Life — January 16, 1902 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine Cover, January 16, 1902 This is the cover of *Life* magazine's issue featuring an ornate decorative header and a classical artistic reproduction titled "Fragment." The caption indicates this is "found in 4601 among the ruins of the Temple of the Sacred Dollars at Cleveland. Believed to represent Marcus Aurelius Hannago Nabolus." The satire appears to mock wealthy Cleveland industrialists or financiers by presenting a modern sculpture/figure as if it were an ancient Roman artifact. By calling the subject "Marcus Aurelius" (the philosopher-emperor) and giving him a mock-Latin name, the cartoonist suggests these contemporary wealthy men fancy themselves as important historical figures, when they're actually just modern robber barons. The "Temple of the Sacred Dollars" explicitly satirizes their worship of money.