The iconography of adornment Funerary monuments from Roman Britain

Funerary iconography in the north-west of the Roman empire was highly indebted to, but not a copy of, Italian funerary iconography. In Italy, tombstones portray women unadorned (without jewellery or accoutrements used in bodily grooming) in accordance with the Roman ideology of feminine modesty. But in the north-western provinces, however, women were regularly depicted wearing jewellery and engaging in extensive bodily grooming on their tombstones. This article presents two examples from Roman Britain of this ‘iconography of adornment’ and queries the differential importance of adornment in the public image of women in both regions.