Mirrors and Masks in the Roman Empire

Encounter, Performance and Metamorphosis

Dr Shelley Hales (University of Bristol, UK)

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
11 December 2025

History of Art & Design Styles; Ancient history: to c 500 CE; Classical Greek & Roman archaeology; Material culture; Social & cultural anthropology

This book explores the ways in which masks and mirrors mediated encounters, enabled performances and effected visual and social metamorphoses across the Roman empire. The complex and multifaceted roles played by masks and mirrors in Roman culture has been the subject of several sophisticated analyses, though to date there has been a lack of significant scholarly engagement with geographical context. This volume explores the experiences of classical mirror and mask users across the Roman empire, from Gaul and Africa to Asia Minor and the Levant. It explores how particular themes are instantiated across a range of imperial contexts, as well as offering carefully selected case studies for detailed analysis.

At once confrontational and evasive, enabling and terrifying, mirrors and masks hold extraordinary resonance as objects, images and metaphors. As such, they had the capacity to mediate encounters, enable performances and effect visual and social metamorphoses in myriad different ways throughout the Roman Empire. Exploring these contexts can enrich our understanding of the meanings and uses of mirrors and masks in the Roman world, not only in isolation in their immediate locations, but also in the influence they might have exerted on each other. By examining how the populations of empire encountered themselves and each other through these masks and mirrors, we can also observe how classical culture allowed communication and miscommunication between these communities. Crucially, too, we can trace how Roman understandings of these objects not only shaped their own attitude to provincial users, but have also helped form perceptions that continue to mask those provincial populations today.

By: Dr Shelley Hales (University of Bristol UK)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 158mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 560g
ISBN: 9781350412675
ISBN 10: 1350412678
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 11 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of Figures 1. Introduction Part I: Masks 2. Masks and Masculinity in Rome 3. Masques du Fer: Fighting for Rome on the Northern Frontiers 4. Mask Bottles: Theatrical Posturing Part II: Mirrors 5. Venus Victrix: The Reflection of Classical Beauty 6. Commemorating Mirrors and Femininity 7. Marine Venus: Décor and Duplication in North Africa 8. Afterword: Colonising the Past Bibliography Index

Shelley Hales is Associate Professor in Art and Visual Culture at the University of Bristol, UK.