The Emperor’s True Face: Realism and Image in Ancient Coin Portraiture

Why did Rome, a civilization capable of sculpting divine perfection in marble, often choose to immortalize its emperors with raw, unflatteringly realistic portraits stamped into Roman coin? What message did those wrinkles carry? This is the story of verism—a uniquely Roman aesthetic that turned age into authority and made coinage a canvas for truth, propaganda, and political survival.