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Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Friday, 10th August 2007
Wow, that's quite extraordinary!
What methods are used to verify that a statue is from a certain time period? I mean, obviously they can't use radio-carbon dating, right? But certainly on other artifacts in the surrounding "strata" can be used as a dating tool...
Or do they say to themselves, "I suppose the fact that it is the likeness of the emperor Hadrian, we can be fairly certain that it dates to his reign..."
I think there's many stylistic differences in sculpture that can point to a certain period when the item was made. For example Greek sculpture can be categorised by its style such as archaic sculpture has a upturned mouth, the archaic smile, whilst classical sculpture can be classed by a downturned mouth, the classical pout. I think it's probably similar with Roman sculpture.
, in reply to message 3.
Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Friday, 10th August 2007
Context context context. The site has been under recent excavation for 15 years. The dating of the find, while always an educated guess, in this case is pretty safe a bet.
The sculptural style will point to its age to within a century or less, but I have little doubt that such a site will have yielded coins in the stratum which will date it more accurately. Anyway, it is plainly in the likeness of Hadrian, so it makes sense that it was made during, or soon after, his reign.
nordmann,
if I may
Context context context.Β
Regards, AA.
Very impressive hair-do! He must have kept the poor hairdresser working overtime with the rollers.
Don't be silly, some people have naturally curly hair.
Hi Fascinating,
Don't be silly, some Romans had their own hairdressers. Roman men took their appearance to absurd levels of vanity - plucking their hair from their faces rather than shaving is a good example - and I think it's pretty safe to say that Hadrian will have had his own personal "Coiffeur".
In fact if you at this bust of Hadrian it looks like the front of his hair has been intentionally curled whereas the rest of his hair is just a bit "wavy".
The same can be seen on this Aureus of Hadrian:
As IslandDawn has stated, he probably did keep the hairdresser working overtime...
Cheers,
RF
Not convinced by the picture of the coin, but the bust does seem to show that his fringe has been styled. You could be right!
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