Nomads of the Golden Mountains of Altai

Yesterday when I was researching the post about horses in the ancient world, I was intrigued by the detail image of a Persian horseman on the so-called Pazyryk carpet that Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones included in his blog post. The Pazyryk carpet is considered the oldest surviving example of a pile carpet in the world and is thought to have been made around 400 BCE in Armenia or Persia.

It was discovered in a Scythian kurgan burial in the Pazyryk Valley of the Ukok plateau in the Altai Mountains, Siberia, south of the modern city of Novosibirsk, Russia. The tomb mounds discovered there are now part of the  Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The horseman of the Pazyryk culture apparently  accumulated great wealth through horse trading with merchants in Persia, India and China as evidenced by the variety of grave goods including Chinese silk, the pile carpet,  horses decked out in elaborate trappings, and wooden furniture and a full-sized burial chariot found there.   Some horses were provided with leather or felt masks made to resemble animals, with stag antlers or rams’ horns often incorporated in them. Bearded mascarons (masks) of well-defined Greco-Roman origin were also found.  Scholars think these may have been inspired by the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Cimmerian Bosporus. 

These finds were preserved when water seeped into the tombs in antiquity and froze, encasing the burial goods in ice until their excavation by archaeologists M. P. Gryaznov in 1929 and Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko in 1947–1949.

In his book, "The frozen tombs of Siberia: the Payryk Burials of Iron-Age Horseman," Rudenko comments on the close similarities between the equestrian and animal motifs of the Pazyryk carpet and the sculptures of Achaemenid Persepolis.

"Arranged chain-like men and beasts in certain spaces, obviously remind us of Achaemenid and Assyrian styles. Decorating horse tail and foretop is also a Persian tradition. Stablemen pace on the horse's left while their right hand is on its neck both in Persepolis statues and Pazyryk."

He also points out that the deer design is a yellow deer known as a Persian Fallow Deer or Mesopotamian Fallow Deer.

Five bodies were found in the Pazyryk burials during this period including a powerfully built man in his fifties thought to be a chieftain. The man was elaborately decorated with an interlocking series of striking designs representing a variety of fantastic beasts. The best preserved tattoos were images of a donkey, a mountain ram, two highly stylized deer with long antlers and an imaginary carnivore on the right arm. Two monsters resembling griffins decorate the chest, and on the left arm are three partially obliterated images which seem to represent two deer and a mountain goat. On the front of the right leg a fish extends from the foot to the knee. A monster crawls over the right foot, and on the inside of the shin is a series of four running rams which touch each other to form a single design. 

A carefully embalmed young female, dubbed the Siberian Ice Maiden, was discovered by archaeologist Natalia Polosmak in 1993 at Ukok, near the Chinese border. She had been buried over 2,400 years ago in a casket fashioned from the hollowed-out trunk of a Siberian larch tree. On the outside of the casket were stylized images of deer and snow leopards carved in leather.  Six horses wearing elaborate harnesses had been sacrificed and lay to the north of the chamber. Her hair was shaved off but she was wearing a wig and tall hat and was  clad in a long crimson and white striped woolen skirt and white felt stockings. Her yellow blouse was originally thought to be made of wild "tussah" silk but closer examination of the fibers indicate the material is not Chinese but was a wild silk which came from somewhere else, perhaps India. Like the chieftain, she had been tatooed with animal motifs including creatures with horns that transformed into flowers. Although Herodotus described the widespread use of cannabis by Scythian nomads, the seeds found in the tomb of the Ice Princess were only coriander, probably used to disguise the smell of the body.

In January 2007 a timber tomb of a blond chieftain warrior was unearthed close to the Mongolian border. Like the other individuals, the man was tattooed and he wore a well-preserved sable coat. What looks like scissors were found among his grave goods. Additional tombs were found as recently as the summer of 2012.

Detail of horseman on the Pazyryk carpet, 400 BCE, courtesy of Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

The Pazyryk carpet 400 BCE, courtesy of the Hermitage Museum and Wikimedia Commons.

Detail of deer on Payryk carpet, 400 BCE, courtesy of the Hermitage Museum and Wikimedia Commons.

Funerary chariot found in a Pazyryk burial courtesy of Charles Recknagel and the Hermitage Museum.

Closeup of a felt saddle pad from a Pazyryk burial mound courtesy of Charles Recknagel and the Hermitage Museum

A saddle found in the Pazyryk tombs, showing the same kinds of tassels that can be seen on the saddles depicted in the Pazyryk carpet courtesy of Charles Recknagel and the Hermitage Museum.

Wooden table found in a Pazyryk burial mound courtesy of Charles Recknagel and the Hermitage Museum

A gilded wooden figurine of a deer from the Pazyryk burials, 5th century BCE courtesy of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia and Wikimedia Commons.

Fifth century BCE bridle with wooden Hellenistic motifs, Pazyryk Culture, courtesy of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia

Wood and leather finial of a griffin with a stag in its beak, Pazyryk Culture, 5th century BCE, courtesy of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia

Mask with Antlers for a Horse Head, Pazyryk Culture, 5th century BCE, courtesy of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia

This plaque in the shape of a griffin standing on the defeated ibex served as decoration of the headdress of a noble warrior. The entire composition is raised in relief from a sheet of gold. The griffin's head is hollow. Its figure seems enormous as compared with that of the ibex. The ibex is depicted with its hind quarters twisted upwards, which is typical of Altaic art. The griffin's body was richly decorated in a cloisonne technique, but the insets have not survived. This composition is similar to that of the leather object found in the Pazyryk Barrow No. 2 in Altai. The ibex's posture and the decorative devices are identical to the depictions on the saddle covers from the Pazyryk Barrow No. 1. Thus this splendid aigrette can be attributed to the 5th to 4th century BCE. Besides, we see that the whole composition, particularly the griffin, was produced under the influence of the Achaemenid art, courtesy of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Leather, fur, and gold foil headdress, Early Iron Age, Pazyryk Culture, courtesy of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia

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Tota Italia : At the Origins of a Nation

Tota Italia : At the Origins of a Nation is now open at The Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. The presentation examines the process of Romanization beginning with exhibits from Pre-Roman Italy of the 4th century BCE then continues through the Julio-Claudian period to the ultimate unification of territories under the banner of Rome. More than thirty Italian museums have loaned objects to the exhibition to illustrate the diversity that made up the Empire and how the extraordinary differences were blended to form the cultural identity of the Italian people.

Looking through images of some of the artifacts on exhibit, I was pleased to see once more the Parian marble table support depicting two griffins attacking a doe from the 4th century BCE that I had photographed years ago at the Getty Villa. Apparently, it is thought to have originated from a tomb in Foggia, originally part of the ancient Greek colony known as Argos Hippium in southern Italy. It is truly a magnificent piece!

One of my other favorite pieces included in the exhibit is the Boxer Resting, a 1st century BCE bronze Roman copy of a 3rd century CE Greek original by Apollonius that I photographed at the Palazzo Massimo back in 2009.

The exhibit will be on display until July 25, 2021.

Table Support in the Shape of Griffins Attacking a Doe, Greek, made in South Italy and found in a tomb near Foggia, 325-300 BCE that I originally photographed at the Getty Villa just before its repatriation to Italy in 2006

Table Support in the Shape of Griffins Attacking a Doe, Greek, made in South Italy and found in a tomb near Foggia, 325-300 BCE that I originally photographed at the Getty Villa just before its repatriation to Italy in 2006

Table Support in the Shape of Griffins Attacking a Doe, Greek, made in South Italy and found in a tomb near Foggia, 325-300 BCE that I originally photographed at the Getty Villa just before its repatriation to Italy in 2006

A Boxer Resting 1st century BCE Roman copy of 3rd century BCE Greek original by Apollonius, Bronze, that I photographed at the Palazzo Massimo in 2009.

A Boxer Resting 1st century BCE Roman copy of 3rd century BCE Greek original by Apollonius, Bronze, that I photographed at the Palazzo Massimo in 2009.

A Boxer Resting 1st century BCE Roman copy of 3rd century BCE Greek original by Apollonius, Bronze, that I photographed at the Palazzo Massimo in 2009.

A Boxer Resting 1st century BCE Roman copy of 3rd century BCE Greek original by Apollonius, Bronze, that I photographed at the Palazzo Massimo in 2009.

Decoration from a shield depicting Taras, 4th century BCE from the National Archaeological Museum of Basilicata. Image courtesy of the exhibit.

Roman relief with battle scene, 3rd century BCE from the Archaeological Museum of Taranto. Image courtesy of the exhibit.

Bronze lamp holder depicting Apollo, 1st century BCE from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. Image courtesy of the exhibit.

The Capitoline Triad 2nd century CE from the Archaeological Museum of Guidonia-Montecelio. Image courtesy of the exhibit.

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Archaic Period Horse Sculptures

 Horses, with or without riders, were favorite subjects for Boeotian artisans. The figurines were frequently left as burial offerings in graves. Horses were a sign of wealth for the Greeks of this period, and the terracotta horses were probably left to symbolize and to reinforce the high status of the deceased. Thousands of clay figurines like this one survive from the Archaic period (600 to 480 BCE).

"Horses played a central role in the great civic festivals in the ancient world, such as the Panathenaic Games in Athens and the Olympic games at Olympos, where they took part in chariot races and single horse races. The horse’s long affiliation with gods and heroes in Greek mythology no doubt also fostered a special respect and admiration for this remarkable creature in the minds of “ordinary” Greeks. In Homer’s Iliad, horses drive the chariots of the heroes and are praised for their swiftness and beautiful coats. They are often depicted as having special relationships with their owners, like Achilles and his immortal horses, Balius and Xanthus.  In the Iliad, it is told how, when Patroclus was killed in battle, Xanthus and Balius stood motionless on the field of battle, and wept, yet when Achilles rebuked Xanthus for letting Patroklus get slain, Hera granted the horse human speech to deliver to Achilles a warning about his own fate." - Stasahatzoglou, The significance of the horse in ancient Greece.

Terracotta horse and rider, Greek, Boeotian, about 550 BCE, courtesy of the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California.

Archaeic Period Horse and Rider from Cyprus, 700 BCE 

Pyxis Lid with Three Horses Greek made in Boeotia 760-750 BCE Terracotta that I photographed at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California

Terracotta horse with warrior rider Cypriot Cypro-Archaic I-II 600 BCE said to be from the temple of Apollo Hylates at Kourion that I photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Terracotta wheeled horse thought to be a toy Cypriot Cypro-Archaic 6th century BCE that I photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

A BOEOTIAN TERRACOTTA HORSE AND RIDER, 575-550 BCE,  courtesy of Christies

Greek Horse and Rider 6th century BCE Terracotta with slip decoration courtesy of The Barnes Foundation

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Etruscan chariots

 

Silver panel, perhaps from a parade chariot or piece of furniture, overlaid with electrum and decorated in repoussé relief with two riders, perhaps taking part in a horse-race, with a fallen comrade below, Etruscan, 540-520 BCE, found in the Castel San Mariano near the city of Perugia.

Perguia, first called Perusia in the ancient sources, was one of the 12 confederate cities of Etruria.  The league was mostly an economic and religious league, or a loose confederation, similar to the Greek states.  The historical Etruscans had achieved a state system of society, with only remnants of the chiefdom and tribal forms used by surrounding Italics. The government was viewed as being a central authority, ruling over all tribal and clan organizations and wielding the power of life and death. The gorgon was revered as an ancient symbol of that power, and frequently appeared as a motif in Etruscan decoration.

The individual referred to as a "fallen comrade" in this Archaic period relief appears to somewhat resemble a gorgon and, as such, may represent the presence of death in such competitions or victory over death. (only my humble opinion, though)

Perusia was not mentioned in the ancient sources until, Q. Fabius Pictor's account, utilized by Livy, of the expedition carried out against the Etruscan League by Fabius Maximus Rullianus in 310 or 309 BCE. At that time a thirty-year indutiae (truce) was agreed upon. However, in 295 BCE Perusia took part in the Third Samnite War.

At the decisive Roman victory at Sentinum, the enemy fielded over 1,000 chariots (although I doubt any of these were plated with silver) along with 60,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry.  The Roman consuls Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus who commanded the right and Publius Decius Mus who commanded the left were ultimately victorious after Publius Decius decided to devote himself to galvanize the troops. This term refers to a military commander offering prayers to the gods and launching himself into the enemy lines, effectively sacrificing himself, when his troops are in dire straits. His father had done the same at the Battle of Vesuvius (340 BCE). 

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Persian cavalry before the cataphractarii

The Persians did not use cavalry to a great extent until Cyrus the Great  gave the Persian nobility both horses and the wealth to maintain them from the proceeds of his western conquests. He encouraged them to ride and it became a source of disgrace for a Persian noble to be seen walking.  Cyrus then recruited his cavalry from the nobles, creating a regiment of 15,000 men drawn from the Huvaka or “kinsmen.” These kinsmen adopted brightly-colored trousers and shorter tunics that were more suitable for riding from the Medes.  Cyrus adopted cavalry tactics from the Khorassan horsemen of northeastern Iran, parts of modern Afghanistan and the southern parts of Central Asia. He initially armed his cavalry with the standard weapons of the Persian infantrymen: bows, battle-axes, and oval shields. Later, they were re-equipped with short stabbing swords and throwing javelins instead. Long lances and spears made of wood or entirely of metal were used too.

In the mid-5th century Persian cavalrymen adopted the use of wicker and leather shields.  They were designed after those carried by the Saka, a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who historically inhabited the northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin.

According to Herodotus, at the time of the Persian invasion of Greece, Persian cavalry, assembled from a variety of contingents within the empire, were protected only by various kinds of soft headgear and wore no substantial body armor. This is reflected both in the 3rd century BCE Cypriot statuette as well as the famous Alexander mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii.  Cavalry officers may have worn more protective armor, however, as indicated at the battle of Plataea where Masistius, a Persian cavalry commander, is reported to have worn gold scale armor under his scarlet surcoat. 

"When his horse was hit by an arrow, he defended himself vigorously on foot and could not be brought down by body blows. At last, the Athenians who surrounded him guessed the secret and struck at his face." - The Persian Achaemenid Army, weaponsandwarfare.com

Detail from the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii depicting Achaemenid Persian cavalry at the Battle of Issus, 1st century BCE-1st century CE at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Lucas.

Terracotta statuette of a horseman, 3rd century B.C.E. Cyprus, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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Ancient cavalry spurs

Early spurs had a neck that ended in a point, called a prick, riveted to the heel band. The spur was used by the Celts during the La Tène period (which began in the fifth century BCE), and is also mentioned by Xenophon (circa 430 - 354 BCE.) in his treatise "On Horsemanship".  

When the horse is about to leap over any obstacle, Xenophon recommends applying the spur on takeoff, so that the horse will use his whole body over the obstacle and make a safer jump. If this is not done, Xenophon points out, he may lag with his hind end. Xenophon goes on to admonish those wishing to make a horse "showy" to spare the spur. He emphasized that the rider should not pull on the bit nor spur or whip the horse, as this type of riding causes the opposite effect, simply distracting and frightening the animal and causing him to dislike being ridden. Instead, Xenophon urges, the horse must enjoy himself. He should be trained to be ridden on a loose rein, to hold his head high, arch his neck, and paw with his front legs, taking pleasure in being ridden.

Despite Xenophon's reputation for equestrian knowledge, however, the famed Companion Cavalry of Alexander the Great did not use spurs, bit, or stirrup. 

Bronze spurs have been found in Etruscan tombs dating to the 2nd century BCE, though, and iron or bronze spurs were used by Julius Caesar's auxillia cavalry, as evidenced by archaeological finds in England, and, later, throughout the Roman Empire. 

Some examples of Roman period spurs have been found in bogs and thought to have been offered by Germanic populations as a sacrifice to the gods, along with other war booty, after a successful battle. 

Germanic or Gallo-Roman prick spur, 2nd - 3rd century CE

Bronze Celtic spur from about 300 BCE courtesy of horsefactbook.com

More simple spur from a Roman military workshop in Aquincum, a Roman municipium north of modern Budapest, Hungary, 2nd century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Bjoertvedt

 

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A Roman cavalryman's emergency brake

 A cavesson, also known as a Psálion, was a Roman or Thracian cavalryman's emergency brake. 

"Its lower curved bar was connected to a lead rope attached to the saddle or wrapped around the rider's arm. The cavesson presses on the horse's nose, a very sensitive area, and is used for reprimanding a spirited horse, or simply keeping some control of it, when the rider has to let the reins go for fighting. It was also used for leading a horse on foot. On this example, the long angled shanks have a leverage effect increasing the strength of the rider's action on the nose (like today's hackamores)." - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Developed as early as the 5th century BCE, it is described in the equestrian treaty of Xenophon (ca. 430-355 BCE).  Examples have been found throughout western Europe and in Britain as far as Hadrian's wall. Scholars think this distribution was the result of eastern cavalrymen, particularly Thracians, serving in the Roman army.

Romulus supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the Celeres ("the Swift Squadron") to act as his personal escort, with each of the three tribes supplying a centuria of men.  The royal cavalry may have been drawn exclusively from the ranks of the Patricians (patricii).  But  the patrician monopoly on the cavalry seems to have ended by around 400 BCE probably due to an increasing demand for trained cavalrymen.  According to Polybius, Roman cavalry was originally unarmoured, wearing only a tunic and armed with a light spear and ox-hide shield which were of low quality and quickly deteriorated in action. This had changed by the Second Punic War.  A stone monument dating to this period shows a rider wearing a variant of a Corinthian helmet and greaves.  Although his body armor is obscured by a small round shield, scholars think he was probably also wearing a bronze breastplate.   A coin of 197 BCE shows a Roman cavalryman in Hellenistic composite cuirass and helmet. Polybius says that by 150 BCE, cavalrymen of the "First Class" were expected to to provide themselves with mail. 

The Jugurthine War is the last war in which Roman citizen cavalry is attested as having played a significant part. After that references to the citizen cavalry become rare and the Roman army seems to have become largely dependent on non-citizen cavalry, either recruited in the subject provinces or supplied by allied kings. As part of the army reforms of Gaius Marius around 107 BCE, citizen legionary cavalry was abolished and entirely replaced by native allied cavalry. The equites had long since become exclusively an officer class (a role they retained throughout the Principate), as the empire had become simply too large and complex for aristocrats to serve as ordinary troopers. At the same time, many of the First Class of commoners had developed major business interests and had little time for military service. Although commoners of the lower classes could, of course, have been recruited and trained as cavalrymen in larger numbers, that must have seemed costly and unnecessary when subject countries such as Gaul, Spain, Thrace and Numidia contained large numbers of excellent native cavalry which could be employed at much lower pay than citizens.

Image: Roman or Thracian cavalryman's cavesson (also known as a Psálion), bronze, 1st -2nd century CE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Gallienus, Third Century Reformer

 Born into a wealthy and traditional senatorial family, Gallienus was the son of Valerian and Mariniana. Valerian became Emperor on 22 October 253 CE and had the Roman senate elevate Gallienus to the ranks of Caesar and Augustus. Valerian divided the empire between him and his son, with Valerian ruling the east and his son the west. Gallienus defeated the usurper Ingenuus in 258 CE and destroyed an Alemanni army at Mediolanum in 259 CE.

The defeat and capture of Valerian at Edessa in 260 CE by the Sasanian Empire threw the Roman Empire into the chaos of civil war. Control of the whole empire passed to Gallienus. He defeated the eastern usurpers Macrianus Major and Mussius Aemilianus in 261–262 CE but failed to stop the formation of the breakaway Gallic Empire under general Postumus. Aureolus, another usurper, proclaimed himself emperor in Mediolanum in 268 CE but was defeated outside the city by Gallienus and besieged inside. While the siege was ongoing, Gallienus was stabbed to death by the officer Cecropius as part of a conspiracy.

Although ancient historians did not treat Gallienus favorably, he was actually responsible for several useful reforms. He was the first emperor to commission the Comitatenses, military cavalry units that could be quickly dispatched anywhere in the empire.  The formation of these units created a precedent for the future emperors Diocletian and Constantine I.  Gallienus also prioritized more reliable equestrian commanders over senators. Classicist Pat Southern, author of "The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine", observed that, although this policy undermined senatorial power, these reforms and the decline in senatorial influence not only helped the later emperor Aurelian to salvage the Empire, but they also make Gallienus one of the emperors most responsible for the creation of the Dominate, along with Septimius Severus, Diocletian, and Constantine I.

Dionysus (Bacchus), of course, represents the god of wine and the grape harvest, but the Romans also associated him with freedom, at times calling him Liber (meaning free).  As Eleutherios ("the liberator"), his wine, music and ecstatic dance freed his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subverted the oppressive restraints of the powerful.  The cult of Dionysus is also a "cult of the souls." His maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead.  It is probably these more somber symbols Gallienus sought to invoke with this portrait since the chaos of the Third Century was  anything but carefree.

Image: Roman portrait dated to 260 CE thought to be possibly the emperor Gallienus (253-268 CE) in the guise of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine that I photographed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Iron Age Warriors of Eastern Iberia

 The Iron Age Tartessian culture of southeastern Spain, previously influenced by the Phoenicians, began to transform when exposed to Greek influence during the 6th - 4th centuries BCE.  Aristocratic power increased and numerous fortified oppidums began to appear.  Referred to as the Iberian culture, the people engaged in commerce that served to reinforce aristocratic power and control.  Iberian funerary customs became dominated by Greek-style mud-brick rectangular burial mounds and their script, once a modified version of the Phoenician alphabet, began to include a variant of the Greek alphabet.  Their mythology also began to include creatures such as winged griffins, often seen in Greek art.

An early warrior figure of this period appears to fight mostly nude adorned only with what appear to be tatoos on his chest and an ornate belt.  A century later, an Iberian warrior depicted in a statue at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art dated from the 3rd to 2nd century BCE is shown wearing body armor  and helmet.  This would have been the appearance of the Iberian warriors facing the Romans who conquered the area beginning in 220 BCE.

Iron Age figure of a warrior once holding weapons 600-400 BCE southern or eastern Iberian peninsula at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada courtesy of the museum

Iberian warrior of the 3rd - 2nd century BCE at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art courtesy of the museum.

Recreation of an Iberian warrior from the 5th-4th century BCE, with his weapons (falcata, shield, plate bib, linothorax) courtesy of the Museo de Prehistoria de Valencia

Iberian equestrian statue 490 BCE from the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Albacete.

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The bit that controlled the mighty Bucephalus

There is evidence of the use of bits to control horses, located in two sites of the Botai culture in ancient Kazakhstan, dated about 3500–3000 BCE.  Nose rings appear on the equids portrayed on the Standard of Ur, circa 2600–2400 BCE. To date, the earliest known artistic evidence of use of some form of bitless bridle comes in illustrations of Synian (Syrian?) horseman, dated approximately 1400 BCE.  Metal bits came into use between 1300 and 1200 BCE, originally made of bronze.   The need for control of horses in warfare drove extensive innovation in bit design, producing a variety of prototypes and styles over the centuries.

This bit is of a distinctive type attested in Northern Greece and used for horses that are ridden rather than driven. Its most noteworthy occurrence is on the mount of Alexander of Macedon in the famous Alexander mosaic from the Casa del Fauno in Pompeii and now in the Archaeological Museum, Naples.

Bronze bit, Greek, 4th-3rd century BCE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Detail of Alexander the Great and Bucephalus from the Battle of Issus Mosaic found in the House of the Faun, Pompeii, now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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Equestrian Statue Fragment Found Near Colosseum

"A fragment of an ancient Roman equestrian statue that once adorned the Colosseum has been found during excavations near the world famous Italian landmark.

According to the Italian daily, Il Messaggero, the fragment was discovered among the remains of an ancient pavement that once surrounded the amphitheatre.

"A marble fragment measuring one metre by a metre and a half, is from an equestrian statue, probably a statue that embellished the arches of the Colosseum," said archaeologist Silvana Rizzo, advisor to the minister of culture and tourism, Francesco Rutelli.

"The left flank of a rider with the detail of a leg, bridle and harness of a horse, as well as a part of a dagger scabbard are perfectly visible from the fragment," said Rizzo, who has spent his life doing Roman excavations.

"They are details that suggest the statue of an emperor and left us with the hope that we could find the entire statue."

Update: "Two days later the head of a male statue was discovered, both of which had been only 50cm below the surface. According to archaeologists the piece of the equestrian statue suggests one of an emperor due to its size and most likely adorned the arch over the imperial entrance. The head is too small to be that of the rider of the horse in the equestrian statue." If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!