> What’s the consensus on whether Roman statues were intended to be realistic
Would be a pity when people don't recognize you as the emperor when for some reason you are disconnected from your usual chain of command. Could those depictions have played a role that we would today describe as biometric fallback authentication? In that case they wouldn't want to overdo it with the idealization.
Also, looking at it from a completely different angle: many Roman busts simply don't look very flattering at all, and to me those of emperors don't seem like a big exception.
Would be a pity when people don't recognize you as the emperor when for some reason you are disconnected from your usual chain of command. Could those depictions have played a role that we would today describe as biometric fallback authentication? In that case they wouldn't want to overdo it with the idealization.
Also, looking at it from a completely different angle: many Roman busts simply don't look very flattering at all, and to me those of emperors don't seem like a big exception.