Robert I, known more popularly as Robert the Bruce, is another whom historians and archaeologists have brought back to life by way of modern technology. Sure, Robert isn’t exactly looking as dapper as he ought to be as per the image below, but this cast was made from his actual skull, which was unearthed some 200 years ago when his burial site was being rebuilt!
Taking the throne in 1306, Robert rose to be the King of Scots, until his death in 1329. In 1314, the mighty army of the Scots defeated an English army at Bannockburn, which allowed the Scots to continue living freely, outside of English rule. In late 2016, researchers from the University of Glasgow were curious to see if Face Lab specialists could reveal what he may have looked like!
Emperor Nero: Jack of All Trades, Master of Some
The Emperor of Rome between 54 and 64 A.D., Nero is infamously remembered for his madman antics – even to this day, few can touch the atrocities of this psychopathic Emperor! During his reign, he committed terrible atrocities, which of course took him out of favor with the Romans whom he ruled.
But whilst he was the most hated man in the Empire – and possibly the most hated of all the Emperors to preside over Rome, there are some stories which come to us today, speaking of a number of talents he possessed. An accomplished singer and musician, Nero played the lyre often. Not simply a man of the arts, Nero worked on his physical self and trained to become a finely-honed Olympian.
Nero Did a Bad Bad Thing
This recreation of Nero is spookily close to the writings describing the Emperor, we’re actually a little worried! With a fierce quality to his face, his steady gaze demonstrates this guy meant no nonsense! It was his way or the highway. Famous for his debaucheries, political murders, and persecution of Christians, he was, of course, the Emperor who watched Rome burn, and rebuilt it!
In 64 A.D. a terrible fire decimated the city. Do you think Nero cared? Well, apparently, he sang from the Greek epic “The Sack of Ilium” atop his palace roof. It’s rumored that the Emperor started the fire himself, to expand his palace complex! Eager to return Rome to its former glory, Nero sucked all the funds out of the Roman treasury. But it wouldn’t be complete without a 100-foot-tall bronze statue of himself, would it?
Unveiling The Face Of A Natural Leader
The project, led by the University of Glasgow's Dr. Martin Macgregor, took two years to complete, following painstaking work and considerations from the teams involved. The cast, modeled on the discovered skull, enabled researchers to work out the exact structure of his face, from the muscles on his face even to eye color.
Okay, maybe not eye color – they had to have a bit of a guess at that! Evidence also suggests that at the time of Bruce’s death in 1329, he was possibly suffering from leprosy, which makes this model version somewhat redundant. But hey, at least it means the people of Scotland can put a face to a name!
Cleopatra
Reigning as co-regent over the Kingdom of Egypt for 30 years, this Egyptian minx was extremely intelligent and a polyglot. Of course, every story told of Cleopatra highlights her great beauty. The slight problem with this tale of Cleopatra is that there was a high possibility that she was not perhaps as beautiful as it was originally imagined.
Some busts of this leading lady portray a stunning creature unlike any other woman before her, which is in stark contrast to their more modest counterparts, such as those housed in the Altes Museum in Berlin. Despite bewitching two of the ancient world’s most influential leaders, it seems that it was Cleopatra’s brains that made her so intoxicating. So it seems that the modest depiction is truer to reality than the tale of her possessing a wondrous beauty.