Unknown Richly Decorated Trajan Statue Among Artifacts That Has Never Been Publicly Displayed

| February 10, 2016 | Archaeology News | No Comments

MessageToEagle.com – Fragments of an unknown statue of Roman Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 AD) with a rich decoration of motifs from the ancient mythology has been stored for decades in the Laboratory of Bulgaria’s National Museum of History and has never been put on public display.

The discovery of the artifact took place in the 1980s but it has never been announced.

According to Archaeology in Bulgaria, the bronze statue decorated with depictions of heroes and gods from the Antiquity, was found during excavations of the Roman road station and fortress Candidiana located near the town of Malak Preslavets on the Danube River in Northeast Bulgaria.

Fragments of the unknown statue of Roman Emperor Trajan decorated with mythology motifs which was found at the Roman fortress and road station Candidiana near Bulgaria’s Malak Preslavets on the Danube. Photo: Standart daily
Fragments of the unknown statue of Roman Emperor Trajan decorated with mythology motifs which was found at the Roman fortress and road station Candidiana near Bulgaria’s Malak Preslavets on the Danube. Photo: Standart daily

Candidiana fortress, which dates back to the 2ndcentury AD, was part of the Roman road along the Danube connecting major Roman strongholds and continued all the way to the Danube delta on the Black Sea coast.

After his victorious wars against the Dacians north of the Danube, Roman Emperor Trajan stationed the elite Claudius’ 11th Legion (Legio XI Claudia) at Durostorum (Dorostorum), today’s Silistra.

Some of the legion’s detachments were stationed at Candidiana from the last quarter of the 3rd century until the middle of the 4th century.

An enormous number of archaeological and historical artifacts are kept in the storage of the Laboratory of the National Museum of History in Sofia for lack of exhibition space. Photo: Standart daily
An enormous number of archaeological and historical artifacts are kept in the storage of the Laboratory of the National Museum of History in Sofia for lack of exhibition space. Photo: Standart daily

The Candidana Fortress itself ended up surviving until the Early Byzantine period, i.e. the end of 6th – beginning of the 7th century when it was destroyed in barbarian invasions.

The unknown statue of Roman Emperor Trajan found at Candidiana is broken in several pieces but its unique depictions of mythology scenes from the Antiquity period are well preserved, and the statue is supposed to be restored.

Among other valuable artifacts kept in the storage, there is a marble bust of Eastern Roman Emperor Valens (r. 364-378 AD) who died in the Battle of the Adrianople of 378 AD with the Goths. The artifact dates to 4th century AD.

Also an intriguing ancient stele depicting a feast in honor of god Dionysus featuring celebrating deities and priests and a sculpture of Trajan’s successor, Roman Emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138 AD) have never been publicly exhibited. 

MessageToEagle.com

source: Archaeology in Bulgaria

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