The emperors of early Rome varied from very powerful and successful, to almost being a joke. The art and statues they commissioned and that people made in their honor portrays who they were and how they ruled. The art produced ranged from paintings, to full sculptures, to a small bust; and every detail was thought out and meant something.
Two examples of this are the busts of Caracalla and Commodus as Hercules. These two men ruled almost 100 years apart, and were completely different in their rule. Commodus ruled in 180 ce alone, but ruled with his father before that. After his father died, Commodus ruled even though he had no political skill, no administrative competence, and no intellectual distinction. He was quite conceded, and was mainly focused on his looks and his own luxury; whereas Caracalla was a strong ruler and was focused on protecting his people. These differences can be seen in the busts made in their honor.
Commodus was so enticed with himself that he convinced people that he was the reincarnation of Hercules, and the incarnation of the god of Jupiter. He was devoted to his luxury and frivolous pursuits. He was full of vanity and was more concerned with his looks and the way his people saw him then with protecting his people; and when it did come down to protecting his people, he was so convinced with who he was, he didn’t do much. His bust shows his vanity and his dedication to thinking he was the reincarnated Hercules. His bust extends to his arms and mid-chest, and is very detailed. He is muscular and it seems every strand of hair is detailed, both of these tell us just how vain he was. Commodus is shown with the attributes of Hercules; his club, the golden apples, and the head of the Nemean lion. The only thing that connects this bust to the fact that he was a ruler is that he looks like the other members of his family.
Caracalla, on the other hand, was a powerful, protective ruler. His bust is smaller than Commodus’s, and doesn’t have as many attributes or indicators of who he was or what he did. In his face, however, is a stern, almost vengeful look. His hair is cut short, to show that he was a man of the military. His bust shows that he was fierce, courageous and a great ruler. His bust has a lot of detail; we can see the creases in his forehead and the little details in what little facial hair he has. This basically says that he was a man of business; he liked to keep his hair short and out of the way. The artist put a lot of detail in Caracalla’s eyes, and even over exaggerated them to make them catch and reflect more light and shadows, to increase the intensity even more.
The busts were made to show the viewers what kind of ruler and person the subject was. Most of the time, however; the busts were not made to be viewed by the people who they were ruling over, but people later on. The busts were used as decoration around the palace or in the tombs to tell about the person.
