Archaeologist Tom Buijtendorp, who is promoting a new book on Julius Caesar, headed a project to recreate Caesar's bust using a 3D scan of one existing portrait, a marble bust held by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. Archaeologist and anthropologist Maja d'Hollosy used the scan of the marble bust (and other portraits, allegedly) to create a truly horrendous clay and silicon 'reproduction'. The bust was unveiled at an event by Buijtendorp at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Netherlands, on Friday.
RT
reports:
A new 3D reconstruction of Julius Caesar's head gives unprecedented insight into what the famous Roman general looked like all those years ago - including the bizarre proportions of his cranium.
...
The result is a remarkably lifelike depiction of Caesar, down to the unusual skull shape said to have been the result of his difficult birth.
"So he has a crazy bulge on his head," Buijtendorp said of his skull, HLN reports. "A doctor said that such a thing occurs in a heavy delivery. You do not invent that as an artist."
You can see the monstrosity that resulted above. The only problem is: Caesar didn't look like that.
For decades one bust has been commonly believed to be a contemporary reproduction of Caesar's appearance: the 'Tusculum' bust housed in the Museo d'Antichita in Turin, Italy. It probably depicts Caesar in the last years of his life, i.e. in his 50s. As you can see below, it shares some features with reproduction above, but that's where the similarity ends:
A later bust from the 2nd century - the Farnese bust from Trajan's forum, held in the Museum of Naples - depicts a somewhat more idealized portrait (but the chin, mouth, cheek lines and nose features are retained - including Caesar's lined neck):
Then in 2007, a new discovery was made in the Rhone river, France: another potential contemporary representation of Caesar, this one depicting him somewhat younger. Like the Tusculum portrait, it is not idealized, showing a realistic representation of a living person. Experts are still divided about whether or not it's Caesar, but classicists are a conservative bunch. (See
here for a short write-up on the various busts.) The face shares features with both the Tusculum and Farnese busts (the only
major difference being its wider nose, to my eye). Below is an attempt at reconstruction by Jorg Wiltink:
Now scroll back up to the top of this article and compare d'Hollosy's.
And another image by Amelia Carolina Sparavigna
using aging software:
Sparavigna conducted
visual comparisons of the busts and found similarities between the Arles and Farnese busts. While she doesn't see much resemblance between the Tusculum and Arles busts, Arles' Museum's book
Cesar: Le Rhone pour memoire (p. 68) shows a digital comparison of the profiles of both, showing that they are a close match, aside from the damaged nose.
Compare for yourself:
Cicero, an
inveterate blowhard and egomaniacal enemy of Caesar, surely would have mentioned Caesar's allegedly giant head if it were true - he never missed an opportunity to say something disparaging about Caesar in his private correspondence.
It looks as if Buijtendorp and d'Hollosy are just following in the footsteps of Cicero - this time under the guise of 'science' - in order to smear Caesar, who was perhaps the
greatest Roman who ever lived. But like most great people, he was constantly embattled by a demonization campaign instituted by his harshest opponents (who themselves made up a tiny minority of the Roman ruling class and people), a campaign that continues to this day. Sound familiar?
Harrison Koehli
Harrison Koehli co-hosts SOTT Radio Network's MindMatters, and is an editor for Red Pill Press. He has been interviewed on several North American radio shows about his writings on the study of ponerology. In addition to music and books, Harrison enjoys tobacco and bacon (often at the same time) and dislikes cell phones, vegetables, and fascists (commies too).
