http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/news/newsDetails/gaius-and-lucius-on-tour05/13/2009
Gaius and Lucius on Tour
Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst
Two of the most admired finds from the
Corinth Excavations, the
statues of
Gaius and Lucius Caesar, have left to be exhibited in Haltern am See,
Germany.
Augustus’ grandsons and heirs will be
part of the exhibit “Imperium-Conflict-Myth, 2000 years Varus Battle” at the LWL-Römermuseum until October 2009. The effort and manpower to move them from their
home for the last 78 years in the
Roman Gallery into a truck made us think back in time to their previous moves. First, they were set up in the Julian
Basilica at the east end of the
forum dedicated by the Corinthian elite to
honor the imperial family very early in the 1st c. A. C. Then, in 1914, when they were found by Emerson
Swift lying many meters below the surface of the ground in
medieval levels inside the
basilica, they were moved first to the Old Museum and then into the Archaeological Museum of Ancient
Corinth in 1931. Conservation and cleaning of the
statues prior to transport was the collaborative effort of Vlasis Delistathis, Froso Koumpoula and Elena
Georgiou of the LZ Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical
Antiquities, and
Nicol Anastassatou,
conservator of ASCSA’s
Corinth Excavations.
