Marble portrait of the emperor Augustus

Ancient Greek This over-life-size marble head represents Augustus (63 BCE to 14 CE), Rome's first emperor. It was likely part of a seated statue created during the reign of his successor Tiberius. The calm, idealized features show Augustus as eternally young, despite the fact that he died at 77.

Over 250 portraits of Augustus survive today, yet none show him in old age. This was deliberate. His portrait style combined individualized features with Classical Greek idealism, presenting him as dignified rather than divine. It was a calculated political image, distributed across the empire as propaganda.

This fragment is in Gallery 166 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It stands 12 inches (30.5 cm) tall and dates to around 14-37 CE.