Amazons, Roma and the Virtuous Breast

Thur Feb 23

College of LIberal Arts and Sciences
Business Admin C Wing, Room 116
Campus: Tempe
Cost: Free

The Archaeological Institute of America Central Arizona Society presents "Amazons, Roma and the Virtuous Breast" by Lillian Joyce as its February lecture.

All are welcome to this public event held at 6 p.m. February 23, 2012.

Roma embodied Roman culture in complex ways from the Republic into the Principate. Most representations of Roma, almost 70% of the surviving images, portrayed her in Amazonian dress. This became the preferred costume during the Principate. Of these images, over 40% had one breast exposed. While numerous studies have explored Roma's appearance using attributes such as her helmet, weapons, globes, trophies and inscriptions, the significance of the revealed or concealed breast has not been explored. Coming from the Amazonian prototype, the unarmored breast was a symbol of valor. However, the revealed breast was also the feature that clearly marked Roma as maternal. Virgil presents Roma as the mother of her people and suggests that Augustus is her greatest son. Roma, like the She-Wolf, was a surrogate mother who nurtured and protected her people. Thus the two meanings of the Roma’s revealed breast complemented each other.

Joyce is an associate professor of ancient through Renaissance art and chair of the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.