Photorealistic Roman Emperors
September 5, 2020 2:23 PM   Subscribe

Using Artbreeder, Photoshop, and historical references to generate photorealistic images of Roman Emperors. Toronto artist Daniel Voshart used statues, coins, Photoshop, historical descriptions, and some sort of AI/machine-learning-type software called Artbreeder to generate photorealistic images of the Roman Emperors of the "Principate" (Augustus through Numerian). There's a poster, and some individual portraits are available. The project is in its second edition....

For the first edition, the artist used some sources which proved to be inaccurate and highly problematic, each for different reasons. One source was run by white supremacists, and one source was a Greek guy from hundreds of years later who appears to have made stuff up. Long story short, the emperors looked paler than they probably were. In the second edition, he's updated the portraits to look more accurate; in the descriptions you can see the original and the updated portraits.

Introduction
Julio-Claudians (Augustus through Nero)
Year of the Four Emperors and the Flavians (Galba through Domitian)
Nerva-Antonine Dynasty [and the Severans] (Nerva through Severus Alexander
Gordian Dynasty and Crisis of the Third Century (Maximinius Thrax through Numerian, featuring lots of guys you haven't heard of)
"My goal was not to romanticize emperors or make them seem heroic. In choosing bust / sculptures, my approach was to favor the bust that was made when the emperor was alive. Otherwise, I favored the bust made with the greatest craftsmanship and where the emperor was stereotypically uglier — my pet theory being that artists were likely trying to flatter their subjects."
(also previously-eek!)
posted by Huffy Puffy (31 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
Previously ... er... nevermind. You spotted it. Carry on.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 2:25 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


This is really interesting. Some of the descriptions are pretty hard to picture to me such as this one
"haughty, savage, terror-inspiring, shameless countenance" or funny "features clear cut and attractive; expression affable but dull, as usual in drunkards"
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 2:59 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


This story about an Artbreeder Jesus portrait popped up on my Tumblr dash today.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:20 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


Hadrian <3
posted by heatherlogan at 4:34 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


I love the two portraits of Jesus. The tweet that says, "He looks like family," resonates for me even though I am a few generations removed from my Jewish ancestors. I will not be venturing anywhere near the comment threads for that story, though. Big yikes.

As for the Roman emperors -- those are trippy. There's one that looks a little like Mark Zuckerberg but with slightly more life in his eyes, which is saying something seeing as we're looking at statues from millennia ago.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 4:41 PM on September 5, 2020 [3 favorites]


This is a cool update to see how things have changed since the last time this project was shared here!

I also thought the ancient descriptions were interesting to read. Several of them clearly say as much or more about how the writer wanted those emperors to be remembered than about how the emperor actually looked.
posted by biogeo at 4:43 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


Also, the van Gogh portrait from the previous post is so, so neat.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 4:43 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


I,m thinking a ten gallon hat.
posted by clavdivs at 6:29 PM on September 5, 2020


Nero looks like Woody Harrelson and probably smoked twice as much ganja
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:43 PM on September 5, 2020


1. I had no idea there were co-emperors.
2. If you managed to get in four years as emperor without being assassinated, you were way ahead of the curve.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:19 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


At least two of the Roman Emperors were black ? (Emperor Hadrian?)
posted by Narrative_Historian at 7:38 PM on September 5, 2020


Fascinated by the update to make them look more realistically brown, also, c’mon, let Heliogabulus be femme! Guess giving the kid their historically accurate eyeliner will be part of v3?
posted by moonlight on vermont at 7:39 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


one source was a Greek guy from hundreds of years later who appears to have made stuff up.

Arguably, alternatively, he just got his stories a bit garbled, e.g., the assassination of Domitian in his work is essentially the same story told of the assassination of Romulus, only the names changed. There are a few other bits that don't gibe with earlier stories, but are entertaining.

On the other hand, referring to Vespasian's eyes as wine colored might not be so far off the mark, if more than a little Homeric in flavor. Who knows what his sources were?

If you're curious, you can get a recent translation here (I think it's kosher.)

The pictures - a bit off, to my eye. In the way that 19th century photographs look like people who are not 20th century. Or like forged paintings that pass muster at the time they are painted, but a few decades later look obviously of there time. Or that could just be me.
posted by BWA at 8:06 PM on September 5, 2020


Could someone explain why the early emperors look so... Anglo? The 3rd century looks like the mishmash of Mediterranean regions I would expect, but the first few dynasties look like Ed Sheeran to me, not Italian at all. Why are they blond and red haired?
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 8:18 PM on September 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


This is a cool project, but I don't know where Claudius is getting all that chin from. I don't see it in any of his busts.
Augustus looks… wide, Tiberius looks like an affable neighbour, Caligula looks like any conservative politician, and Nero looks just perfect.
posted by rodlymight at 8:36 PM on September 5, 2020


LBJ as Vespasian.
posted by clavdivs at 8:50 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]




At least two of the Roman Emperors were black ? (Emperor Hadrian?)

Trajan and Hadrian were from Spain, but primarily from families that had settled there from Italy.

Septimius Severus was from North Africa, you could consider him the first "non-Latin" emperor. The Severan emperors famously had family connections to Syria.

The many short-reigning emperors of the "crisis of the 3rd century" in the mid-200s included several with diverse backgrounds, but of those, many were non-Italian from Europe. Philip the Arab would be a notable exception.
posted by gimonca at 9:29 PM on September 5, 2020 [6 favorites]


LBJ as Vespasian

Well, let’s look at the historical record:
Hair: — “head bald” (via Canter)
Eyes: —
Skin: —
Other: —
Height: “in stature short, square built, strong limbed” (via Canter)
I think Danny DeVito would be more on the mark.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:01 AM on September 6, 2020


I am inferring from this that Rome had more ethnically diverse leadership than the United States. Great post.
posted by eirias at 6:21 AM on September 6, 2020 [1 favorite]


Agustus kinda looks like blonde Ringo
posted by Jon_Evil at 7:51 AM on September 6, 2020


Yes Italians Can Have Light Hair and Blue Eyes

And so can people living in Arab countries like Syria and Iraq. I tried to google for a link, but that I do not recommend. So I'm telling you that I know it because on my street there are several refugees from the wars in Iraq and Syria who are blonde or red-headed.
posted by mumimor at 8:43 AM on September 6, 2020 [2 favorites]


I was not prepared for Caligula to be . . . kind of cute? Which was not as disconcerting as smoking hot Young Stalin, but still . . .

On the bonus, Nero looks exactly like the absolute worst frat boy at the frat party which tracks.
posted by thivaia at 9:44 AM on September 6, 2020 [4 favorites]


Agustus kinda looks like blonde Ringo

I see him as Daniel Craig-ish.

1. Some of the heads seem—wide? Like, the ears are farther apart than I would expect ears to be? This is mostly on the first page.
2. I refuse to accept the suggestion of a smile on Tiberius.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:29 AM on September 6, 2020


I am inferring from this that Rome had more ethnically diverse leadership than the United States.

From Augustus all the way through Commodus and the chaos-year emperors who followed him, all the emperors were basically Italian.

Vespasian promoted himself with a reputation of being a kind of "country boy", but the town where he was born was around 50 miles outside the city. Still Italian.

Trajan and Hadrian were born in Spain, but their families were Italian colonists who had moved there. They were 'outsiders' in the sense that they weren't born into the city's fashionable society, but they were certainly 'Latin', and lived and worked in the social, bureaucratic and military environments of their time.

By the time you get to the brief mention of Didius Julianus, you've got a good 200 years of all Italians, in the broader sense at least.

Septimius Severus came to leadership through military power. My impression is that he overcame any ethnic difficulties he might have otherwise had, simply by having more loyal soldiers at the right time. He spoke with an accent, and there are stories of him shooing away family members who didn't speak proper Latin. His Syrian family--including the women, Julia Domna and Julia Maesa--ran the empire for about 40 years.

Anyway, for most of Roman history, political leadership was something for the urban elite, good families, right bureaucratic credentials, what have you. When the elite lost their hold, it looks like it was because someone had enough loyalty in the military to force their way (which was also true of Vespasian). As the empire fell into more chaos from the 230s to about 280, there were more opportunities for 'diverse' military leaders to take control--but often only for a month or two.

The definition of who was 'elite' evolved a bit over the years--from the patricians of early eras, to the optimates and populares of Julius Caesar's time, and under the Emperors, they probably generated their own elite simply by existing, but you still get the impression it primarily centered on the city of Rome and the "right people".
posted by gimonca at 11:13 AM on September 6, 2020 [7 favorites]


That said, I also get the impression that in "business leadership", Romans probably just didn't care who you were, as long as you had enough gold coins to sling across the table.
posted by gimonca at 11:14 AM on September 6, 2020


Caligula looks like Joffrey to me.
posted by Beardman at 11:50 AM on September 6, 2020


With
Ed Asner as Uncle Vitellius
posted by clavdivs at 12:44 PM on September 6, 2020


Yeah, no, I was also struck by how hot Caligula's portrait turned out

Immediately made me go, fuck, is this my Ted Bundy moment? 😭🤢
posted by Kitchen Witch at 2:40 PM on September 6, 2020 [2 favorites]


It looks like hairstyles got the most smoothed out into modern hairstyles.

Maximinus Thrax looks exactly like I'd imagine his personality! He's got a really interesting story, and I always read him as a soldier's soldier. In the constructed portrait, he looks like a WW2 sergeant or general. Pius is another one who looks like the exact kind of personality I'd expect. And for both of them, the busts don't really capture it. I'm very, very curious how that personality got there.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:55 AM on September 9, 2020


Oh, if you want to know more about these guys, Mike Duncan's "History of Rome" podcast is an extremely accessible telling of it. He strikes a great balance of scholarly accuracy and ease of understanding. If you skip straight to Augustus you'll skip most of his growing pains as a podcaster.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 12:06 PM on September 9, 2020 [1 favorite]


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