Thread by @SokolowskiLuk

1/ 1st Feb brought breaking news about the life-size statue of the Roman Emperor shown as Hercules discovered in the Roman sewer system. The marble statue, complete with identifying lion skin headwear and club, was discovered during cleaning of a 100-year-old pipe!
#RomanPortrait

https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1621436669668003840

2/ The emerged, face first, as a bulldozer was tearing through old pipelines that needed replacing. An archaeologist overseeing the work immediately intervened. Apart from the torso, fragments of arms and feet that were part of the statue were found.

3/ Media confirm, that the archeologist and restorer have immediately inspected the ancient life-size statue in Rome's Appia Archaeological Park (AP). The object has been most carefully cleaned by brushes and the broken elements put together:
ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/ancient-l…

4/Much attention has been paid to the identification of the depicted Emperor. The frown lines on the forehead that are typical of depictions of emperors from the 3rd century, a time of deep political and military crisis for the Roman Empire.
thecollector.com/an-ancient-her…

5/ 'The face of Hercules’, seems to share with the official portraits of Decius Trajan the ‘wrinkles of anxiety’, which aimed at representing the concern for the fate of the State. Note also the treatment of the beard razor and the morphology of the eyes, nose & lips.

6/ Decius Trajan (c. 201 AD – September 249 AD -June 251 AD)was the first Roman emperor to be killed in battle - fighting against the Goths in modern-day Bulgaria - and was behind the first organized persecution of Christians.

https://twitter.com/DrJEBall/status/1590417128502726656

7/ Media state, that the depictions of the Roman Emperors as Hercules are quite rare. Still, there are at least a few parallels attested, just to mention Commodus, the ill-fated son of Marcus Aurelius, the devoted fan of circus and games.
sommerville88.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/my-…

8/ To conclude we may say, that every few months bring new finds of Roman and Greek sculptures, including the portraiture of the ancients and their rulers. Classical cities were in fact highly populated by all kinds of statuary.

9/ Each finding of the surviving objects can potentially profoundly reshape our knowledge about ancient world, its society, population, rulers, and also the technological aspects of portrait production.