(from The Guardian) The lost tomb of Caligula has been found, according to Italian police, after the arrest of a man trying to smuggle abroad a statue of the notorious Roman emperor recovered from the site…..The statue is estimated to be worth €1m. Its rare Greek marble, throne and god’s robes convinced the police it came from the emperor’s tomb. Under questioning, the tomb raider led them to the site, where excavations will start today. I hope none take this badly, but is this related to the decision to make John Paul’s blood into a relic? Assuming the police find the murdered body of the Emperor, will they use DNA to tell us which of the current Roman elite are descended from the deified emperor Caligula?
This head of the youg Julio Claudian princeps (emperor) does not seem to even fit the seated statue body and the profile of the head does not match any of Caligula’s extant portraits either numismatically or with portraits in the round? No one wanted it to be Gaius Julius or Caligula more than me. The seated figure does represent a diety, possibly from Caligulan period (37-41 A.D.)
Joe Geranio
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association
Tx!
I would love to hear more on the topic of the Early Roman Empre .
This statue unfortunately is not Caligula, the head does not match the body and the portrait of the head does not agree with Gaius Caligula’s physiognomy. Even the caligae or sandal seems Greek or hellenistic? I was more excited than anyone at this discovery and hoped it would be Caligula due to the few portraits we have of him. The seated statue that was found seems to be a deity and not a princeps or emperor. I have seen at leas 50 photos and this find is not Gaius Caligula. Here is a real statue of Caligula if you want to see one. http://www.flickr.com/photos/julio-claudians/2154157627/ Statues of Caligula are extremely rare due to “damnatio memoriae” and the hatred the Roman people had for him. The above photo has a break at the neck due to an attempted damnatio memoriae in my opinion. Here is another portrait of Caligula that is clearly mutilated by the Romans and was found in the Tiber river. http://www.flickr.com/photos/julio-claudians/678078963/
Joe Geranio
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association