“The problem of leadership is inevitably: Who will play God?”—Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

This is my 3D capture of the Skulpturhalle Basel’s plaster cast of the Copenhagen Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek’s 1st-century AD marble bust of a young Augustus.

Discovered in Fayum, Egypt, the bust is in the style of the iconic full-figure Prima Porta portait of Augustus, which Camille Paglia describes in Sexual Personae as an example of aesthetics-as-statecraft:

“Rome took the eroticism and dreamy obliqueness out of Greek iconic sculpture. The great Prima Porta statue of Augustus, for example, is kouros turned suave, sober diplomat. Law and custom became sacred ends in themselves. The Roman persona was a public construction: it had severity, weight, density.”

Pro tip: gravitas or no, don’t eat the figs.

Download the files at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:196044