Thank you for downloading this episode of a history of the world in a hundred objects from BBC Radio 4.

I'm looking into the eyes of one of the most famous leaders in the history of the world.

Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. We have his bronze head here in the Roman

galleries in the British Museum and tarnished as it is, it radiates charisma and raw power.

It's impossible to walk past.

The eyes are dramatic and piercing,

and wherever you stand, they won't look at you he's looking past you beyond you to

something much more important his future well he was about the greatest politician

the world has ever seen if you wanted to have a first

11 of the world's leading politicians most accomplished diplomats and ideologues of all time.

You'd have Augustus as your kind of midfield playmaker.

Captain of the 11.

The curling hair is short and boyish, slightly tousled, but it's a calculated tousal, one that clearly took a long time to arrange

because this is an image that's been carefully constructed, projecting just the right mix

of youth and authority, beauty and strength, will and power.

The portrait was very, very recognisable and very enduring,

and it was a very successful marketing of an image because Augustus has never had a bad

press.

His head's a bit over life size and it tilts as if he's in conversation

so that for a minute you could believe that he's just like you and me. But he's not.

This is the Emperor Augustus. He has recently defeated Antonin Cleopatra,

he has conquered Egypt, he is well on his way now to imperial glory and is firmly embarked

...