Coriolanus

Starting around the time of Christ, the letters SPQR became an official acronym of the Roman Empire. Appearing on coins, inscriptions, and the standards of the Roman legions, it stood for Senātus Populusque Rōmānus – the Senate and the People of Rome. If Coriolanus was a real person he probably lived around 500 BC, well before SPQR came into use. However, the play Coriolanus is heavily focused on exactly that – the Senate and the People of Rome. The fractious relationship between citizens and the leaders they vote into power drives the most of the action of the play; Coriolanus’ pride, introversion, and general lack of people skills drive the rest. The SPQR acronym is perfect shorthand for these dominant themes – the interests of the senate and the people tilt sharply away from each other, just like their representative blocks in the arrangement on the obverse. Because of this, Rome – the foundation upon which they rest – is cleft asunder. Deep, hunh? While bronze is the metal traditionally thought of for Roman armaments, there were also some elements of iron, hence the silver-grey paint I chose for the wooden craft blocks that I modified for the photo. Then some rubber-stamped (and I’ll have you know, archival) ink on the smoothest surface and, as Pépé LePew says, when malapropistically name-checking one of the twins in Twelfth Night – ‘Viola.’