Roman emperors – and others

It is one of the strange characteristics of the Roman world that even the emperors were prepared to be portrayed naked. Of course the actual statues would not have been carved from the life – one cannot imagine that Roman emperors would have time or even inte inclination to pose for a sculptor to sculpt his private parts. No doubt the bodies we actually see are standard male nudes to which the emperor’s head was attached.

However the very fact that they were prepared to be portrayed nude shows an attitude to nudity that one wishes modern rulers would adopt.

So here is a collection of emperors – and indeed any other person relevant to whom a name can be attached – who were portrayed in the nude.

 

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