How accurate are ancient history busts?
Upvote:0
Some busts and statues were made when the person was alive, others were copied from these. So in some cases one can be reasonably certain that there is a close similarity with the original. I suppose this applies to all Roman emperors, for example. Probably to the busts of some famous Greeks, like Pericles, or Greek/Macedonian rulers of Egypt and other Hellenistic states. As a check we have coins with the portraits of many of those personages. Certain faces of antiquity are easily recognizable because of the multitude of depictions of the same person which have a lot of similarity.
Upvote:1
Ancient Egypt
I asked myself this question just the other day and done a little online searching.
According to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, sculptures displaying true likeness were a rarety in Ancient Egypt.
Sculptures portraying true likenesses of people (rather than highly stylized portrayals) are rare in Ancient Egyptian art, both before and after the creation of Ankhhaf's bust.2
Ancient Egyptian bust, by Lthomas2
Greek and Roman
Overall, Roman portrait sculptures are claimed to be more reliable than their Greek or Egyptian counterparts, though admittedly, there is no source for this claim outside of Wikipedia.
Social and psychological aspect, wikipedia
Unlike the ancient Greek portraits that strived for idealization (the Greeks believed that a good man must be beautiful), Roman portrait sculpture was far more natural and is still considered one of the most realistic samples of the genre in the history of art.
More post
- 📝 Who is the author of Romanoff's theorem?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Celts produced chain mail?
- 📝 Why did the Emperors leave Rome?
- 📝 What is the source of this quote from Luke Howard?
- 📝 Was there a Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo during WW2
- 📝 Did any of the Flying Tigers lead a US Navy squadron?
- 📝 Does east-west/north-south orientation also impact large islands development?
- 📝 How were political factions in the late Roman republic different from political parties today?
- 📝 When is it okay to use the word "Indian" when meaning "Native American?"
- 📝 Is there a name for the WPA Art Style?
- 📝 What did the British Empire mean by "Free Trade" in reference to the colonies?
- 📝 Why are pre-Harappan strata grouped together with Early Harappan strata? Does this not obfuscate the development of the civilization?
- 📝 Was the Granny Smith Apple the first green skinned apple widely propagated?
- 📝 Would occupying Big Round Top have been a good idea for the Confederates?
- 📝 Where can I find historical taxation/revenue datasets for imperial countries in the early 20th century?
- 📝 Is there an equivalent in Chinese history to the Spartans?
- 📝 Why was East Asia more religiously tolerant than Europe in medieval time?
- 📝 How did different asset classes perform during the Weimar hyperinflation?
- 📝 Has there ever been an archbishop or bishop younger than the 16-year-old James of Nicosia?
- 📝 Historical precedent for using bodyguards as special forces?
- 📝 What's inside the Arch of Constantine?
- 📝 When did the key advances in vehicle suspension happen?
- 📝 Which ancient cults would cut out the hearts of live animals and offer them as sacrifices?
- 📝 Which lost historical documents, when uncovered, led to the most substantial revisions in historiography?
- 📝 After the Cold War, how did Berlin develop so much more rapidly than Moscow?
- 📝 WW1 tunneling - bypassing the front line?
- 📝 How long did it take to bind a book in 13th century England?
- 📝 Harvard Architecture: How did Harvard Mark I separate data and instruction?
- 📝 What was the first documented mention of American English different from British English?
- 📝 When was the first full length book sent over telegraph?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How accurate are ancient history busts?
- 📝 How accurate and balanced is Paul Johnson's 'A History of the Jews'?
- 📝 Are there examples in ancient history of honor killing?
- 📝 How objective are books like "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind"? How are they "proven"?
- 📝 How historically accurate are the subplots about poison gas and false flag assassinations in Babylon Berlin?
- 📝 Are the historical sources from the ancient history trustable?
- 📝 How widely accepted are Tolstoy's views on history within the academic community?
- 📝 How accurate is Belloc's version of European economic history in The Servile State, with regards to the seizing of the monastic lands?
- 📝 How historically accurate are the Assassin's Creed games?
- 📝 How did people distinguish slaves from free people in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 How accurate or supported is Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel"?
- 📝 How did they cook on ancient ships?
- 📝 How do ancient Chinese "mirrors" such as these in the National Museum function?
- 📝 How did the ancient Romans count with their fingers?
- 📝 How would a king's servants prove that they are on a task given by the king?
- 📝 Are modern Greeks related to the ancient Greeks?
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 How did the ancient Greeks synchronize time?
- 📝 Did Aztecs know how many continents there are on earth?
- 📝 When did the term "Nationality" first come into use? How did ancient civilizations refer to themselves? By ethnicity?
- 📝 How prevalent were recreational drugs in the ancient world?
- 📝 How much did it cost to attend events at the ancient Roman colosseum?
- 📝 How would slaves have addressed their masters in Ancient Greece?
- 📝 How were books published in Ancient Greece?
- 📝 How to explain the apparent discrepancy in the use of papyrus vs. clay tablets between Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?
- 📝 How did ancient empires account for slow propagation of information e.g. in their legal codes?
- 📝 How did Christianity replace Roman Paganism and other ancient religions?
- 📝 Are there ancient historical sources which have been permanently lost?
- 📝 How accurately could ancient astronomers find latitude and longitude?
- 📝 How accurate and detailed were geographical maps created and updated by the Romans?
#/media/File:Prince_Ankhaf_at_MFAB.jpg){kind=link}
,_Pompeii,_c._79_AD,_National_Archaeological_Museum,_Naples_-_Spurlock_Museum,_UIUC_-_DSC05672_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}