What did Roman emperors really look like?

Mary Beard (0:01)

I'm Mary Beard.

Charlotte Higgins (0:02)

And I'm Charlotte Higgins.

Mary Beard (0:04)

Welcome to Exploring the Odyssey.

Charlotte Higgins (0:08)

This is a book club where we really drill down into some of the most exciting bits of Homer's epic poem. Whether it's your first time, or whether you're taking another stab at it, we'll be here to share our debates, our questions, and our insights. It's just one of the most remarkable things in the poem.

Mary Beard (0:25)

This is a story that captures the imagination.

Charlotte Higgins (0:27)

And you kind of go, ugh!

Mary Beard (0:28)

It's quite a lot of the consumption of human flesh in this part of The Odyssey.

Charlotte Higgins (0:32)

This is a super good bit. It's absolutely knockout.

Mary Beard (0:36)

We'll give you some background information that you might need to get the most out of the poem. It's going to be serious reading, but with a lot of jokes, a lot of fun, and quite a few laughs along the way. So put the kettle on, or pour yourself a large glass of wine, and read along with us. To join, go to exploringtheodicy.com.

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He had few teeth, far apart and decayed. His hair was mousy and slightly curly. His eyebrows met. His ears were medium sized. And his nose jutted out at the top and curved in at the bottom. He was short, but so well proportioned that you didn't notice his size unless he was standing next to someone taller. It said that his body was blotchy, with birthmarks all over his chest and stomach. And he had calluses which looked a bit like ringworm.

Charlotte Higgins (1:44)

That is part of a description of the Roman Emperor Augustus by the 1st to 2nd century CE biographer Suetonius.

And it goes on, it gets even more medical and detailed. His left hip and leg were so weak that he sometimes limped, but poultices of sands and reeds improved it. The index finger of his right hand was weak too, so that he could sometimes hardly write. He also complained about his bladder, but the pain was relieved after he passed stones in his urine.

Mary Beard (2:21)

Too much information perhaps there, I think. And it doesn't make him sound a particularly pretty sight, though I love the description of the Roman nose by Roman.

But one big question has always been how that kind of description fits with the vast number of rather glamorizing images of Augustus in marble and metal that still survive.

Charlotte Higgins (2:52)

And not just of him, but of every other Roman emperor too. And it feels like the first thing a new Roman emperor would do after he'd made sure the soldiers were happy on the front line was to get his image out there on statues spread everywhere across the empire.

Mary Beard (3:09)

And we can still look them in the eye. They're still lining museum walls.

And my guess is that there are actually more images of Roman emperors still surviving than any other group of characters from history. I'd say even more than Jesus Christ and the A-list saints.

Charlotte Higgins (3:30)

Which is a bold claim from Beard here. But if I think she's on to something, if you include all the little tiny faces on Roman coins and all the more recent lineups of them that you can see in almost every British stately home.

Mary Beard (3:47)

Yes. So our question today is would we, from all this, be able to recognise Augustus or Nero or Marcus Aurelius if we met them in a crowd?

Charlotte Higgins (4:00)

And the answer is yes and no. But digging into the question tells us a huge amount about Roman faces, Roman portraiture and Roman power.

Mary Beard (4:11)

This is Instant Classics, the podcast that uncovers the ancient stories still shaping the world. Today, I'm Mary Beard.

Charlotte Higgins (4:19)

And I'm Charlotte Higgins. In this episode, we're asking, what did Roman emperors really look like?

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Mary Beard (5:11)

I think we have to start with the Emperor Augustus and with the apparent clash that we hinted at between these rather perfect sculptural images we still have often, and the rather detailed and not so perfect description that we have in Suetonius. Now, I think what we need to do is for the moment, park the Suetonius description, come back to that. But to think about what Augustus or Augustus' advisors, Augustus' sculptors, are doing with the image of Augustus when he establishes himself in power after the Battle of Actium in 31 CE.