August 9
Parts of a huge, exquisitely carved statue of the Roman Emperor Hadrian have been found at an archaeological site in south-central Turkey.
Ruling Rome from AD117 to AD138; he was known as a great military administrator and is one of the so-called "five good emperors".
So far, the excavators have unearthed the head, foot and part of a leg. Other parts of the statue to be uncovered in coming weeks.
The foot is 80cm (31.5 ins) long, the leg - from just above the knee to the ankle - is nearly 70m (27ins) long. The head, which is almost intact save for its broken nose, also measures 70cm (27 ins).
The pieces of this giant monument to Hadrian were found about 5m below ground, among the buried ruins of a bath house on the site Sagalassos, an ancient mountaintop town in southern Turkey.
Born in AD76 into a well-to-do family in Italica, near modern Seville, Spain, Hadrian presided over a period of relative peace and prosperity in the Roman Empire. He erected permanent fortifications along the empire's borders in order to consolidate Roman power.
The northernmost extent of this frontier is still standing: Hadrian's Wall runs across the width of northern Britain, from Wallsend to the Solway Firth. It was built to repel attacks by Caledonian tribes.
The bath house in which the statue was found was destroyed by a major earthquake sometime between the late sixth and early seventh centuries AD.
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