During the cleaning of the Nemi lake bed, located approximately 30 kilometers south of Rome, Civil Protection workers of the Italian municipality of Nemi made a surprising discovery: the head of an ancient statue. It is suspected that this statue could belong to the ships of the Roman emperor Caligula, the Dire Agency reports.
Given the historical potential of the find, the municipal authorities alerted the competent entities and experts in cultural heritage, who will be in charge of carrying out the tasks of recovery and investigation of the piece.
Although it is not yet possible to confirm if the head of the statue was indeed part of the Roman emperor’s ships, the context in which it was found leads archaeologists and experts to believe that it is authentic and that it is related to Caligula’s ships. However, this hypothesis will have to be corroborated by exhaustive investigations.
The mayor of the municipality, Alberto Bertucci, has confirmed the possible “historical and cultural importance of the find,” and is expected to shed new light on the history of Caligula and his famous ships and reveal the secrets hidden in the depths of Lake Nemi.
The boats of Nemi, also known as the boats of Caligula, are two large ceremonial vessels that were built by the Roman emperor in 40 AD for his private villa on the shores of Lake Nemi. These vessels were used for entertainment and as a display of power. However, the history of these ships remains a mystery, as Caligula’s successor sank them, possibly for political reasons.
The recovery of the ships began in 1926, when Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini initiated the salvage of the ships as part of a program to rehabilitate Rome’s imperial glories. Between 1928 and 1932, Lake Nemi was drained, and the vessels, mounted on rails, were transferred to the Museum of Roman Ships, specially built on the shores of the lake to house them.