This is my imagination of Lucius Cornelias Sulla, the Roman dictator. I used a portrait bust as reference, but nobody knows if this bust really shows Sulla. I made him much older, too.
I think Sulla is one of the most scary persons of ancient Rome. He drove Rome into the first civil war or something very similar to that. When he fehlt offended becauso the senate deprived him of his military power he captured Rome the first time. Nobody had ever tried that before because for the Romans fighting inside the town was outrageous. Later he even captured Rome a second time and became the first Roman dictator who ruled longer than one year. Perhaps his most terrible invention are the proscriptions. Thousands of people were cruelly killed because of their political opinions or just because they belonged to the wrong families. Others "only" lost everything and those they had loved. The rest was surely scared to death. But soon Sulla resigned from the dictator's office and retired. He tried to write his autobiography, but then he died. Do you think he felt that death was approaching? Sulla used to call himself "felix", "lucky".
I gave him a face that shows how he lived and what he has done to himself. I gave him scars, laughter lines, hard eyes and a wild hairstyle. This should be near to his historical description, but I mostly used my fantasy.
In my opinion the most scary thing about Sulla is that still today some historians say that he ... did right.
Sulla in my opinion was the first ruler of Rome, who dared to violate the established order and independently took power into his own hands. An aristocrat by birth, he had a very controversial chatacter, loved the theater, preferred the company of actors and musicians, and was an good educated man. But above all, he was a visionary politician understands well the nature of the Roman state. He was a lion and a fox in one. His methods are terrible, but the trail of Sulla in the Roman history indelible.
Xzaren, amazing work! I wish i could see more Roman Faces. Maybe more Caeser or Gaius Marius.
Great interpretation! Sulla was described to be physically attractive to both sexes when he was young. While he was in Greece before his march on Rome, he caught some kind of skin disease. He was said to have the facial complexion of "oatmeal". I'm sure this didn't help his dispositions when he became Dictator.
Thanks for your comment! I am glad that you like this interpretation. It would be fun to draw a coloured version of Sulla because of these strange spots on his face. You're probably right.
Your intepretations of those old Romans are just awesome. I'd fav them all. What's your relationship with Latin, by the way? Self-study, university course, had it in school? I'm just curious.
Thank you very much for your nice comments! I'm happy that you like my "interpretation". I had Latin in school, then studied it and now I'm doing a PhD. Latin is so to speak a part of my life.
Excelent job!
Xzaren, amazing work! I wish i could see more Roman Faces. Maybe more Caeser or Gaius Marius.
Marius would be interesting and I'd also like to do Vergil.
It would be fun to draw a coloured version of Sulla because of these strange spots on his face.
What's your relationship with Latin, by the way? Self-study, university course, had it in school? I'm just curious.
I had Latin in school, then studied it and now I'm doing a PhD. Latin is so to speak a part of my life.