Statue of the Emperor Octavian Augustus Rome First quarter of the 1st century H 185 cm This statue was created after the death of Octavian (reigned 31st BC-14 th AD), during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. The worship of the emperor began even during the lifetime of Octavian (in 27 BC the Senate awarded him the title Augustus: the Holy, divine Son, father of the native land, descendant of Venus and Aeneas), and under his successors this became an official cult. Here the emperor is represented as Jupiter, the supreme God of the Roman pantheon, and this statue is a typical example of Roman sculpture from the time of the Empire. The composition was adapted from the celebrated sculpture of Zeus by Phidias, which allowed the placing of the appropriate attributes in Augustus's hands: a Nike and a sceptre. The sculptor preserved the emperor's portrait features, but idealized them to create a formal cult statue.