Body Models in Roman Nude Portraits: Restaging Polykleitos?

The paper extends the discussion to Roman male nude portraits that have been variously traced back to Polykleitos and his school, proposing a critical approach to the ongoing tendency to describe them only in terms of their relationship to types, or sub-types, of famous Greek masterpieces. By leaving aside similar concerns, the paper explores the signifi-cant case of two statues in Formia, providing a different interpretation of their formal differ- ences based on the analysis of their function and meaning within their ancient context.