Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
Forged in the 1st century BCE by using the indirect lost wax casting technique, the Meroe Head is a bronze head that once stood atop an over-life-sized statue of Agustus that is in a remarkable state of preservation and shows the mastery of bronze sculpture in the Roman world. The overall style of the emperor’s head is very Hellenistic, with his gaze turned slightly to the right with that very typical Hellenistic twist of the neck and slightly downturned mouth that is much more natural than typical Greek and Roman sculpture where everything can seem quite rigid. Also, the hair is SO typically Agustus, I could scream. That man loved being eternally youthful with those wispy bangs and those perfect proportions.
The highly polished white limestone eyes are inlaid with glass paste pupils set in metal rings, and the irises are made of calcite. Even tear ducts were fashioned from a reddish glass paste, making them even more lifelike.
Forged in the 1st century BCE by using the indirect lost wax casting technique, the Meroe Head is a bronze head that once stood atop an over-life-sized statue of Agustus that is in a remarkable state of preservation and shows the mastery of bronze sculpture in the Roman world. The overall style of the emperor’s head is very Hellenistic, with his gaze turned slightly to the right with that very typical Hellenistic twist of the neck and slightly downturned mouth that is much more natural than typical Greek and Roman sculpture where everything can seem quite rigid. Also, the hair is SO typically Agustus, I could scream. That man loved being eternally youthful with those wispy bangs and those perfect proportions.
The highly polished white limestone eyes are inlaid with glass paste pupils set in metal rings, and the irises are made of calcite. Even tear ducts were fashioned from a reddish glass paste, making them even more lifelike.
