Augustus - The British Museum, London, UK - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

This head is difficult to walk past - once you see the eyes! They draw you in to have a closer look and it is then that you realise there is no way that eye contact will ever be made as Augustus is looking straight through you to something more important.

The head is slightly lager than life-size and those eyes are made from stone and glass.

The British Museum's website (visit link) tells us:

"This head once formed part of a statue of the emperor Augustus (ruled 27 BC-AD 14).

In 31 BC he defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium and took possession of Egypt, which became a Roman province. The writer Strabo tells us that statues of Augustus were erected in Egyptian towns near the first cataract of the Nile at Aswan and that an invading Kushite army looted many of them in 25 BC.

Although Roman counter-attackers reclaimed many of the statues, they did not reach Meroë, where this head was buried beneath the steps of a native temple dedicated to Victory. It seems likely that the head, having been cut from its statue, was placed there deliberately so as to be permanently below the feet of its Meroitic captors.

The head of Augustus appears larger than life, with perfect proportions based upon Classical Greek notions of ideal human form. His calm distant gaze, emphasised with inset eyes of glass and stone, give him an air of quiet, assured strength.

Coins and statues were the main media for propagating the image of the Roman emperor. This statue, like many others throughout the Empire, was made as a continuous reminder of the all-embracing power of Rome and its emperor.
Augustus Caesar

Octavian, as Augustus was known before becoming emperor, was adopted by Julius Caesar as his son and heir. After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Augustus fought to avenge his death."

It goes on to add (visit link):

"Augustus Caesar, Roman emperor (31 BC - AD 14)
Octavian, as Augustus was known before becoming emperor, was adopted by Julius Caesar as his son and heir and fought to avenge Caesar after his assassination in 44 BC. After the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Augustus became undisputed master of Rome and its territories. However, his official assumption of supreme power took over two decades and he was always careful to collaborate (or at least appear to collaborate) with the senate. He was nonetheless the first true Roman emperor, an office that was to last in the Western Empire for over four hundred years. His reign gave the Roman world a much needed period of internal stability, though the Empire's boundaries continued to expand.

By the end of Augustus' reign it was clear that the Republic would not return soon if at all, and that the imperial system with its succession by birth, rather than by the will of the Senate, was firmly established. However, the question of who would succeed Augustus remained a problem, as all his chosen successors died before him, including his trusted deputy Agrippa and his grandsons Gaius and Lucius. Finally he adopted as his son and heir Tiberius, the son of his second wife Livia, who succeeded him in AD 14. Augustus was buried in a round mausoleum at the entrance to which were inscribed in bronze the Res Gestae, or achievements of his reign."