Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in

In the first comprehensive study of Roman ancestor masks in English, Harriet Flower explains the reasons behind the use of wax masks in the commemoration of politically prominent family members by the elite society of Rome. Broadening her approach from the purely art historical, Flower tracesthe functional evolution of ancestor masks, from their first appearance in the third century BC to their last mention in the sixth century AD, through the examination of literary sources in both prose and verse, legal texts, epigraphy, archaeology, numismatics, and art. It is by putting these masks,which were worn by actors at the funerals of the deceased, into their legal, social, and political context that Flower is able to elucidate their central position in the media of the time and their special meaning as symbols of power and prestige.

Harriet Flower is Assistant Professor of Classics at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

List of Plates	p. xii
List of Figures	p. xiv
Abbreviations	p. xvi
Introduction	p. 1
Sources	p. 3
Representations of the Imagines in Art	p. 5
Methodology	p. 9
The Significance of Imagines	p. 16
Defining the Imagines?	p. 32
What were the Imagines?	p. 32
The Imagines in Roman Law: Was There a 'Ius Imaginum'?	p. 53
Conclusion: The Definition of an Imago	p. 59
Ancestors at the Elections: Ancestral Portraits and Magisterial Office	p. 60
Imagines and the Concept of Nobilitas	p. 61
Portraits of Ancestors in Public Places	p. 70
Ancestors on Coins and Gems	p. 79
Brutus and his Ancestors	p. 88
Conclusion	p. 89
Ancestors at the Funeral: The Pompa Funebris	p. 91
Before the Funeral	p. 93
The Funeral Procession	p. 97
The Relationship between Funerals and other Processions	p. 107
Virgil and the Funeral Procession	p. 109
Imagines and Theatrical Masks	p. 114
Organizing an Aristocratic Funeral: Practical Matters and Sumptuary Legislation	p. 115
The Evolution of Aristocratic Funerals during the Republic	p. 122
Conclusion	p. 126
Praising the Ancestors: Laudationes and other Orations	p. 128
The Context of the Laudatio	p. 129
Laudationes and Rhetorical Theory	p. 133
Ideology and Structure in the Laudatio	p. 136
Published Laudationes and the Roman Historical Tradition	p. 145
Imagines in Rhetoric outside the Funeral Oration	p. 150
Conclusion	p. 157
Ancestors and Inscriptions: Elogia and Tituli	p. 159
The Tomb of the Scipios	p. 160
Republican Tomb Inscriptions and the Labels of the Imagines	p. 180
Conclusion	p. 184
Ancestors at Home: Imagines in the Atrium	p. 185
The Atrium: Its History, Furnishings, and Function	p. 186
The Tablinum	p. 203
Imagines in the Atrium: Setting up and Opening the Armaria	p. 206
The Imagines and the Cult of the Ancestors	p. 209
Family Trees and other Representations of Ancestors in the Home	p. 211
Imagines and Visitors to the House: The Salutatio	p. 217
Imagines and the Aristocratic Family	p. 220
Conclusion	p. 222
Imagines and the New Principate: Augustus and Tiberius	p. 223
Augustus and the Imagines	p. 224
Imperial Funerals under Tiberius	p. 246
Conclusion	p. 254
Imagines in the Later Empire: The Last Imagines	p. 256
Imagines under the Julio-Claudians	p. 257
Imagines in the Struggle for Empire: AD 69-70	p. 260
The Second and Third Centuries AD	p. 263
Imagines in the Later Roman Empire	p. 264
Conclusions	p. 270
Appendices
Literary Testimonia	p. 281
Inscriptions and Laws	p. 326
Moneyers using Ancestral Themes on their Coins	p. 333
Etruscan Statues of Ancestors and the Origins of the Imagines	p. 339
Trees of the Caecilii Metelli, Cornelii Scipiones, and Augustus' Family	p. 353
Bibliography	p. 362
Index of Persons	p. 393
Index of Ancient Sources	p. 397
General Index	p. 409
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture

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