The marble head of a warrior woman has emerged from Vesuvius' volcanic rock.
Buried by the eruption that nearly 2,000 years ago covered Pompeii and the nearby towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae with nine to 20 feet of hot ash and pumice, the painted marble bust was found in a collapsed escarpment near Herculaneum's Basilica.
Almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake 17 years before the eruption, the Basilica was rebuilt by proconsul Marcus Nonius Balbus. It was unearthed in the 18th century, when the entire town of Herculaneum was discovered by chance during the construction of a well.
The statue has coloured hair and make up, and her pupils and eyelashes look just like they did when Herculaneum was buried by the eruption.
No comments:
Post a Comment