'False' Portraits of Antiquity

[Flavivs Aetivs]

We forgot one - the Monza diptych that possibly shows Stilicho, his wife and son. But that's not for certain.

Eh... yes and no.

See, it could be Stilicho's Consulship of 400 or Aetius' Consulship of 432. Those are the only two possibilities and the evidence does point towards Aetius in some respects, as Stilicho's son Eucherius would have been much older but Aetius' first son Carpilio would have been the right age (and his wife in that image is his first wife, although she was dead by 432 which proves also to be an issue). The jewelry on the wife of the figure has 2 necklaces of pearls, a style which appears exclusively at the time of the reign of Valentinian III (first appearing on coins that depicted Placidia, Eudoxia, and Honoria), and the tiara over the head of the larger figure on the shield medallion also points to the medallion being a female and a male, not two imperial brothers, since Augusti were always depicted with a Taenia and no additional headgear. Finally, of course, the style of the Diptych is most similar to the consular Diptych of Felix in 428, in fact they may have well been the same artist.