Cleopatra VII

Bust of Cleopatra in the Altes Museum. Cleopatra VII was a Ptolemy. She came from a long line of Greek rulers who had ruled over Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great.

Cleopatra Bust

Dendera

An image of Cleopatra and Caesarion, her eldest son who was fathered by Julius Caesar.

Cleopatra

Altes Museum, Berlin. Slightly different view.

Marc Antony

Sculpture of Marcus Antonius, better known as Marc Antony, Cleopatra’s lover and the father of her three children.

Octavian

Cameo

This cameo depicts the Emperor Augustus.

Octavian

Even after he became Augustus, Octavian retained his youthful looks if sculptures are anything to go by.

Fresco

Frescoes from Augustus’s villa on the Palatine Hill, which were recently reopened to the public.

Octavian Fresco

Octavian Fresco

Octavian

Octavian

Burst of Livia, Louvre

Statue of Livia, Louvre

Livia

Livia’s House

In the remains of Livia’s house archaeologists discovered beautiful frescoes.

Livia

Livia

Livia

Agrippa

A bust of Agrippa from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Russia.

Agrippa Bust

From the Louvre Museum, Paris.

Pantheon

Agrippa’s name (the “M” stands for Marcus) can be found etched into the pediment of the Pantheon. Agrippa was famous for his building projects, and the Pantheon was one of them.

Octavia

The bust of Octavia in the Ara Pacis.

Vipsania

Vipsania was the first and only true love of Tiberius. Her father, Agrippa, was the Emperor Augustus’s closest friend.

Julia

Julia in Her Older Years Although beautiful and charming in her younger years, life was not easy for Julia, despite being the daughter of the Emperor. The strain clearly shows on her face in this marble bust. Although Julia submitted to three marriages aimed at advancing her father’s political goals and produced six legitimate heirs, her father banished her from Rome

Marcellus

A bust of Marcellus in the Louvre, Paris.

Tiberius

Bust of Tiberius, Palermo. Tiberius was Livia’s eldest son from her first marriage.

Older Tiberius

Eventually, Tiberius inherited his step-father Augustus’ kingdom and became the Emperor of Rome.

Young Tiberius

Juba Coin

This coin, currently in the British Museum, depicts the head of Juba, who had been made king and was thus allowed his own coinage

Bust of Juba II

From the Louvre Museum

Juba I

Juba I was the King of Numidia

Pollio’s Eels

Although there are no remaining busts of Pollio or his wife, the story of Pollio’s eel pool lives on. In this mosaic, eels swim among the fish, just as they did in Pollio’s home-made lake.

Verrius

Verrius Verrius Portrait of a Woman with a Stylus This mosaic from Pompeii depicts a woman with a wax tablet and stylus. The freedman, Magister Verrius, would have used both of these items in his classroom.

antoniaminor

Drusus

Octavia’s youngest son by her first husband.

Vercingetorix

Monument This monument depicts Vercingetorix, King of the Gauls, at battle. He is the man at the bottom with long flowing hair.

The Dying Gaul

After Caesar (and subsequently Octavian’s) defeat of the Gauls, tens of thousands of men and women were brought to Rome to become slaves. Today, we would know the Gauls as French, Swiss, Belgian and Germanic. One out of three people in Rome were enslaved. Most of them were Gallic and Germanic in origin, although any conquered tribe could be brought to Rome as slaves.