Portrait of the Emperor Augustus,

ca. 27–1 BCE

Gaius Octavius, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, won the civil war that followed Caesar’s murder in 44 B.C., defeating Mark Antony and ­Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in 31 B.C. Proclaimed "Augustus" by the Senate in 27 B.C., he ruled not as emperor but as <em>princeps</em>, "first citizen," maintaining the outward forms of the old Republic but dominating public life through his control of the army and such traditional offices as Tribune and <em>Pontifex Maximus</em>. Augustus’s official portraits, of which several types have been identified, were instruments of propaganda, erected in public spaces throughout the empire; over two hundred are known, more than of any other Roman. The base of this over-life-sized head is worked into a tenon for insertion into a separately carved body representing the ruler as a statesman wearing a toga or as a soldier clad in armor. Although carved when he was advanced in years, Augustus’s face is youthful and lean, and his expression captures his power and determination.