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HAIR-DRESSING OF ROMAN LADIES AS ILLUSTRATED ON COINS. |
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56 NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE
brass type (Illust. LI.). This fashion of hers occurs in sculpture
in her portrait in the Louvre (Bernouilli, Rom.
Icon., ii. 3, 16), and in the example in the Capitol (Bernouilli, Rom, Icon., ii. 3, 18). Plautilla, wife of Caracalla (circa 202A.D.)
was also of Oriental origin, and sometimes wears her hair like her
relative Julia Domna, though not in so exaggerated a form.
Illust. LIM A
variety of this style, allowing the ear to be seen, is shown in
Illust. LIV. The parallel
lines on this head may represent "ondulation," but they look
almost too solid for that style. In another piece (Illust. LV.)
they suggest the padded
rolls worn by Lucilla (Illust. XLV.). In this instance the plait at
the back is rather large. In
the rare coin of Plautilla (with Caracalla), not long since acquired by my
husband, her front hair is waved in a regular scheme like the American
“bang ;” i.e. each lock
fixed by pomade. It is closely plaited at the back.
Illust. LVI. The
relatives of Julia Domna seem to have done their hair as a rule in styles
not dissimilar from hers. They adapt the mode to their own taste. Her sister, Julia
Maesa (died 223 A.D.),
grandmother of Elagabalus, shows the braids of moderate depth and fine
plaits at the back.
Illust. LVII. Julia Paula,
who married Elagabalus in 219 A.D. (Illust.
LVIII.), is hardly to be distinguished in coiffure, except that her
ear is visible, from Julia Soaemias,
daughter of Julia Maesa, who shared the fate of assassination with her son
Elagabalus in 222A.D.
Illust. LIX. That Paula's hair was
straight by nature and, on occasion, artificially waved seems indicated by
a Comparison of
Illust. LVIII. with a coin in the British
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