Sardonyx cameo portrait of the Emperor Augustus

Unknown

ca. 41–54 CE · Sardonyx · Greek and Roman Art

The cameo depicts Augustus as a triumphant demigod wearing the aegis, a cape usually associated with Jupiter and Minerva. Here, it is decorated with the head of a wind god, perhaps intended as a personification of the summer winds that brought the corn fleet from Egypt to Rome and so an oblique reference to Augustus’s annexation of Egypt after the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 B.C.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 41–54 CE

Medium

Sardonyx

Culture

Roman

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1942