Bronze head of Augustus, c27-25 BC, from Meroë, Sudan

 

From Meroë, Sudan, Roman

Height: 46.2 cm
Width: 26.5 cm
Depth: 29.4 cm

 

 

Excavated by Professor John Garstang.

Donated by the Sudan Excavation Committee and acquired with the assistance of The Art Fund.

GR 1911.9-1.1

Room 70: Roman Empire

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Bronze head of Augustus

This head once formed part of a statue of the emperor Augustus (27 C-AD 14) thought to have been erected in Alexandria, Egypt. He appears larger than life, with perfect proportions based upon Classical Greek notions of ideal human form. His calm distant gaze, with inset eyes of glass and stone, give him an air of quiet, assured strength. Coins and statues were the main media for propagating the image of the Roman emperor. This statue, like many others throughout the Empire, was a continuous reminder of the all-embracing power of Rome and its Emperor.

The head's symbolic importance ultimately led to its preservation. It was found at Meroë in the Sudan, far from its place of origin, beneath the steps of a native temple dedicated to Victory. It seems likely it was cut from the statue by Meroitic tribesmen during a raid deep into Roman Egypt. That it was buried where its captors would walk over it on entering the temple, appears, for as long as its unseen presence was remembered, to have been a deliberate act of insult and desecration.