Commodus Bust Analysis

The bust of Commodus is one of the most famous masterpieces of Roman portraiture and depicts the emperor as the reincarnation of the hero Hercules. Commodus is seen wearing the lion 's skin over his head, holding the club in his right hand, and the golden apple of Hesperides in his left hand as a reminder of how he is seen to be as the Greek hero Hercules. Two Amazon women are kneeling on the base beside a globe with the sign of the zodiac. These zodiac signs show important moments in Commodus’s life. On top of the globe is a cornucopia with the Amazon’s shield, one long enough to almost cover his torso. Cornucopia, a “horn of plenty” full of fruits and representing prosperity and fertility and abundance. This represents a new golden era that

In both sculptures the hair is deeply carved and is a vivid feature of the busts. The detail of realism in David’s left hand we can see his veins on his hands when he is holding the slingshot and his ribs near the chest. In the bust of Commodus we can see the similar detail of his hands especially the joints above the knuckle area and how realistic it looks when he’s holding the apples and Hercules club on his. In both busts chest, arms and face are sooth. In both busts these sculptures have the portrait of emperor Commodus and the small town hero David as musculant where as in real life they weren’t this is done because Romans believed that the god made us humans and by showing David and Commodus as being musculant hey are portraying them as gods and God were portrayed to be musculant and strong. This is also to show power and strength of them and compare them to the gods in their skills and intelligence. This shows how people respected David and Commodus and hot they treated them like god like humans. They both have small lips, moth. In both busts the lips/mouth are shut. This can show how silence is more powerful than words as it’s seen in their action. Both David’s and Commodus’ eyes are pretty similar as they both have eye bags underneath their eyes. David’s eyes are in more detail and are more carved, drilled into the marble when compared with Commodus. Both of them are looking away from the audience with their head slightly tiled up to show power and their place in the society. Commodus is looking/glancing to his right whereas David is looking to his left and it seems like he is concentrating as his eyebrows and forehead has slight wrinkles also is eye bows are cringed together in both of the busts we can see muscles and when David is holding / grabbing the slingshot. They are portrayed as being healthy and