Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Et tu, Brute?

They say that one's destiny is etched in stone. In the case of Julius Caesar, it appears as if more than that was forever encased in stone. French divers trained in archeology came across an incredible find; a life size bust of Julius Caesar, dated to about 46 B.C, found in Arles - the French city that he founded.






You can see from the picture the power that sculpture can have, even more so than painting or photography, in my opinion. You can look into his eyes, and as the article points out, it is the first to show him at a later stage in his life. His face seems to reflect the wars, politics, and other experiences of his lifetime. His life has been etched out in the marble that was used to carve his likeness. This man ruled over the civilized world over 2000 years ago. You can just about see the toll it took on him.

In London, there is a remnant of the stone fortification that used to encircle the city of Londinium, as the Romans called it. I remember seeing it for the first time, looking in awe at something that we as Americans have trouble fathoming. We simply don't have anything that old here. Here is the man that ruled over that city.

One is simply left to wonder what he was thinking at the time this was made, and what he would think of the world today.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I hadn't heard about this at all; thanks for keeping me in the loop. It is an amazing portrait--he looks very careworn indeed.

Anonymous said...

You may have trouble fathoming the length of our history, I feel uprooted when in Oz or the States because everything's too new, somehow just doesn't feel solid.
j

Mr. Nighttime said...

Anon - Well, indeed as it is not something I grew up with. I can appreciate it for what it is though..