

  • fans of opposing teams fight

    • any kind of spectacle had different teams for each town/city

  • Pompeii vs Nuceria (Their Rival City)

  • Fist fights, fires set off, etc

Identify and Analyze

Wall paintings of still life and mythological scene, macellum, Pompeii

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Macellum - “food market”

  • Northeast corner of the foru at Pompeii

• Tripartite zones

  • both horizontal/vertical

• Perspectival architecture

  • human figures

• Upper zones

  • still life paintings

    • poultry, fish, bread, fruit, and flowers laid out no counters

    • echoes actual products available at stalls and shops in market

• Centre

  • mythological panels

  • Odysseus and Penelope in one panel

  • Jupiter and Io with guardian Argus

  • Theme is possibly female virtue?

    • largely female audience doing their marketing would be confronted with the large panels

    • positive Penelope rewarded, negative Io is punished

• Scaenae frons

  • creates illusonistic spaces

Identify and Analyze (two images)

Stucco wall treatment, Stabian Baths, Pompei

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• “Stabian” Baths - right besides gates leading to nearby city

  • organized around a palaestra

    • a large open area serving as an exercise ground

      • porticoes on three sides to provide shade (walking/lounging)

• Stucco

  • architecturally moulded

    • no longer painted, now it’s 3D

      • 4th style wall

• Scaenae frons

  • creates illusonistic spaces

• orignally painted with red black blue and yellow

  • reminiscent of the corridor at the Domus Aurea

• Gods represented in some panels, recognizable

Identify and Analyze

Sanctuary of Isis, Pompeii, exterior of baptistery

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• best preserved example of a cult site to foreign deity

• After Augustus + Cleopatra

  • Egyptian craxe sweep throughout Rome

• Cult of Isis

  • biggest import of this craze

    • Mystery Religion

      • related to eternal life

      • myth - Isis brings her husband Osiris back to life

• Big 3 Mystery Religions at the Time

  • Isis. Vs Mythras Vs. Christianity

    • Isis most popular at the time

• Aspects of Altar survive

  • Greco-Roman style

  • some imagery related directly to Isis

  • some relating to Dionysus and Ariadne

    • Dionysus myth of him deifying Ariadne after her death (maybe, double check)

    • there’s also a Maenad

• Built in Brick

  • originally coated with stucco to creat image of a grander complex of cut stone masonry

• Small southeast corner building

  • Arcuated Pediment

    • aka Syrian pediment

    • combines the standard triangular pediment with a semi circular arch which usually fills the centre of the pediment

  • Tank inside

    • believed to hold the Nile water

      • improtant to rites of Isis

    • believed to be a baptistery

Identify and Analyze

Medusa head from Caligula’s floating palace, Nemi, Italy

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• Floating Palace

  • aka Caligula’s pleasure boats

  • two shipwrecks found in Italy that are thought to be these

  • head from it

• Apotropeic

• Lost Wax Method of Bronze Casting

• Medusa

  • snake hair is only a modern adaptation/way of thinking

  • in Antiquity - shown with flowing hair with wings inside

Identify and Analyze

Engraved gem with profile portrait of Julio‐Claudian youth

The Julio-Claudian Period

14 CE - 68 CE

• thought to be Caligula

• mostly just some youth of the family

Identify and Analyze

Mosaic glass bowl