Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
There are few artefacts that allow you to look directly into the eyes of one of the most famous leaders of the ancient world. The Meroë Head is one of them. An amazing archaeological discovery and one of the prized possessions of the British Museum, this is the discovery story of how this head of Augustus was stolen by a Nubian Queen and the power plays it represents.
📚 Buy my book 'The Other Ancient Civilisations' 📚
US: amzn.to/3Y38BFa
UK: amzn.to/3BGcoki
👉🏼 Get early access and help support the channel here: patreon.com/digitwithraven
The Meroe Head, like many other propaganda statues erected throughout the Roman Empire, was made as a continuous reminder of the all-embracing power of Rome and its emperor. Yet its fate is a graphic example of resistance to the imposition of Roman rule in Egypt from strongly independent tribes beyond the southern frontier.
Resources:
Garstang Museum of Archaeology (2016), ‘Sands of time: ancient Egypt excavated in the 1910s – in pictures’, The Guardian, [Accessed online 16 July 2021] Available at: theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/jun/15/sands-of-time-ancient-egypt-excavated-in-pictures
R.C. Bosanquet, 'Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology' IV (1912), 66ff
D.E.L. Haynes,'The Date of the Bronze Head of Augustus from Meroe' in N. Bonacasa and A. Di Vita (eds), 'Alessandria e il mondo eltenistico- romano: studi in onore di Achille Adriani' (Rome 1983), pp.177-81 (bibl.)
D. Boschung, 'Die Bildnisse des Augustus' (Berlin 1993], pp. 160-1, no.122 (bibl.)
S. Walker, Greek and Roman Portraits (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
✅ Let's connect!
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/digitwithraven
**************
My top archaeology 101 book
amzn.to/2EcgVtQ
**************
Some of these links are affiliate. If you purchase anything from these links I may earn a small commission. This really helps in supporting the channel. I am not promoting anything that I do not 100% recommend or would not use myself!
#ancientafrica #nubia #kingdomofkush #archaeology #ancientrome #ancientegypt #britishmuseum #meroehead #augustus #ancienthistory #archaeologicaldiscoveries #discovery
There are few artefacts that allow you to look directly into the eyes of one of the most famous leaders of the ancient world. The Meroë Head is one of them. An amazing archaeological discovery and one of the prized possessions of the British Museum, this is the discovery story of how this head of Augustus was stolen by a Nubian Queen and the power plays it represents.
📚 Buy my book 'The Other Ancient Civilisations' 📚
US: amzn.to/3Y38BFa
UK: amzn.to/3BGcoki
👉🏼 Get early access and help support the channel here: patreon.com/digitwithraven
The Meroe Head, like many other propaganda statues erected throughout the Roman Empire, was made as a continuous reminder of the all-embracing power of Rome and its emperor. Yet its fate is a graphic example of resistance to the imposition of Roman rule in Egypt from strongly independent tribes beyond the southern frontier.
Resources:
Garstang Museum of Archaeology (2016), ‘Sands of time: ancient Egypt excavated in the 1910s – in pictures’, The Guardian, [Accessed online 16 July 2021] Available at: theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/jun/15/sands-of-time-ancient-egypt-excavated-in-pictures
R.C. Bosanquet, 'Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology' IV (1912), 66ff
D.E.L. Haynes,'The Date of the Bronze Head of Augustus from Meroe' in N. Bonacasa and A. Di Vita (eds), 'Alessandria e il mondo eltenistico- romano: studi in onore di Achille Adriani' (Rome 1983), pp.177-81 (bibl.)
D. Boschung, 'Die Bildnisse des Augustus' (Berlin 1993], pp. 160-1, no.122 (bibl.)
S. Walker, Greek and Roman Portraits (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
✅ Let's connect!
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/digitwithraven
**************
My top archaeology 101 book
amzn.to/2EcgVtQ
**************
Some of these links are affiliate. If you purchase anything from these links I may earn a small commission. This really helps in supporting the channel. I am not promoting anything that I do not 100% recommend or would not use myself!
#ancientafrica #nubia #kingdomofkush #archaeology #ancientrome #ancientegypt #britishmuseum #meroehead #augustus #ancienthistory #archaeologicaldiscoveries #discovery
