Object in Focus: The Meroe Head of Augustus by Thorsten Opper

Object in Focus: The Meroe Head of Augustus 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.

Opper, Thorsten: - Thorsten Opper is a curator of Greek and Roman Sculpture at the British Museum, specializing in ancient portraiture, the Greek world in the Roman period, and the collecting and restoration of ancient sculpture in the eighteenth century. Thorsten joined the British Museum in 2001 from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. His previous publications include Hadrian: Empire and Conflict (London, British Museum Press, 2008).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780714150918
ISBN 10	0714150916
Title	Object in Focus: The Meroe Head of Augustus
Author	Thorsten Opper
Series	Object In Focus
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	British Museum Press
Year published	2015-02-16
Number of pages	64
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.