POSSIBLY LATE 18TH/19TH CENTURY

The emperor Augustus was born Gaius Octavius, the son of a first generation Roman senator. On his mother's side, however, he was the great nephew of Julius Caesar, and he was promoted by the latter as a military commander at an early age. When Julius Caesar was famously assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC, Octavian, as he was then known, was in the eastern Mediterranean preparing for an expedition. He returned immediately to Rome on hearing of his great-uncle's death, and learned on the return journey that he had been adopted as his son and heir.

Augustus Caesar, as he would become known, marked the turning point for a civilization that was already an empire in all but name. Wracked by civil wars in the hundred years before Augustus' assumption of power, Rome would acquire under him a new stability. During his 45 year rule, Augustus organized a more effective administration and, although he was to take for himself the title of emperor, he was careful to cultivate an image of a hard-working and simple Pater Patriae - or Father of his Country. His popularity and role as the founder of the Roman empire meant that his portrait was widely dispersed both in antiquity and modern times. The present bust is notable for its imposing size, the quality of the marbles used, and the high caliber of the carving.