Artifact of Inevitability
A Glance Through Glass
He looks at you in a way no one knows how to anymore: with the indifference of marble, with the emptiness that has outlived hope. 1700 years old. His forehead — smooth as a thought that never happened, his eyes — two traps for time. His face reflects in the next museum glass in Mersin — a Roman bust, unearthed from the soil of Soli-Pompeiopolis. Between you — no glass, only air. Between him and the past — nothing.
You stare into his face, trying to guess whether he thought he would belong to no one. Or knew. Or had never been anyone at all — just a form, crafted for power, immortalized to be forgotten. The museum is silent. Outside, it’s scorching. History once again offers no answer.
Matter and Myth
Marble. Nameless. Just under half a meter tall. The bust was found during excavations near what’s believed to be the forum of Pompeiopolis — an ancient city founded in honor of the triumphant general who drowned the pirates and laid a new order atop the ruins of the world. Or at least the simulation of order.
This bust is one of dozens, hundreds. Maybe it depicts an official. Or a philosopher. Or just a model the sculptor used to hone his craft before accepting commissions from Antioch. His eyes are not drilled. He never “saw.” He simply was.
But he was found. And that means the myth has been activated.
The Eye of the Past
His name — none. But let’s imagine. Let’s call him Tiberius Secundus, a city aedile, born in Pompeiopolis. He spoke little, because he knew: words decide nothing. He built cisterns, leveled streets, calibrated scales, and handed out punishment.
One day, after yet another feast in honor of Neptune, he died. Not heroically. Not tragically. He simply stopped. His slaves carried the body to a family mausoleum, where his ashes merged with the soil, becoming part of a stream that eventually washed away the very slope where that mausoleum once stood.
The face you see — that’s all that’s left of him. Or all there ever was.
Legacy in Dust
This bust won’t tell you anything. It doesn’t assert, dispute, or reminisce. It simply is. And that is enough. Like any surviving artifact, it is a point of irresolution. A fragment of a system where nothing allows full understanding.
You can seek inspiration, horror, melancholy in it — it will accept it all. It’s a screen onto which your version of antiquity is projected. It’s a philosopher who forgot philosophy. It’s a monument that was never meant for anyone. It’s marble, sculpted into facial symmetry, hoping to deceive oblivion.
And maybe, it did.
How We Got Here
You can see the bust at the Mersin Archaeological Museum in Turkey. It’s located on the second floor, in the gallery dedicated to finds from Soli-Pompeiopolis. The museum is open daily. Tickets cost around 3 euros. You can reach the ruins of Soli-Pompeiopolis from the museum by minibus or city bus. Entry is free daily, except at active excavation areas.#VoiceOfTheRuins #ArtifactOfInevitability #Pompeiopolis #RomanSculpture #SoliPompeiopolis #Mersin #TheBustThatLooksIntoTheVoid
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