I love this stripped down face. Without the voluminous surround of her coiffure (usually plaited, looped upon itself, perhaps netted, perhaps a true wig) Julia Mammea looks so very much like her son Alexander, the young emperor who was assassinated in her arms.
It was the early 3rd century A.D. (a time of impending crises and powerful royal women) when her young son succeeded his cousin Elagabalus as emperor and she became his regent with the title: “Mother of our most sacred lord … Mother of the armed forces, of the Senate, of the Country and of the entire human race.” Bombastic!
Despite this initial rosy acclamation and a relatively long and successful stretch as regent and royal mother, Julia Mammea couldn’t really win and, like many of her royal female relatives who were unabashed powers behind their male counterparts, began to attract the ire of ancient chroniclers and the military. Blamed for myriad perceived failures, she was impugned by Herodian for “petty minded greediness…” that corrupted her son and tanked the empire. Mother and son were assassinated, clutching each other, while on campaign in Illyria.
She is presented here with the same lush, feathery unibrow worn by her formidable aunt Julia Domna, and a very slight smile playing on those full lips. More puzzling is that averted gaze with drilled heart-shaped pupils drifting towards her upper left, distinctive in her portraiture. Today it seems to impart an unbecoming slyness, certainly not how she wished to present her self….and I wonder: what was the intention behind this quirk, and what was its effect during her lifetime?
