Portraits on Roman Coins of the late empire

[Phillipe C]

It strikes me as a kind of downward spiral but beginning in the latter Third Century Coin Portraits begin to become more Generic till the time of Constantine they become totally Stylized. What do you think are the reasons they did away with real Portraits of the Person issuing the Coins.

[traveler]

I would guess that the generic portraits are likely to have been a practical response to the relatively short reign of emperors after Severus Alexander (Crisis of the Third Century).

[dougsmit]

Neither of the above strikes me as correctly addressing the situation.  The art style of the Empire changed over time and is reflected in coins as well as other media.  Increasingly multiple mints made some portraits of different rulers from one mint look more like each other than portraits of the same ruler from several different mints do.  As I become more familiar with the coins of any period I become more comfortable recognizing individuals by name and mint.  This would seem more necessary as the general art style leaves photo=realistic whatever the time period.  I'm not sure the various mints of Galba in the first century really look more like each other than do the various mints of, say, Constantius II.  Certainly short reigns might make die cutters less likely develop a good feel for a face before it is replaced by another ruler but aging also comes to play on long reigns requiring following the appearance development over periods up to forty years. 

[SC]

I agree with Doug.

I would add that some art historians believe that one reason late Roman art styles differed from those before were the changing perceptions about the nature of individuality and the ruler.  The Emperor became more and more an absolutist, almost abstract concept.  Though the Emperors of the earlier principate also held great power they remained to a large extent individuals and were accessible - at least to the elite.  In the later Empire Emperors became almost non-human beings removed from even the bulk of their advisors via elaborate ceremonial procedures something that would increase into the Byzantine era.

To these art historians the changes in art style were purposeful and reflected a new philosophy.  They were not degenerate or downward but intentional and matched to the belief system.  The negative value judgement is just our modern tastes speaking.

Personally I see great merit in this view of art history.

Shawn