Obesity, Corpulence and Emaciation in Roman Art

Abstract

This article explores the significance of sculptural and painted representations of 'overweight' and 'underweight' body types in the visual culture of Roman Italy from the fourth century BC through to the late Empire, and considers the relationship of this imagery to Greek and Hellenistic precedents. In spite of the topical character of fat in 21st-century sociology, anthropology and medical science, obesity and emaciation in the ancient world remain almost completely unexplored. This article sets out to examine the relationship of fat and thin bodies to power, wealth, character and behaviour, and seeks to identify patterns and continuities in the iconography of fleshiness and slenderness across a stretch of several hundred years. Such bodies could be evaluated in a number of different ways, and this article exposes the diverseand sometimes contradictoryresponses to body fat in the art and culture of the Roman world. It first examines the significance of obesity and emaciation in language, literature and medicine, and then discusses visual representations under three headings: 'Fertility'; 'The marginal and the ridiculous', examining the relationship between body fat, humour and figures at the edge of civilized society; and 'Portraits', exploring fat and thin in the portraiture of real-life individuals in the realms of philosophy, Hellenistic rulership, Etruscan funerary art and Roman public sculpture.L'articolo esplora il significato delle rappresentazioni scultoree e pittoriche dei tipi di corpi 'sovrappeso' e 'sottopeso' nella cultura figurative dell'Italia romana dal IV secolo a.C. fino al Tardo Impero e considera la relazione di questo immaginario con i precedenti greci ed ellenistici. A differenza del carattere topico del grasso nella sociologia, antropologia e scienza medica del XXI secolo, l'obesità e la magrezza nel mondo antico rimangono argomenti quasi del tutto inesplorati. L'articolo si propone di esaminare il rapporto del corpo grasso e magro con il potere, la ricchezza, il carattere e il comportamento, e cerca di identificare i modelli e le continuità nell'iconografia della grassezza e della magrezza attraverso un arco cronologico di vari centinaia di anni. Simili corpi potrebbero essere valutati attraverso varie strade e questo articolo espone le diversee a volte contradditorierisposte al corpo grasso nell'arte e nella cultura del mondo romano. Prima si esamina il significato dell'obesità e magrezza nel linguaggio, letteratura e medicina, e poi si discuta le rappresentazioni visuali sotto tre aspetti: 'la fertilità'; 'il marginale e il ridicolo', esaminando la 1 This article represents one small part of a long-term project on foul bodies in the history, literature and art of ancient Rome. I owe a large debt of thanks to many individuals for suggesting approaches to this topic, identifying appropriate material and shaping my arguments: ; the Editor and two anonymous readers of Papers of the British School at Rome; audiences at Cambridge and Nottingham; as well as all the perceptive comments on my p...

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“…That such an object was also owned by someone who was clearly not in the socio-economic position of the girl depicted further reinforces how visual representations could reinforce elite discourses about the non-elite. On emaciation, visual depictions of 'beggars', and the attendant problems with the ancient terminology and its visual corollaries, see Bradley (2011). Note that he does not consider issues beyond the terminology and visualization of poverty through flesh(iness), such as posture or proximity to the ground.…”

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“…The authors are not aware of specific evidence for obesity for Roman Catalonia or Britain. Furthermore, Bradley (2011) argues that in the Roman period, obesity, corpulence and emaciation were not major themes in ancient art and the body representations answered to an honorific, standardized or idealized canon.…”

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