Defacing the Past: Damnation and Desecration in Imperial Rome

Fascinating little exhibition at the British Museum looking at how and why images of the Roman emperors were defaced focusing on the coinage.

The show pointed out that when images are made as a sign of power they are also liable to be defaced when the person represented is no longer in power. The earliest examples were of Nero and Caligula and included a coin from Caligula’s reign which had been over stamped with the head of Claudius.

There were some busts included in the exhibition and these showed how they were often defaced by attaching the sensory organs, eyes, nose and mouth. It also looked at the habit of reworking a head to be a different empower. I was fascinated by a head of Germanicus with a cross carved on its forehead. Was this a mark of exorcism or baptism?

Closes on 7 May 2017

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