ROME—A life-sized statue of a Roman emperor posing as the classical hero Hercules has been discovered during sewer repair works near the Appia Antica (Appian Way), ancient Rome’s first highway.
It emerged, face first, as a bulldozer was tearing through old pipelines that needed replacing. An archaeologist overseeing the work immediately intervened.
“This face appeared, and it was then immediately identified as a character dressed as Hercules,” Francesca Romana Paolillo, archaeologist at the Appia Antica park, told Reuters.
The marble sculpture, showing a Hercules-like figure with the hero’s trademark lion skin and club, was unearthed on Jan. 25 at the Scott Park, part of the Appia Antica green area….