WOW @galba68 ! WHAT A GREAT FIND with your metal detector!!! SUPER SCORE!!! Now you have to tell me what field you found this in! RI MARCUS AURELIUS AR Den as Caesar TR POT VI COS II - Genius stg at altar hldg standard
Actually @Alegandron , I found that statue in a little known Roman Province called Florida, in the ancient town of Miami Lakes. I traded it to @galba68 for these two coins of Marcus Aurelius. The statue for the coins, that was a fair trade, right? Now I have $180 worth of Marcus Aurelius in exchange for a $50,000,000 + statue. Seems legit! With that much business talent behind me, I should go from the suburbs to being the king of the slums in no time.
I've always been fascinated by this statue ever since I was a kid. It is a true wonder that it has survived all the challenges and ravages of humanity in addition to being one of the foremost pieces of Roman sculpture. While Rome was always my #1 destination for travel when I was young, for various reasons I never made it. I expect to do so in the next few years. For the moment I will have to suffice with this As of Lucius Verus (which is about as close as I can come).
They say the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius survived because the church believed it was Constantine. The reproduction outside the Capitoline museum is pretty impressive too. I take this exact same picture everytime I'm in Rome. This one I took while it was raining...it's framed in my study
I've heard the story, and if true, it's obvious the church leaders were clueless. Looks nothing like that butcher Constantine. Anyone with more than a passing knowledge of Roman history could tell it's Marcus Aurelius from a mile away. I'm glad for their ignorance though, otherwise this statue would have been melted down by one Pope or another, as happened to most of these great public artworks of antiquity.
