In the early days, Rome was ruled by kings. Romulus was supposedly the first king. The last king was Tarquin the Proud. He ruled until 509 BCE, when the people of Rome drove him out.

Rome then became a republic. The republic didn’t allow one person to have complete control of the city. Instead, a group of men called senators shared power. As the Roman republic grew more powerful, so did its army. The senators could not always control the army and sometimes they clashed with the generals.

In 49 BCE, Rome’s greatest general was Julius Caesar. He had complete control of the army, but he wanted to rule Rome like a king again. Some senators didn’t like this and they killed him in 44 BCE. But it was too late, Julius Caesar had changed Rome. A few years later, his adopted son Octavius took power and became the first emperor of Rome.

Below is the Tusculum portrait, which may be the only surviving sculpture of Caesar from his lifetime, dating from 50-40 BCE. It matches coins struck during his reign. It is made of fine-grained marble and stands 33cm high (from Wikipedia - "Tusculum Portrait").

Compare this to the bust carved during the Renaissance, about 1 500 years after Caesar died, below. It contains symbols that the earlier bust does not. His features are different as is the look on his face. How might you account for the differences in these portrayals?

Renaissance Bust of Julius Caesar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2007

Andrea di Pietro di Marco Ferrucci
Italian, Florentine, 1465-1526