An incredible discovery has been made as a team of archaeologists have found a perfectly preserved Greek statue in a Roman sewage system in the Pirin Macedonia region of southwestern Bulgaria. The discovery was made in the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica.
The ruins of the city, largely destroyed after an earthquake in 425 AD and found close to the Greek border, were first identified in 2002. It was made after the discovery of a Latin inscription which documented correspondence between Emperor Galerius and Caesar Maximinus II.
Heraclea Sintica was founded by Philip II of Macedon between 356 and 339 BC.
After the earthquake, much of the civic basilica and most of the major infrastructure collapsed. As a result, the city went into rapid decline and was mostly abandoned around 500 AD.
Recent excavations, documented by Archaeologia Bulgarica, revealed the discovery of a well-preserved marble sculpture in the Cloaca Maxima, the Roman sewage system.
According to the researchers, the sculpture stands more than two metres tall and may be a depiction of Hermes, an Olympian deity and considered the herald of the gods. Mercury is the Roman counterpart, sharing similar characteristics and associations. Its head has also been incredibly well-preserved.
The archaeologists suggest that the statue was placed in the sewer and covered with soil around the time of the earthquake, possibly to preserve one of their ancient deities, or as a symbolic rejection of pagan beliefs – Christianity was already the official religion.
“Its head is preserved. (It’s in a) very good condition. There are a few fractures on the hands,” said Dr Lyudmil Vagalinski from the National Archaeological Museum, who led the team, adding that the statue was a Roman copy of an ancient Greek original, according to a Reuters report.
On Facebook, Archaeologia Bulgarica described the find as “magnificent”, adding that it was made by a master who used a whole block of marble, probably in the 2nd-century AD.
“Everything pagan was forbidden, and they have joined the new ideology, but apparently they took care of their old deities,” he explained.
Dr Vagalinski emphasised the importance of such a discovery, not just for being the best preserved statue at Heraclea Sintica from antiquity, but possibly all of Bulgaria.
