The Digital Sculpture Project. Nic Jones From The Devil To A Stranger Rar'>Nic Jones From The Devil To A Stranger Rar. In Memoriam John D. Mac. IsaacThe Image of Caligula Myth and Reality. John Pollini. As in the case of several of Romes other so called bad emperors, much nonsense has been written about Caligula and his supposed insanity, not to mention the claim that he believed that he was a living god. These views have been expressed not only by ancient detractors of the emperor but also by modern biographers and writers of historical fiction they crop up in the popular press, film, and television programs, which have a strong tendency to sensationalize stories for a public that enjoys hearing about the excesses and eventual comeuppance of the rich and infamous. This phenomenon was as true in antiquity as it is today and is perhaps best exemplified in the writings of the Roman biographer Suetonius, whose biographies of the first twelve emperors might be regarded as antiquitys version of the tabloid press. For Suetonius and other ancient historians especially ancient biographers influenced by epideictic rhetoric, the value of writing history and biography often had more to do with teaching moral lessons and, in the case of the Caesars, establishing what constituted good or bad leadership rather than investigating, let alone arriving at, historical truth or reality. Perhaps more shocking than the writings of ancient biographers are the attempts by modern scientists and medical practitioners to diagnose the cause and nature of the insanity attributed to Caligula, as though his being clinically insane was an indisputable historical fact and not an ancient fiction created by his detractors or by those seeking an explanation for his extravagant behavior. In the same vein, even some art historians have claimed to be able to detect a touch of insanity in ancient portraits of the emperor, such as the famous marble head of Caligula in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, because of the odd look created by the remains of paint in only one of his eyes fig. As related to me by a former Curator of Classical Antiquities at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, museum docents will often say to Danish school children when viewing this portrait of Caligula, Doesnt he look crazy Although many of the stories told about Caligula that are supposed to prove his insanity are wonderfully entertaining and titillating, they have, in my view, little to do with the historical reality of his mental stability or lack thereof. Unlike most authors of this ancient and modern pulp fiction, Anthony Barrett tried, and, I believe, largely succeeded in, separating fact from fiction in his excellent book Caligula The Corruption of Power, first published in 1. In this endeavor, other historians, such as Sam Wilkinson and Aloys Winterling, have followed Barrett in recent years. Caligulas lack of preparation for the power that was thrust upon him, coupled with serious character flaws, spelled disaster for those with whom he needed to cooperate in order to govern effectively, a failure that ultimately cost him his life. A%2F%2Fs2.dmcdn.net%2FdwMk5.jpg&b=0' alt='The Charisma Myth' title='The Charisma Myth' />Those who have studied Julio Claudian portraiture know well that there are many problems in identifying the various members of this complex imperial family, whose portraits show a strong resemblance to one another not only physiognomically but also with respect to their iconographic hairstyles. Perhaps one of relatively few secure image of Caligula before he became Princeps is his representation on the magnificent Grand Came de France in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris fig. Here Caligula appears as a boy in the presence of an enthroned Tiberius and Livia and other members of the Julio Claudian house, including his then deceased father, Germanicus, and two older brothers, Nero Iulius and Drusus Iulius. The Obama Deception is a hardhitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people. Crack Do Marvel Ultimate Alliance Download Psp on this page. Myth And Meaning Paperback Book Comparison Site. Just Added. Myth and Meaning Paperback Book Smith Wesson Center Pin, 2 Barrel, Ss. The barriers to cleaning up ocean plastic pollution are so massive that the vast majority of the scientific and advocacy community believe its a fools errand. The depiction of Caligula wearing armor and military boots reflects the story of how he received his nickname Little Boot from his fathers soldiers because he was dressed like a common soldier wearing little military booties, or caligulae, the Latin diminutive form of caligae Suet. Calig. 9. In many of Caligulas images, including his boyhood representation on the Grand Came de France fig. Tiberius as Princeps e. Germanicus e. g. Nero Iulius fig. Drusus Iulius fig. Even in Caligulas later portraits, after he succeeded Tiberius as Princeps, it is sometimes difficult to identify Caligula solely on the basis of facial features since there is at times considerable diversity in his imagery not only in Rome e. Empire e. g. a portrait from Mustis in North Africamodern Tunisia, fig. Projektowania Kuchni Program on this page. For this reason, Caligulas iconographic hairstyle, especially with regard to the arrangement of the fringe of locks over the forehead, is of great importance in identifying his portraits. Although the configuration of locks is by no means identical in all respects in images of a given portrait type, hairstyles were generally far easier to carve in marble than facial features even by less talented sculptors, and they therefore provide an important index for identifying portraits. My focus here is on the image of Caligula as transmitted to us by not only the ancient visual evidence, consisting largely of sculpture and coinage, but also the literary sources representing the views of his detractors. Although sculptural portraits of Caligula have come down to us, none has been found in association with his inscribed name. Consequently, the only reliable images for determining his physical appearance are those on labeled coins, which provide us with either his right or left profile. These numismatic profile views can be compared with sculptural portraits in the round to establish the identity of the imperial personage represented. Though representations of Caligula in the form of portraits must also certainly have existed, none has survived from antiquity. Whether numismatic or sculptural, the extant portraits of Caligula and other members of the imperial family ultimately reflect, to some degree, a three dimensional Urbild, or prototype, for which the individual presumably sat. These prototypes, which were probably first produced in clay, no longer survive, but they would have been used for terracotta or plaster models that would presumably have been made available by imperial agents for distribution throughout the Empire, both through military channels and via the art market. However, there is no surviving material evidence for these putative plaster or terracotta casts of Roman portraits. Other types of models may also have been distributed via the art market. One possibility not considered in the past is the dissemination of painted wax face mask models, though we have no direct evidence for this either. Many of the portraits produced in the provinces for civic contexts and municipal or colonial worship did not closely follow the imagery of Roman state models, which reflected the official ideology of the principate. Instead, provincial imperial portraits often conformed to local, traditional concepts of leadership, suggesting that the central government of Rome only made models available for distribution but did not control how closely they were followed. Local social pressures would nevertheless have assured that the imperial image was both dignified and appropriately displayed.