The History Blog

Archaeologists excavating a Roman sewer at the ancient site of Heraclea Sintica near Petrich, southwestern Bulgaria, have discovered a large marble statue of Hermes. The statue is larger than life-sized at 6.8 feet high and is in exceptional condition, almost complete with only the hands missing. It is the only complete Roman statue ever found in Heraclea Sintica, and excavation leader Dr. Lyudmil Vagalinski believes it may well be the best-preserved Roman statue in all of Bulgaria.

The sculpture is still partially encased in soil — its left side with the chlamys (cloak) draped over the shoulder has not been fully excavated — but it is already evident that this was the work of a master. It is carved from a single block of marble and its style dates it to the 2nd century A.D. The size, contrapposto posture, the chlamys, and the tree trunk support next to his left leg are almost identical to the Atalante Hermes, a marble statue found in central Greece that is a 2nd century copy of a 4th century B.C. original that is believed to have been created by Lysippos, one of the three greatest sculptors of Classical Greece. The Atalante Hermes is missing the caduceus that would have originally been held in his left hand. Fingers crossed that when the Heraclea Sintica Hermes fully emerges from the soil, the caduceus will still be there.

The statue was found inside the Cloaca Maxima, the ancient city’s main sewer. The land above this section of the sewer is privately owned, so the city doesn’t have the power to conserve and restore the site as it would with municipal property. Archaeologists are doing what they can to keep erosion from causing irreparable damage to the ancient structures. This time they were sweeping the walls to assess their condition when they exposed a patch of marble. As they continued to clean towards the wall, they uncovered the full statue.

It was found lying on its side facing the sewer wall, so it must have been carefully placed there before being covered with dirt. Dr. Vagalinski suspects the townspeople buried the statue after the earthquake that damaged much of the city in 388 A.D. It was this protective burial that preserved the statue, alone among its many brethren, for 1700 years.

Christianity was the majority religion by this point, and while Emperor Theodosius I was fairly moderate in his approach to paganism even as he declared Christianity the official and only state religion, many of his administrators and subjects were virulently anti-pagan. Temples were destroyed and statues toppled. That is why most of the Roman statues found in Bulgaria are headless; they were deliberately decapitated as symbols of the destruction of the old religion. This statue somehow escaped the fate of its Olympian brothers and sisters, and its tender treatment suggests it was rescued by people who respected its religious significance or at least its cultural value.

Founded in the 4th century B.C. by Philip II of Macedon, Heraclea Sintica was the premier city of northeast Macedonia. It was conquered by the Roman Republic in the 2nd century B.C. It was an important city in the Imperial era, but rapidly declined at the 388 earthquake and another one in 425 A.D. that destroyed its infrastructure. By 500 A.D., the city was abandoned. Its identity was only rediscovered in 2002 when an inscription bearing its name was unearthed.

When the statue is fully excavated, it will be raised in a custom-built structure so that the heavy, delicate sculpture can be safely removed from the sewer. It will then be crated and lifted by crane for transport to the History Museum in Petrich where it will be conserved for eventual public display.

A Roman Imperial era necropolis has been unearthed during railway construction in Sicily. The large burial ground contains 168 graves in a wide diversity of styles attesting to the complex social strata of the associated Roman settlement.

Italferr, the engineering firm of the Italian State Railways, has an in-house staff of archaeologists who are involved from the earliest planning stages in all railway projects. The current project, a new direct route connecting Palermo to Catania, runs through the Dittaino River valley, a strategically significant territory for the ancient Greek colonies of Sicily, the Punic outposts and later for the Romans. Italferr’s archaeologists unearthed a large settlement dating to the early Roman Imperial period (1st century-3rd century A.D.) on a hill overlooking the valley. West of the settlement on the hilltop and northwest slope, the team discovered the necropolis.

The burials reflect a highly stratified society, with monumental tombs and pit burials with angled roofs made of tiles. One tomb in particular, a bustum, or mound grave, contained a rich group of objects: five necklaces, two gold rings and a cinerary urn in prized white Carrara marble inscribed with a dedication to the Magnus Magister Pecoris, the top administrator in charge of management and breeding of the sheep flocks. The inscription also refers to a dispensator, the administrator who gave the urn to the deceased.

The settlement appears to have been centered around a villa rustica (a country estate with agricultural functions), but architectural remains of floors and collapsed roofs confirm that the full settlement covered the entire slope. The structures were not residential dwellings, however. They were outbuildings dedicated to the production aspects of the villa.

East of the necropolis, archaeologists did magnetometric surveys, discovering what appears to be an area of cult use. It is a channel with fragments of burned animal bones alternating with layers of alluvial deposits. This suggests cult rites were performed in this area of the site. Artifacts found in this area include oscilla, small masks or circular plates that were hung on tree branches as offerings to the gods, and needles or pins carved out of bone.

Excavations are ongoing with the ultimate goal of documenting the entirety of the archaeological remains of the settlement and necropolis.

Archaeologists have identified an ancient stone wall in the Dossone della Melìa, a high plateau in southern Calabria, as one of the defensive structures built by Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus to trap Spartacus and his army of escaped slaves. The moss-covered wall is 2.7 km (1.7 miles) long and is paired with an earthwork on one side. The wall also would have originally been accompanied by a deep ditch (fossa), but that is now lost.

[University of Kentucky’s Dr. Paolo] Visona believes that Spartacus attacked the wall in his bid to break free of the trap that Crassus had constructed for him. The discovery of numerous broken iron weapons, including sword handles, large curved blades, javelin points, a spearhead, and other metal debris, indicate a battle took place at the site.

The Dossone plateau extends from the toe of Italy’s boot to the arch, from the Reggio Calabria on the Straits of Messina and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Isthmus of Catanzaro and the Ionian Sea. It was used as the main regional pass between the eastern and western coasts of southern Italy since at least the 6th century B.C. (and continued to be used well into the 16th century). It was so strategically important to the Greek colonies in Calabria that the dominant city in the area, Locri Epizephyrii, had forts along the pass and regular patrols to protect its territory from attack by rival colonies.

Spartacus and 70 gladiators escaped imprisonment in the gladiatorial training school in Capua in 73 B.C. This tiny core expanded geometrically, drawing in enslaved rural and urban workers, shepherds, farmers, men, women and children until there were 70,000 rebels successfully raiding towns and making fools of the Roman commanders sent to quash the rebellion.

Spartacus and his co-leaders made ample use of the local knowledge in their ranks, military tactics and understanding of the terrain among them. The Social War between Rome and its former Italian allies less than 20 years earlier had seen a great deal of action in southern Italy, and there were certainly veterans of that rebellion among Spartacus’ forces. By the time Spartacus and his ragtag army made their way to Rhegium (Reggio Calabria) in 71 B.C., however, the richest man in Rome, the ruthless general Marcus Licinius Crassus, was on his tail. Crassus cut off access to the Straits of Messina so Spartacus could not flee to Sicily and he ordered construction of fortifications to block their movements and supply chains.

Hemmed in by Crassus and with news that Pompey’s legions, fresh from war in Spain, had been dispatched to crush the rebellion once and for all, Spartacus busted through the fortifications and headed east for the heel of the boot. They didn’t make it. They made a hard turn north and the final confrontation between the Spartacan army and the Roman legions of Crassus took place in 71 B.C. in Senerchia, 260 miles north of Rhegium.