Ellen Perry offers a clear and forthright, if sometimes oversimplified, account of the complex, highly sophisticated discourses that characterized the Roman “aesthetics of emulation.” In so doing, she seeks to transform the debate on Roman copying, with a particular focus on Roman statues of gods and heroes, so-called ideal sculpture. This debate has important repercussions for Romanists, and indeed for the field of art history as a whole. After all, Roman ideal sculptures are familiar to most art historians—but not as Roman works of art. Instead, statues that appear stylistically Greek, such as the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön, have commonly been identified as “Roman copies of lost Greek originals.” Perry’s aim is to demonstrate instead that these works are a quintessentially Roman phenomenon, driven by Roman patrons and involving the creative transformation of Greek models rather than servile copying. Many ancient art historians, myself included, find this a plausible and sympathetic argument; others will be more skeptical, and will not find all of their legitimate concerns addressed here. In particular, skeptics might question Perry’s focus on literary texts concerning emulation, while images are accorded only a secondary role. As a specialist in visual rather than literary culture, Perry addresses...