What Did Romans Look Like?

 

We all want to know what the Romans looked like, and all we've got are these marble statues. Augustus, Nero, Claudius, Septimus Severus, Caracalla, Marcus Aurelius, Constantine himself and on. Result, these give us a picture, and mostly we think a lifelike one, of imperium, but what did these rulers of the world, and perhaps more importantly their subjects actually look like?  Thanks to a ring found near Rome in 2000 AD we have a glimpse.

The ring's remarkable for its holographic properties, displaying the face, perhaps, of Titus Carvilius Gemello, buried in the same tomb as his noble mother, Aebutia Quarta. Whether the image on the ring is Aebutia's son or not, it was found on her finger when the tomb was reexamined at the turn of the Millennium.

I call Aebutia, not Titus

Specific identity aside, this remarkable ring shows us what at least one Roman looked like, whether it's the image of Titus, his Mother or someone else. The image is heroic, I think, as well as haunting. Sic transit and the days of man are but as grass.

DFTR,

LSP

PS. Dear readers, did you know the Romans could do holograms? Huh, now we know.