Our work titled "Roman Portraiture", which we wanted to prepare for colleagues, students and those interested, was initially planned to be in two volumes. However, as the scope of the subjects we covered expanded, the necessity of a third volume to be added to the series became apparent.
There were many difficulties encountered in the preparation of this book. The most important of these difficulties is the difficulty of accessing visual data, which is a difficulty that most researchers working on visual data may experience. As we have mentioned before, due to the lack of catalogues in our museums, it creates great difficulties to access the works preserved both in exhibition and in storage. Especially, taking a look at the storage of some of our museums is a difficult and almost impossible task, like getting a visa to the USA. When you get such a visa, you will encounter the miserable condition of the works.
There are some deformations and stains caused by cultural assets remaining underground for many years. Although these stains can be eliminated with a simple cleaning work, unfortunately, this situation continues as if there is a "prohibition" on approaching the artifacts. Of course, in order to eliminate these problems in museums and archaeological sites, first of all, financial problems must be solved. However, there has been no positive development in this direction in previous government policies so far. Because the share of the Ministry of Culture in the annual general budget is even below 1%. Therefore, the number of trained personnel who can perform maintenance and repair in our museums is very few. Unfortunately, there are no knowledgeable bureaucrats who have the thought to eliminate the deficiencies in question in connection with this issue. Due to all the reasons we have mentioned, most of the cultural assets exhibited both in archaeological sites and in the exhibition and storage sections of museums and especially in museum gardens are unfortunately experiencing their "sapling" periods. Therefore, one may think "I wish they had remained underground!" It is possible to say but it is not possible to say. Because if they had remained underground, the history, cultural history and art of the past could not be explained and presented scientifically. In fact, this wealth of Anatolia, which has the richest historical and cultural history in the world, is a wealth with material and spiritual values that can be considered equal to oil or uranium deposits, and what is needed to process and operate it is knowledge.
As we mentioned in the first book of the series titled Roman Portraiture I, we hope that these studies, which we believe will be of benefit to Turkish archaeologists and archaeology students in particular, will meet the need for Turkish resources on the subject, not only for archaeologists and students, but also for colleagues working in museums. Ramazan ÖZGAN