What Julius Caesar really looked like

I wanted to know what Julius Caesar really looked like. So I used Metahumans Digital Humans for Unreal Engine to test it out — and it was a lot of fun.

So, so many sources for this one about what Julius Caesar looked like. First, just check out the busts I reference.

Next, I’m gonna link the papers I read for this. Most are behind paywalls. There are secret ways to read these papers if you don’t want to mortgage your house to pay the fees. Let me know if you are curious. That said, I’m giving you the legit links.

Paper about Caesar being sick that touches on his fitness level (IE the reason I didn’t make Fat Caesar).

Nice bust overview:

This is one of the machine learning guys — he actually didn’t do Julius. I think it’s a cool project, but the phrase “machine learning” papers over the fact that it’s basically colorizing guesstimates. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s more than just a little fun (I’d say it’s even less scrupulous than this video). Nevertheless, great guy I’m sure, etc ad inf.

One of the best coins:
Another beaut:

Overview of portraits of Caesar that helped me kinda smell check the idea that we don’t have a ton to go on. Also includes a lot of the Suetonius translation/interpretation I draw on.

Good popular article about Caesar’s faces:

The new Caesar (yikes):

Another Caesar appearance overview:

This professor does crazy weird biometric analysis of Caesar based on the busts. Too much of a can of worms for this video, but fun to dig into her work:

[Rhythmicons]

If one wanted to know what Caesar looked like, he had a very great friend in Rome who went by the name Bigus Dickus who may have some extant records available.

[Xanderall]

I think you did a great job with your Digital Caesar, the only think I would've changed would've been to make the lips a lot less red, since blood circulation tends to diminish with age. Red lips are more of a young man's game.

[PDG]

Some Roman busts from this time were redone to look like later figures. This may explain the big top heads in comparison to the faces. They were also almost always viewed from below, so from a point of perspective, the top of the head wouldn’t have looked so large.

[forwardslash]

10:44 You should have put him in front of a Little Caesars

[enfleuri]

So happy I discovered your channel, as I've always looked up to your storytelling skills in the Vox videos. Your way of making engaging stories is a great inspiration! Also the Metahumans program looks like a glorified Create-a-Sim from The Sims franchise 😄

[hawat]

In my mind, he looked like the Grand Moff Tarking. And he probably was as threatening as him in person.

[daniloduarte]

Great video! Watching just before reading Sallust's "The Conspiracy of Catiline", it will definitely make the the young Caesar a more colorful character. Loved the baldness anecdotes, and appreciate the linked references.

[AndrewChiNguyen]

SUETONIUS!!!

this is def one of my new favorites of yours, you should do this for more unseen historical figures!!!

[uncinarynin]

I guess that most depictions of Julius Caesar that a lot of us have seen were actually drawn by Albert Uderzo ... giving him a very recognizable face that stays in memory.

[benklingman]

Wow this is awesome! I would love if you did a continual series using this software and your investigative research abilities to make more simulated leaders and icons that were never photographed. Good research and cool video keep it up!

[QuintusAntonious]

I think you may have accidentally put the "Tsar" in Caesar--as in, he looks a bit like Vladimir Putin.

[unchartedthoughts]

*9:40** You made him look like a philipino transwoman in her 60s*

[jigowatts]

Great video Phill, such a fun watch. That unreal engine is insane. Props for thinking of an interesting way of using it! 👏

[semscoolcontent]

I am thankful that youtube led me to your channel man, this is AWSOME make more videos

[jaehaerys]

Suetonius is hardly accepted by modern historians and classicists on face value. "The Twelve Caesars" is often jokingly compared to modern tabloid newspapers, and pretty much every historian who studies ancient Rome will tell you that the stories it contains have to be taken with several grains of salt. There's no need to throw the whole field under the bus for something that anyone in the field already knows and recognizes. Suetonius's works are valuable historical documents because we simply don't have many sources to go off of for that period of history, but everyone knows that they can't be taken as 100% truths. "Reliability" when describing ancient documents is very much a sliding scale, and Suetonius is viewed as more reliable than some but less than others.

[kaustavmandal]

Hey Phil, great video as always. This video has given rise to a question in my mind. Did Caesar always wear the laurel wreath as an emperor, it being a symbol of victory and success amongst the Greeks and Romans as was seen in the Olympics, or did he start adopting that appearance specifically as a cover up for his baldness. Would love to hear what you think or might have found out in your research. Cheers!

[SylviaRustyFae]

I rly wish you cudve shown what your Caesar looked like wearin a laurel; bcuz yea, it is near impossible to think of Caesar without a laurel, which makes perf sense to me now.

[ShapeShifter]

Does the program let you export settings? Would be cool to have the same similar settings that you used for this.

[LinusBoman]

Monster Factory meets history channel. Whodathunkit? Great video, Phil!

[BlueCubeSociety]

Some of your caesar shots (from below) give me these Dr. Strangelove vibes when Ripper (Sterling Hayden) does his monologue