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Artist Shows How Roman Emperors Looked In Real Life By Using Facial Reconstruction, AI, And Photoshop
If you’ve ever set foot in a Greek and Roman art museum, you’ve probably seen the rows of tranquil-looking concrete busts. They do, however, have no pupils in the eyes, lack any sort of color, and in general, get kinda repetitive after the third and fourth display hall.
However, the artist named Haround Binous brings the dusty emperors back to life in a series of hyper-realistic illustrations. The guy from Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, combines facial recognition AI, Photoshop, and historical references to revive all the Roman emperors, from Augustus to Valentinian III.
The result is so precise and accurate to life that these ancient dudes with luscious curls and sun-kissed tans could easily pass as A-list Hollywood actors off duty. I mean, look at Augustus—is that you, Daniel Craig?
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#1
Augustus
Miss Cris 5 years ago (edited)
Ears and mouth are very different. His nose isn't as straight, his cheek and chin bones have nothing to do with the sculpture.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
Most of these are like that. They look great, but they're really not much like the original
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Nick McPherran 5 years ago
Features aren't even close. Bow mouth and thin nose with bulbous tip, plus the chin is incorrect.
Brent Kaufman 5 years ago
The mouth of the sculpture looks like it is tense, like the muscles are pursing the lips. The photo just makes them look relaxed, but same mouth, I think.
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Chrissie M. 5 years ago
The mouth is completely different, and the wrinkles on his forehead are gone as well. Doesn't look that much like the statue.
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#2
Philip II
Deson 5 years ago
What throws me off is you can see the pupils on the sculpture. The eyes in the CGI don't match the location of the sculpture.
Elak Swindell 5 years ago
The face doesn't need to be perfect to look like the original. That goes for the pupils.
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sbj 5 years ago
Nah! Even the concrete bust has a more expressive face than Zuckerberg
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Gillian Gray 3 years ago
This one is the IT guy that always guides you through stuff your having trouble with
Josh Kirtley 3 years ago
Such a random combination. But I see a mixture of Anakin Skywalker and Mark Zuckerberg
Aziz Charaabi 3 years ago (edited)
>son of philip the ARAB >still goes and makes him look the most aryan way possible. man whoever made this: you're a braindead ape.
Dorothy Cloud 5 years ago
But, this face is closer than Augustus. Even w/o the cleft in the chin.
#3
Galba
Gillian Gray 3 years ago
This one is the sexist boss that always yells "BRING ME TEA" and forgot the word please
Turning cold emperors' stones into hyperreal flesh may seem like a mission impossible. But with the help of today’s machine learning technologies, images can be reconstructed and brought to life in colorful illustrations.
This is what Haroun has done for his Roman emperor recreations. With the help of AI, Photoshop, and historical references, he came up with these hyperrealistic illustrations giving us a glimpse of how great Roman emperors like Caius Julius Cæsar Germanicus and Nero looked in real life.
#4
Nero
Kathryn Baylis 5 years ago
The statue has a moon face and a pronounced double chin, both of which have been minimized in the recreation.
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 5 years ago
Well, according to the Roman biographer/historian Suetonius (author of the Twelve Caesars), Nero committed every horrible act known to man from incest to homicide so I'm sure he wasn't below stealing lunch money.
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Holly Molly 5 years ago
How does the artist of the AI know if they would have facial hair or not, what kind of facial hair, since the statue hasn't any?
Christopher Lee 5 years ago
Nero's father was Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, the last name translates as 'bronze beard' or basically, 'red beard' so it is quite possible that Nero also had red hair.
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Nathan Jones 5 years ago
He banged his sister and committed some of the worst atrocities in human history. I only wish his death had been far more violent.
Christopher Lee 5 years ago
I think there have been worse atrocities committed before and after Nero. Also, virtually everything we know about him was written by his enemies, in particular by supporters of the Flavian dynasty that replaced the Julio-Claudians - they had to paint him as bad as they possibly could in order to legitimate the change of dynasty. No doubt though that he was a nasty piece of work but there is also a *lot* of exaggeration involved as well.
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Nick Eisenbarth 7 months ago
SOOOO COOL..Im fascinated with ancient Rome...to bad there is not more of the Domus Aurea still standing today
#5
Philip The Arab
Evelína Zlá 5 years ago
I think the eyes too... and the ears... and the forehead. To be honest looks like completely different person... handsome but different.
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TS Rhodes 5 years ago
The Romans were amazing at accurately portraying how people really looked - and in stone!
John Doe AKA "READ MY DAMN COMMENT OR REPLY BEFORE YOU DISLIKE!" 5 years ago
They got it from the Greeks but not to say there were some things that the Romans perfected if not invented.
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Brent Kaufman 2 years ago (edited)
His left AI jaw juts out but his right side is straight. His AI brow is much stronger than his fallen sculpted brows.
Gillian Gray 3 years ago
This guy is the one who always go around with their daughter selling girl scout cookies.
Shelly Graham 3 years ago
Somewhat, but she's also using other sources of information to compile her likenesses.
Miriam Hirsch 5 years ago
The shape of the reconstructed face does not look like the sculpture. You have thinned out the face much too much.
#6
Gordian II
Dan Visan 4 years ago
lol, no, the statues tend to be way off usually, whereas the images compensate
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Gillian Gray 3 years ago
This one is the one who brings water cause "dehydration is nothing to joke about"
Haroun Binous said he used “superposition and simultaneous comparison” techniques that “allowed me to arrive at these faces.”But the facial features are just one part of the job.
In order to get hold of the textures and colors, Haroun researched original historical sources. “Eyes, hair, and colors were based on quotes from Suetonius,” he wrote.
#7
Caligula
Aleksei Carrión 4 years ago
More like Joffrey was cast to look like Caligula. That was intentional.
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Kevin Edwards 5 years ago
You've met the actual Caligula, I take it. What did he really look like then?
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Miklós Nagy 5 years ago
It's debatable whether the "evil" roman emperors were really that bad, or just their successors trashed their names to justificate their own succession. In Caligula's case he was really popular between the common folks and unpopular between the rich, so there is a good chance that the rich folks just rewrited the history for their own tastes.
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#8
Domitian
Brent Kaufman 2 years ago
The statue has more of a Charles Nelson Riley overbite and not as handsome as the AI.
China Nolan 3 years ago
You can almost hear him say "It's getting dark, light another Christian up!"
#9
Tiberius
Oleg Bochkis 5 years ago
Tiberius had a bout with smallpox so his face should show the markings
Nancy Todd 3 years ago
I'm sure the artists had to get the final approval from these rulers. So if they didn't like certain features of their face, just make changes to the sculpture.
In reality, it’s not entirely clear how accurate the emperors' busts are to begin with since our best evidence of how they looked are the busts themselves. However, we do perceive them as roughly accurate, since we now know that stylistically, the Romans preferred realism in their sculpture dating back to the Republican period.
Other than busts, historical sources do reveal a thing or two about the people of the Roman Empire. The Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, for example, who wrote during the early Imperial era, described some of the emperors in his notes.
#10
Claudius Gothicus
Jeremi Colvin 5 years ago
Dude kinda resembles Jerry Falwell Jr. (before the trouble) falwell-12...6-jpeg.jpg 
#11
Trajan
Andrea Smith 5 years ago
Trajan did have some good acomplishments, his column would be worth seeing.
First Name 3 years ago
Yes, seen it, the Rome as well as the Bucharest and Paris copies. The most interesting observation I made as a trained- non practicing- historian, was that the column was remarkably historiographic and accurate. Was able to follow on the ground depictions of the campaign and they match the column narrative., drawing conclusions that refocus historical accuracy.... Personal interest, my ancestors were Roman colonists that settled north of the Danube...
Load More Replies... Nonya Bidness 3 years ago
It's interesting to me to see all the bitching and moaning about how they look "nothing like the sculpture." Yall realise the sculptures did not look exactly like the actual person, right? The AI program used to create a portrait of the person used the sculpture(s) and descriptions of the person. Seems there's soooo many perfect artists on BP.
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Marlene Ricker 5 years ago
I have to admit, I'm rather disgusted that everyone is just looking for flaws. I think they are all great and give us a glimpse of what they may have looked like in real life.
Brent Kaufman 2 years ago
Completely wrong. The statue shows a weak face, weak and double chin and close together beady eyes and shorter nose. AI shows strong chin and less space between nose and mouth.
Cindy Irvin 3 years ago
The statue looks like a cross between Gary Oldman and Donald Pleasanse.
Albert Puzzuoli 3 years ago
he was like a buff old guy he was tough guy he was a badass in combat one emperor that I would not want to sword dual.
#12
Hadrian
Chris Boswall 5 years ago
Yeah the Celts had something to say about that. ;)
Load More Replies... NamiKoa 5 years ago
Looking at the sculpture his hair must have been gloriously full, I think the reconstruction doesn't entirely do it justice.
Pritom Bhowmik 1 year ago
"Build the wall" has a different meaning now, President Hadrian Trump
Albert Puzzuoli 3 years ago
i think he looks to much like pius i feel the most accurate in my opinion is the one that the one youtube channel did
China Nolan 3 years ago
The real Miles Gloriosus #a.funny.thing.happened.on.the.way.to.the.forum
According to Christies, Suetonius was very receptive to physiognomic thinking and “may have been swayed by them in his description of the fearsome appearance of Caligula.” He was presented as the epitome of arbitrary cruelty and immoral excesses that was reflected in his description of Caligula’s face.
On the other side of the opposite extreme, there was a fair share of heroic idealization of the most powerful men and it’s likely that their busts have done some justice to their looks. Who knows—maybe some of the most breathtaking busts have undergone an ancient equivalent of airbrushing? That, we may never know.
#13
Marcus Aurelius
Albert Puzzuoli 3 years ago
i feel this is accurate just slighley darker hair but the eyes are what i think of.
Brian Griffin 5 years ago
The sculpture always reminded me of Marv, the silly burglar from Home Alone.
#14
Gordian III
#15
Tacitus
Gianluca Tarei 5 years ago
Tacitus was emperor after Aurelian, from 275 to 276 ac
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#16
Vitellius
Brent Kaufman 2 years ago
The statue looks more like Baron Harkonnen from the David Lynch Dune.
Mark Dandyridge 5 years ago
Looks like Miss Cris! Have you seen her at the buffet? She’s a busy buffet’r!
Mark Dandyridge 5 years ago
Looks like Miss Cris! I mean seriously, we’ve all seen her, she hasn’t seen a buffet that she didn’t indulge heavily in!
Arenite 5 years ago
Famous for ‘Vitellian peas’. I think the Brits call them ‘mushy peas’, which sounds really gross.
Load More Replies... #17
Lucius Verus
Terrence Bunce 4 years ago
This recreation has a resemblance to James Patrick Caviezel character "Fletcher" in the movie - "The Final Cut".
#18
Diocletian
Nonya Bidness 3 years ago
It's interesting to me to see all the bitching and moaning about how they look "nothing like the sculpture." Yall realise the sculptures looked nothing like the actual person, right? The AI program used to create a portrait of the person used the sculpture(s) and descriptions of the person. I would implore you to use some logic prior to whinging on about it, or go off and do it yourself.
Load More Replies... Deson 5 years ago
Same problem with the eyes here as with Nero II. The CGI location (where looking at) don't match.
#19
Theodosius I
Adina Ispas 3 years ago
Apparently curls and Elvis lips are totally lost on AI.
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Barbara Vandewalle 5 years ago
So many of the statues mouths are fuller and the cupid bows are pronounced. In the sketches the lips are not as full
Elak Swindell 5 years ago
Lips are wrong and the eyes need to be closer. These classic busts were based directly on the individuals, so the details are important.
#20
Antoninus Pius
Albert Puzzuoli 3 years ago
that was a trend set by hadrian he was in to greek things and these guys followed the trend
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#21
Commodus
Elak Swindell 5 years ago
Original bust looks like a cross between Marty Feldman (the eyes) and Gregory Hines. The CGI one doesn't match.
SaraFromHell with you all! 5 years ago
Yeah these were pretty readable but this one is ado over. Props anyway.
#22
Gordian I
Brian Griffin 5 years ago
I actually thought this rendering looked pretty close with all the others considered.
Annette Herr 5 years ago
Why not make them black!? That would make the SJW nutjobs feel better...
#23
Claudius
Elak Swindell 5 years ago
Eyes are wrong. Need to be close set like the original bust. That is an important feature.
Kelly Hartle 5 years ago
The artist seems to have a thing for narrow lips and wide faces, even when the statues don't imply them.
Edwin Quantrall 5 years ago
Needs more of Derek Jacobi's slouch. (Remember, he was supposedly afflicted with either cerebral palsy or polio.)
#24
Valerian
#25
Nerva
#26
Caracalla
Adina Ispas 3 years ago
Apparently curls are totally lost on AI. So are the prevalent Elvis lips - makes them all thin and wide.
Aziz Charaabi 3 years ago
yes you guessed it, he's of arab ancestory, qahba.
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#27
Maximinus Thrax
Andrea Smith 5 years ago
The man was a giant, one of his wife's bracelets could fit around his thumb
#28
Maximian
Adina Ispas 3 years ago
Proportions, hairline, texture, ears, lips and weight distribution are all wrong. Most emperors seem to have full but small Elvis lips and either bushy hairstyles or a ridiculous slick-combed fashion (they liked control). The realistic depictions are way too modern and completely miss the interesting details in the busts.
Joe DeJong 3 years ago
The statue looks like he got a cartoon punch in the face, all squished in and ready to pop back out of his head.
SaraFromHell with you all! 5 years ago
Max spears to have a facial deformity..maybe a fixed advanced cleft palate?
Andreas Deml 5 years ago
Awful! Look at the nose, look at the mouth, look at his eyelids! This is not even similar!
SaraFromHell with you all! 5 years ago
I think the real max may have had a cleft palate fixed...interesting.
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#29
Titus
Tom Scozak 5 years ago
Ive seen some humans look like that, at least that expression
Load More Replies... Nick Eisenbarth 7 months ago
SOOOOO COOL...Im fascinated by ancient Rome...so far advanced in engineering ...but brutal....didn't pay to be an Emperor...lucky to make it to 30 yrs!!
#30
Otho
Andrea Smith 5 years ago
The nose and mouth maybe wrong, that's what you get from CGI and AI; it all depends on the user and the picture, in this case, the sculptures. This may be counted down, I'm not worried about that.
Marybeth Buchele 5 years ago
Chinese medicine teaches us that a person's ears, especially their size, shape and location on the head, tell us a lot about the person's health and nutrition inutero.. Nero's ears on the statue are small, low set and stick out. These characteristics indicate poor nutrition inutero. And nutrittion research tells us that poor nutrition inutero can lead to increases in anxiety, poor impulse control and increases in personality instability. In the recreation, Nero's ears are larger, evenly formed and higher on his head. Many of the statues have ears that indicate poor nutrition inutero. The statues could be accurate representations of the men they represent. And the poor nutrition in the Roman Empire, even among the wealthy classes.
Aizat Bhri 3 years ago
Lady, stop sniffing those Chinese herbs too much. Our ears were made by God according to the person's look and ethnicity. That's it.
Load More Replies... Elak Swindell 5 years ago
Totally off on all details, especially the nose, mouth and lack of close set eyes.
#33
Galerius
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 5 years ago
Hah hah, I just noticed that. Ugh, I am so over these peasant swine...
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#42
Quintillus
#46
Vespasian
#52
Constantius Chlorus
#60
Geta
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Thomas brennan 5 years ago
I'm not sure about this, if you take one feature which shouldn't really require much interpretation e.g. the nose of the statute, then compare it to the picture there's little consistency which makes me question the accuracy of these interpretations.
Greg Hoggarth 5 years ago
Yip, some of them are pretty good, but most are so-so, and some are terrible. The noses are the thing most often not correct, particularly for the more lifelike statues/busts.
Load More Replies... Miss Cris 5 years ago
Well, as it's said, it was a great idea but most of them are too different from those detailed sculptures. For next time, I would have begin with the scupture a a base, at least for bones and face expression. Some of them only needed colour. Do less images to begin but better done. And it'd be nice to have the words explaining what the artist added because found in references.
Andreas Deml 5 years ago
No good job at all. Obviously the "artist" spent more time to let the "reconstructions" look like famous actors than reconstructing the real faces. Just look at the mouthes. Almost all of them are wrong!
Kiki Embryonic 4 years ago
These are mathematical and digital representations. Are you done being dramatic? Stop projecting your need for cultural continuity. Its awkward.
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Derrick Pohl 3 years ago
Hilarious all the “experts” here nitpicking details about the colour images that they think don’t match the sculpture. Don’t you think you’d have to at least see the busts in real life & in 3D to assess the success of the generated images?
SaraFromHell with you all! 5 years ago
Overall...a success in my opinion. Some are a bit off...maybe give it another shot..but far better then I could do! I liked it overall! Like staring into the face of our ancient ancestors.
Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
NOSES, people. NOSES. Stop giving them nose jobs. Bumpy-lumpy noses were a fact of life, still are, just deal with it. Coloration can be taken from records of what historians said someone looked like, or two-dimensional renderings in mosaics, etc., but KEEP THEIR NOSES. My goodness!
blugeagua 5 years ago
Why do the brunettes get to have a variety of eye colors, but the blondes just have blue eyes? We don't all have blue or light eyes! Many of us don't.
Miss Cris 5 years ago (edited)
What happens here is that the cultural references are latin. It's not the same a mediterranean blonde that an english one. And the brunettes are all under the english/us estotips,not what we understand and are. Colour eyes can be more objective.
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bi~girlflux~witch 3 years ago
I think these all look awesome--guys, stop saying they're totally different. They're not going to be absolutely perfect, since of course we didn't have photos back then. Plus, statues can get damaged and look slightly different, and AI might get something a bit wrong that could be hard to fix later.
Thomas brennan 5 years ago
I'm not sure about this, if you take one feature which shouldn't really require much interpretation e.g. the nose of the statute, then compare it to the picture there's little consistency which makes me question the accuracy of these interpretations.
Greg Hoggarth 5 years ago
Yip, some of them are pretty good, but most are so-so, and some are terrible. The noses are the thing most often not correct, particularly for the more lifelike statues/busts.
Load More Replies... Miss Cris 5 years ago
Well, as it's said, it was a great idea but most of them are too different from those detailed sculptures. For next time, I would have begin with the scupture a a base, at least for bones and face expression. Some of them only needed colour. Do less images to begin but better done. And it'd be nice to have the words explaining what the artist added because found in references.
Andreas Deml 5 years ago
No good job at all. Obviously the "artist" spent more time to let the "reconstructions" look like famous actors than reconstructing the real faces. Just look at the mouthes. Almost all of them are wrong!
Kiki Embryonic 4 years ago
These are mathematical and digital representations. Are you done being dramatic? Stop projecting your need for cultural continuity. Its awkward.
Load More Replies... Derrick Pohl 3 years ago
Hilarious all the “experts” here nitpicking details about the colour images that they think don’t match the sculpture. Don’t you think you’d have to at least see the busts in real life & in 3D to assess the success of the generated images?
SaraFromHell with you all! 5 years ago
Overall...a success in my opinion. Some are a bit off...maybe give it another shot..but far better then I could do! I liked it overall! Like staring into the face of our ancient ancestors.
Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
NOSES, people. NOSES. Stop giving them nose jobs. Bumpy-lumpy noses were a fact of life, still are, just deal with it. Coloration can be taken from records of what historians said someone looked like, or two-dimensional renderings in mosaics, etc., but KEEP THEIR NOSES. My goodness!
blugeagua 5 years ago
Why do the brunettes get to have a variety of eye colors, but the blondes just have blue eyes? We don't all have blue or light eyes! Many of us don't.
Miss Cris 5 years ago (edited)
What happens here is that the cultural references are latin. It's not the same a mediterranean blonde that an english one. And the brunettes are all under the english/us estotips,not what we understand and are. Colour eyes can be more objective.
Load More Replies... bi~girlflux~witch 3 years ago
I think these all look awesome--guys, stop saying they're totally different. They're not going to be absolutely perfect, since of course we didn't have photos back then. Plus, statues can get damaged and look slightly different, and AI might get something a bit wrong that could be hard to fix later.
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