[1][2] It was looted from Roman Egypt in 24 BC by the forces of queen Amanirenas of Kush and brought back to Meroë, where it was buried beneath the staircase of a temple.

[4] His excavation report states, “Just outside the doorway of this chamber, and buried in a clean pocket of sand [two and a half meters from the surface] there was a Roman bronze portrait head of heroic size.”[3] Garstang was eager to share his findings with the world, so he shipped it off to London as soon as possible.

[3] According to Thorston Opper's The Meroë Head of Augustus (Objects in Focus), the "committee was an international consortium of museum professionals, academics, and wealthy individuals, united by a desire to partake in the thrill of archaeological adventure and a share in the prospective finds.

"[3] However, most of the excavation's sponsorship came from a wealthy group of Britons (including pharmaceutics entrepreneur Henry Solomon Wellcome) and one avid German collector and scholar, Baron von Bissingen.

[3] Garstang was a specialist in Middle Eastern and Egyptian art, so he conferred with colleagues in Liverpool via mail, and erroneously concluded that it depicted Germanicus, Augustus' great-nephew.

The Greek historian Strabo mentions in his chronicles that numerous towns in Lower Egypt were adorned with statues of Augustus before an invading Kushite army looted many of them in 24 BC, when Roman forces were away fighting in the Arabian campaign.

The placing of the Emperor's head below the shrine's steps was designed to symbolically denigrate the reputation of Augustus in the eyes of the Meroitic aristocracy and Kushite queen Amanirenas.

Although the frescoes of temple M292 now are faded completely, the scene can be reconstructed based on Garstang’s German assistant Shliephack’s series of watercolor drawings.

[13] The Meroë Head is larger than life-size and mimics Greek art by portraying Augustus with classical proportions; it was clearly designed to idealize and flatter the Emperor.