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TURKEY - Colossal Head Of Roman Empress Unearthed

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Bianca
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« on: August 14, 2008, 11:05:10 am »



                                    

                                     Excavators prop up the newly found head of
                                     the empress Faustina the Elder










                                                   Colossal Head of Roman Empress Unearthed 






Marc Waelkens
Sagalassos, Turkey,
August 12

—Tuesday morning, archaeologists of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven team (Belgium) directed by Marc Waelkens uncovered the colossal portrait head of the Roman empress Faustina, wife of the emperor Antoninus Pius, who ruled from A.D. 138 to 161. According to Waelkens, the excavation team was ecstatic at the discovery.

Professor Waelkens' excavations at Sagalassos, a classical metropolis, have been a regular feature on ARCHAEOLOGY's Interactive Digs, and he sent us this report about the new find direct from the field.—

Mark Rose


Excavators last year found fragments of a colossal statute of Hadrian as well as the toes of yet another statute.


The find was made almost exactly one year after we discovered the remains of a colossal (ca. 5 m; 16 foot) statue of the emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) at a spot about 6 m (20 feet) away. The Hadrian statue—represented by a head and the lower part of the right leg and joining foot—is currently on display in the rotunda of the British Museum where it is the centerpiece of the exhibition Hadrian: Empire and Conflict.

Both the Hadrian statute and Faustina head come from the largest room of the Roman Baths at Sagalassos, which have under excavation for the past 12 years. This room—cross-shaped, with mosaic floors, and up to 1250 sq. meters—was most likely a cold room or frigidarium. Other colossal statues once occupied this room, as shown by the front part of two female feet of colossal dimensions we discovered last summer standing on the floor and surrounded by mosaics which still follow the contours of the female statue's long dress.
« Last Edit: August 14, 2008, 11:40:44 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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Bianca
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« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2008, 11:12:29 am »

   


The Discovery

 
Excavators last year found fragments of a colossal statute of Hadrian as well as the toes of yet another statute.

See "Major Find at Sagalassos" and "Hadrian at Sagalassos."


« Last Edit: August 14, 2008, 11:16:07 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2008, 11:19:44 am »




       
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« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2008, 11:24:20 am »




           
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« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2008, 11:26:18 am »




             
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« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2008, 11:28:02 am »



           















« Last Edit: August 14, 2008, 11:35:36 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2008, 11:30:46 am »

                                    










Last year's discoveries suggested more statues of people belonging to the circles around Hadrian, such as his wife Vibia Sabina or his male lover Antinoüs, might be found here. We even initially thought that this year's find was probably Vibia Sabina, who was only 14 years old when she was forced into marriage with Hadrian. But it was clear once the head, which was face down, was turned over, that it represented a woman more mature than as Sabina was usually portrayed.

The head is 0.76 m in height (2.5 feet). It has large, almond-shaped eyes (only the tear ducts are rendered, not the iris or pupils as became usual during the reign of Hadrian) and fleshy thick lips. Its hair is parted in the middle of the front and taken in wavy strains below and around the ears toward the back. The rendering of the hair was done with only sparing sparing use of the drill, a feature characteristic for portraits of empresses in this, the Antonine, dynasty, in sharp contrast with the beards and curly hairs of their husbands. On top of the head is a circlet, a feature typical for most of Sabina's portraits, yet in this case the whole physiognomy of the face clearly indicates it is the empress Faustina the Elder, wife of Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius.

Except for the circlet, the best parallel is a colossal portrait (with the same treatment of the eyes) of Faustina the Elder from Sardis, Turkey, which is now part of The British Museum's permanent collection. Colossal statues were apparently very much in favor at Sagalassos. Besides the 4 m tall hero occupying the Northwest Heroon (hero shrine) and the twice-life size statues of Dionysos from the mid-Antonine nymphaeum (fountain house) on the Upper Agora, there is a 5 m tall Apollo statue from the late Hadrianic nymphaeum above the city's Lower Agora.

The Hadrian and Faustina fragments were discovered in the rubble filling of the Roman Baths. Carbon 14 dating of owl pellets (regurgitated fur and bones of prey) found there suggest a date between A.D. 540 and 620, most likely around 590, for the building's partial collapse during a massive earthquake. The findspot in the southern extremity of the large room, atop a thick mortar layer fallen from the vaulted ceilings, clearly indicates that the fragments had been brought here from another location. Perhaps they were taken from their original location to remove the gilded bronze armor that likely adorned the emperor's statue or even to burn the huge marble pieces to make cement in a nearby lime kiln.

A long inaugural inscription of the huge Roman Baths—discovered elsewhere in the complex years ago—was dedicated ca. A.D. 165 to the co-rulers Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius, the successors of Antoninus Pius. It is a strong indication that both colossal statues discovered thus far, representing Hadrian and Faustina the Elder, originally stood there together with other members of the Antonine dynasty.

It is possible that in the future we will discover more imperial colossal heads in the spacious room currently under excavation.



SEE:



MAJOR FINDS AT SALAGASSOS

HADRIAN AT SALAGASSOS



HERE:



http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/faustina/
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