This representation of Marforio - Marphurius - dates from the C1st AD, and was one of ancient
Rome's original six pasquinades — the famous "talking statues" that were used for anonymous
denunciations of corruption, and spreading rumours and gossip...
In 1592 Pope Sixtus V had the statute moved to the Piazza del Campidoglio in 1592, where it
was used by Giacomo Della Porta to decorate a fountain, set on a wall of the Basilica di
Santa Maria in Ara Coeli.