2,000-Year-Old Sculpture Unearthed in Rome

ROME, ITALY—According to a report in The Local, a 2,000-year-old white marble head has been discovered in a medieval-period wall near the Roman Forum. The sculpture depicts a young and graceful figure, and is thought to represent Bacchus, the god of wine, winemaking, grape cultivation, fertility, theater, and religious ecstasy, who was known to the Greeks as Dionysus. The head's hollow eye sockets may have been filled with glass or precious stones. Virginia Raggi, mayor of Rome, said the sculpture is in excellent condition, despite having been recycled into building material. For more on archaeology in Rome, go to “Golden House of an Emperor.”