When exploring ancient art in European museums, I’ve long been struck by a consistent feature of many classical sculptures: the heads of gods, emperors, and common people are often defaced—noses smashed, chins broken, gouges carved into cheeks, or crosses etched into foreheads. Museums have often offered little context for these disfigurements.

In recent years, scholars have more deeply explored the role of religious transformation in late antiquity, particularly the rise of Christianity and the waves of iconoclasm that accompanied the decline of the Roman Empire. Their research has shed light on how many sculptures, buildings, and even literary works were destroyed or altered in efforts to suppress pagan imagery and ideology.

The images in this book—photographs of defaced sculptures taken in European museums over many years—bear witness to that turbulent legacy of transformation and erasure.