07-13-2011, 06:45 AM
He's not Seneca, he's a very...
That's actually the so-called Pseudo-Seneca, now believed to be one of various Roman copies of a Greek original. No portraits of Seneca the Elder survive as far as I know, but here's the (very much clean-shaven) Seneca the Younger.
That's not Pliny either... although I don't know who it is. Another Greek, I would guess.
I can't find any bust portraits of bearded Romans, Nero aside, between the early Republic and Hadrian. Plutarch describes Marcus Antonius as having a full beard - possibly started while he was in mourning for Caesar, or during his 'Greek God' phase. Most of the coin portraits show him shaven, but there are a couple of bearded ones:
And even Octavian seems to have grown a bit of fluff on his cheeks:
That's actually the so-called Pseudo-Seneca, now believed to be one of various Roman copies of a Greek original. No portraits of Seneca the Elder survive as far as I know, but here's the (very much clean-shaven) Seneca the Younger.
That's not Pliny either... although I don't know who it is. Another Greek, I would guess.
I can't find any bust portraits of bearded Romans, Nero aside, between the early Republic and Hadrian. Plutarch describes Marcus Antonius as having a full beard - possibly started while he was in mourning for Caesar, or during his 'Greek God' phase. Most of the coin portraits show him shaven, but there are a couple of bearded ones:
And even Octavian seems to have grown a bit of fluff on his cheeks:
Nathan Ross