The Meroe Head of Augustus (Objects in Focus) by Thorsten Opper

by Thorsten Opper

Made from Bronze with eyes inlaid with glass pupils set in metal rings, the 'Meroe Head' is a magnificent portrait of Julius Caesar's great nephew and adopted heir Augustus (63 BC-AD 14). Once forming part of a statue of Rome's revered first true emperor - one of many such statues that were erected in Egyptian towns - the head was violently separated from the body and carried away in triumph by ancient Meroitic tribesman shortly after its creation. For nearly two millennia it remained buried in front of a temple in their capital city of Meroe (modern Sudan), so that worshippers ritually had to trample the face of the supreme leader of Rome. The head was recovered in 1910 and, remarkably well preserved, is one of the British Museum's most treasured objects. This book reveals the significance of the head in light of Augustus' rise to power and the role of portraits in the Roman world. Accompanied by a series of new photographs that highlight the wonderful, dramatic qualities of the head, this is an absorbing introduction about a portrait which was made as a continuous reminder of the all-embracing power of Rome, yet whose fate is a graphic illustration of resistance to its rule.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

Paperback

First published July 31, 2011

About the author

Thorsten Opper is a curator in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum. He has published work on ancient sculpture and eighteenth-century antiquarianism.

Reviews

[Birgitta Hoffmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book about the Meroe head in the British Museum focusing not only the head as a work of art, but also on the find contexts in a Meroitic building and the possibility that it might have become a war trophy.

[Inas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it months ago in ARCE library. precise as introductory about Romans in Africa.