Not all the statues were of gods and goddesses. Many were (relatively) ordinary people, much as we might have portraits of members of our family on the walls. This woman was Faustina the Younger, also known as Faustina Minor, the wife of Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 AD. Like most Roman wives, history remembers little about her, other than her place as wife of Aurelius and mother of Commodus (and 12 other children). In her time vicious rumors circulated about her, claiming that she had relations with sailors and gladiators and that Commodus was actually the son of one of these. There is no reason to believe that these rumors had any foundation, however, and she and Aurelius appear to have been happily married until her death in 175 AD.

These two statues are of Commodus and his wife, Crispina. They depict the influence of two styles - the period during Marcus Aurelius' rule, in which the figures were shown with more emotion in addition to the traditional depiction of royalty as strong, god-like figures; and the more baroque period that followed it, with impressionistic depiction of the hair and very bold style. I include them mostly because I think it's neat that we what are probably very realistic sculptures of both a husband and wife from nearly 2000 years ago.

This is a funerary marker for a couple. The slightly malproportioned parts do make me wonder if some of it was reconstructed, but its a neat monument anyway.

The Amazon and the Barbarian. Amazons were a legendary race of warrior women. They were probably based on the very real culture of the Sarmatians (or their predecessors, the Scythians), which were based in modern-day Iran but expanded as far as Germany and Russia. In the military burial sites that have been found, there are as many women warriors as men, and the women appear to be the richer of them. When not fighting, their society was nomadic and centered around breeding livestock. Barbarians were simply the Greek's name for anyone who was not Greek. The name is simply onomatopoeic for the sound of someone speaking a language that you don't understand - a sort of equivilant of blah blah. As the Greeks allied with some neighbors and made war with others, the term came to mean specifically Persians, and then any race that was ruled by a king rather than the democratic system that the Greeks enjoyed. Naturally, it also extended to the people that the Greeks kept as slaves. The notion that barbaros came from the same root word as barber and meand bearded one has largely been discredited. This sculpture was from a villa (a private home) around 300 AD.

This sculpture is a 2nd century AD copy of a 2nd century BC original. From this view she appears to be a beautiful sleeping woman, but from the other side male genetalia are clearly visible.

It is hard to say what the Romans and Greeks thought of this piece. Hermaphroditism must have been a very strange thing indeed, and they probably reacted much as modern doctors usually do - they probably removed the male organs, thinking they had then decided the gender of this ambiguous creature. Then as now, though, it probably wasn't as simple as that.

Another ancient piece depicting a hermaphrodite shows a satyr recoiling in disgust when he discovers what is under the toga of the lovely lady. Given our modern society's discomfiture with ambiguous gender, it is likely that the Romans had some trouble with it, too.