The Portraits of Nero

Abstract

Close study of Nero's portraiture on coins and in sculptured replicas reveals the creation of five separate portrait types datable to the years A.D. 51, 54, 55, 59 and 64. The first three portrait types, which all bear the same coiffure pattern and to which a total of fifteen replicas are attributed, can be associated with the successive events of Nero's adoption in A.D. 50, his tenure as heir apparent from A.D. 51 to 54, and his accession in A.D. 54. Portrait Type III, the accession portrait, is the best defined and most widely represented type, used to portray the young emperor until A.D. 59. A hitherto unknown example of this type in Cagliari was subsequently altered to reflect the elaborated iconography of Nero's last years.The later portraits, Types IV and V, survive in only one sculptured replica each—well known portraits in the Terme and Worcester Museums. Both stylistically and typologically the established portrait series reveals a continuous development without any radical break. The earliest dated coin portraits of Type V and the physical evidence of the Worcester replica indicate Nero's last portrait type of A.D. 64 to have been originally unconnected with attributes traditionally interpreted as suggesting his divine, monarchical status. Moreover, the introduction of Nero's last two portrait types to coincide with his quinquennial and decennial years suggests that their publication followed a traditional pattern of imperial anniversary commemoration.