Introduction to the Imperial Fora
A truly exceptional discovery is displayed in the first room of the Museum of the Imperial Fora which serves as an introduction to the entire Fora complex.
This sculpted head of the Emperor Constantine was in fact only discovered in July 2005 during excavations not far from the most southern area of Trajan's Market, inside an ancient sewage pipe.
The head had been sculpted out of an earlier piece which is no longer identifiable, as the only part of the original head that is just about recognizable, despite having been re-worked, is what is obviously a receding hairline and traces of a diadem, proving that the head portrayed someone of Imperial rank.
The discovery would seem to confirm the theory that the Imperial portraits originally carved on the decorative shields (called clipeus) in the attic above the porticoes in Trajan's Forum, were recycled and replaced with others in later years.
In this case, the sculpted head is part of a statue of a man that has been re-worked to portray Constantine and which was found during the excavations of Trajan's Forum in 2005.
From the Constantine Era, early IV century AD
Luna marble FT 10337