It is nice to let your imagination loose on your visits to museums packed with ancient sculptures depicting noble people and historic figures. In fact, you can go crazy letting your imagination loose fantasizing about what they actually looked like. History buffs can rejoice now as, thanks to modern technology and the skillful artist Haroun Bin, you can marvel at recreated Roman emperors from Augustus to Flavius Arcadius.
You can check out how incredibly realistic the emperors look, to the point of resembling well-known people, read what the artist had to share with Bored Panda about his project, and of course vote for your favourites and leave comments below.
This post may include affiliate links.#1
Hadrian
Haroun Binous Report54points POST
Andrew Gibb 4 days ago
The Donald Trump of his time, but managed to get the wall done.16 replyView More Replies…View more comments
It all started a year ago with Haroun Binous, a Tunisian-born first year pharmacy student, searching for facial reconstructions of Roman emperors and not being able to find any, so he decided to learn how to use the software and simply create it himself. The young man recalled that he didn’t have much experience and understanding of the process for facial recreation, but after a few trials and errors, he started to get the grip of things. With help and inspiration from his friend Daniel Voshart, who also undertakes similar challenges, Haroun started to get better at it and exceed his own expectations. You can check out his previous work on Bored Panda here. #2
Augustus
Haroun Binous Report45points POST
Duncan Ash 4 days ago
Sometimes I forget that people have looked like people for most of civilization, so seeing someone from thousands of years ago looking like a just a person feels wierd42 replyView More Replies…View more comments
It took Haroun over 8 months to complete the project that contains more than 60 images of Roman emperors in chronological order. Each entry features the statues that he used in the process of composing the hyperrealistic looks of the emperors and juxtaposed images of the stone busts with AI-generated images. He highlighted that it took about 3 days “to bring each statue to life.#3
Aurelian
Haroun Binous Report40points POST
Purple light 4 days ago
Looks like Russell Crowe-3 replyView more comments#4
Caracalla
Haroun Binous Report40points POST
Nathan Pogorzala 4 days ago
That was one bad ass African dude.0 replyView More Replies…View more commentshttps://2f9284820820edbd7538452272542c65.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
The project of recreating all the Roman emperors from Augustus to Flavius is a continuation and correction of his previous work. Haroun had to research in depth and document his work, as finding particular physical characteristics can be time and energy-consuming. He mainly bounced off H. V. Canter’s “Personal Appearance in the Biography of the Roman Emperors” and had an in-depth study of works by Suetonius and Pliny for the first 12 emperors that have physical descriptions of them.#5
Caligulae
Haroun Binous Report39points POST
Heike 4 days ago
Zuckerberg… We meet again!37 replyView More Replies…View more comments#6
Commodus
Haroun Binous Report34points POST
Maya 4 days ago
Why does this remind me of Hazel from the umbrella academy5 replyView more comments
Haroun pointed out that information about 3rd and 4th-century emperors is more scarce; therefore, he counted on DNA of the parents available on Artbreeder a lot and also general features of people from their respective regions. This way, he found the most appropriate skin tone, eye color, and any general appearances to add to his work.#7
Lucius Verus
Haroun Binous Report31points POST
Cynthia Humphreys 4 days ago
A little bit of Liam Hemsworth?17 replyView more comments#8
Diocletian
Haroun Binous Report30points POST
Aragorn II Elessar 4 days ago
Only emperor to resign peacefully.6 replyView More Replies…View more comments#9
Constantine The Great
Haroun Binous Report29points POST
Andrew Gibb 4 days ago
the top left statue looks like a cartoon Rocky. Don’t push me! Don’t push me!21 replyView More Replies…View more comments
Currently living and studying in Lausanne, Switzerland, Haroun was fascinated with pretty much anything to do with the Roman Empire since a young age. Over the years, it turned into a hobby he decided to get into, and so the long hours of reading books and researching the emperors turned out to be highly enjoyable. Haroun searched for as many busts as possible of a particular emperor and superimposed them in Photoshop, trying to trace the reoccurring facial features. Then he colored the hair, skin, and eyes in Photoshop and transferred the image to an AI platform for it to work its magic.#10
Julian The Apostate
Haroun Binous Report29points POST
CrunChewy McSandybutt 4 days ago
Good depiction. I would have liked to see the crown.3 replyView more comments#11
Marcus Aurelius
Haroun Binous Report29points POST
Aragorn II Elessar 4 days ago
Stoic dude4 replyView more comments#12
Claudius Gothicus
Haroun Binous Report26points POST
The artist admitted that Septimius Severus was the most challenging figure to recreate: “When an emperor has a lot of hair and a nice beard, it means a big problem for me as AI does the job well processing the face, but not the curly hair.” The artist also admitted that his favorite is Emperor Augustus, who was the first Roman emperor and puzzles him as a historic figure: “I think he is my idol for what he did and how he was as a person.”#13
Geta
Haroun Binous Report25points POST
Harrison Miller 4 days ago
He looks a little like Trevor Noah.10 replyView More Replies…View more comments#14
Gordian I
Haroun Binous Report25points POST
Nathan Pogorzala 4 days ago
The patron Emperor of all Canadian Gordies.3 replyView more comments#15
Quintillius
Haroun Binous Report25points POST
Marie-Delphine Longpré 4 days ago
I’d marry him too! (Sorry Gordian I)5 reply#16
Claudius
Haroun Binous Report23points POST
Monty Glue 4 days ago
“Let all the poison that lurks in the mud hatch out.”5 replyView more comments#17
Didius Julianus
Haroun Binous Report21points POST
Andrew Gibb 4 days ago
Looks like Bill Murray in ‘The Aquatic Life of Steve Zissou’0 replyView more comments#18
Macrinus
Haroun Binous Report21points POST
NAS 4 days ago
He kind of reminds me of the British actor Ben Kingsley.3 reply#19
Tacitus
Haroun Binous Report21points POST
Vance Neumann 4 days ago
Looks a little like Ben Kingsley6 replyView More Replies…View more comments#20
Severus Alexander
Haroun Binous Report19points POST
Just a small town girl. 4 days ago
Obviously…2 replyView More Replies…View more comments#21
Tiberius
Haroun Binous Report19points POST
Monty Glue 4 days ago
Never accept an invitation to his villa in Capri. Many a guest was thrown off the cliff known as the “Leap of Tiberius.” I’ve seen it and it is terrifying!1 replyView More Replies…View more comments#22
Florianus
Haroun Binous Report18points POST
boredpanDaman 4 days ago
should be angrier3 replyView More Replies…View more comments#23
Gordian II
Haroun Binous Report18points POST
boredpanDaman 4 days ago
hey gordian ii, theres a girl here marrying you dudes, keep an eye1 replyView more comments#24
Nero
Haroun Binous Report18points POST
Andrew Gibb 4 days ago
his has a good chin for holding a fiddle6 replyView More Replies…View more comments#25
Numerian
Haroun Binous Report17points POST
boredpanDaman 4 days ago
most of them have clearly curly hair, and the end result shows their hair fluffy, half-dried1 replyView more comments#26
Maximinus Thrax
Haroun Binous Report16points POST
boredpanDaman 4 days ago
wait, is he big or small? maxi-minus?2 reply#27
Pertinax
Haroun Binous Report16points POST
CrunChewy McSandybutt 4 days ago
Needs a fuller beard.0 replyView more comments#28
Constantius II
Haroun Binous Report15points POST
Andrew Gibb 4 days ago
his head is flat enough for helicopters to land on it19 replyView More Replies…View more comments#29
Licinius
Haroun Binous Report14points POST
boredpanDaman 4 days ago
there are more emotions on the stone than on the colored pic1 reply#30
Titus
Haroun Binous Report13points POST
Shalini Pabreja 4 days ago
All these names seriously remind me of Asterix and Obelix!5 replyView more comments
Note: this post originally had 65 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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Lukas GarnelisAuthor, BoredPanda staff
Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.
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