Blog on Juno Ludovisi

The statue of Juno Ludovisi, whose replica rests in Carpenter Library, has been a mystery for experts and scholars for many years. It has been debated whether the head represents a goddess or a human woman. After reading this article about her, I find all the analysis put into this puzzle to be fascinating. The face of Juno is very beautiful, an “ideal face”. Some saying there is no way it could be just a woman and must represent more.  Then the head is apart of a statue, making it much larger than any human which points at the fact it is a goddess as the statue could be placed in a temple for worship.On the contrary, the emperor Caligula created a statue the same size as Juno for his sister, showing that this size of this is not only reserved for deities. The hairstyle on the head portrays the hair of a goddess from the front, but the back shows the hair of a real woman. Also, there is a Infula that would be worn by a priestess or deified mortal. I personally agree with the claim that Juno Ludovisi is not a goddess but a woman. Specifically the wife of Augustus, Livia. There are many recorded portraits of her which also have variation in how she looked. She was a well loved figure, helping the people. She gave money to raise children that otherwise may die, paid to rebuild temples and also paid to add new buildings. Once she died a little temple was built for her, and was worshipped which gives reason to why she would have the Infula. It would not be surprising that a woman who was so respected and loved by the people would have a large statue in her honor.