Walk through any major collection of Roman sculptures, and you may notice something strange. There are a lot of similarities with the Greeks.
Roman artists repeatedly recreated famous Greek statues. Roman villas were filled with Greek-looking gods, athletes, philosophers, and heroes. The Romans even reproduced works of art whose Greek originals are now lost. But were the Romans really just copying? Not exactly.
The Roman fascination with Greek art developed through centuries of cultural contact and military expansion. As Rome encountered and conquered Greek cities, Greek artworks entered Roman collections, public spaces, and homes. Greek culture acquired enormous prestige, and possessing Greek objects, or convincing Roman versions of them, became a way of demonstrating education, wealth, and cultural sophistication.
Roman sculptors frequently adapted earlier Greek models, producing works that we now call “Roman copies.” These sculptures are extraordinarily important because multiple versions of a single Greek composition can survive even when the original Greek statue has disappeared.
Calling all of these works copies may be misleading. Roman artists often changed scale, material, pose, context, and meaning. A Greek bronze statue might become a Roman marble sculpture. A figure created for a Greek sanctuary could be recreated for an imperial bath complex or a private villa. A familiar Greek image could even acquire a specifically Roman political or religious identity.
Venus provides an excellent example. The Roman goddess was closely identified with the Greek Aphrodite, and Roman artists adopted Greek visual models of the goddess. Yet Venus was also deeply connected to Roman ideas of ancestry, motherhood, and political legitimacy. Julius Caesar’s association with Venus Genetrix transformed a Greek-derived artistic tradition into something unmistakably Roman.
Greek artistic styles became a visual language through which Romans could express wealth, education, power, religious devotion, and political ambition. Copying could itself be creative. A familiar Greek image could become something new when placed in a different Roman material, space, or social context. So, perhaps Roman art was not obsessed with copying Greece. Perhaps it was obsessed with making Greece Roman.
About the Author
Morgan Avery Mucha is a senior year art history student specializing in Ancient Greek art, with a focus on visual culture and material/ religious practice. She can read and write Ancient (Attic) Greek and has written for her academic blog, Art Abloom, for three years, engaging with classical art, archaeology, and historical interpretation.
Read more on the Honors Blog.
Leave a Reply