The Colossus of Barletta is a large bronze statue of a Roman emperor, nearly three times life size (5.11 meters, or about 16 feet 7 inches) in

Barletta Barletta () is a city, '' comune'' of Apulia, in south eastern Italy. Barletta is the capoluogo, together with Andria and Trani, of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. It has a population of around 94,700 citizens. The city's territory be ...

, Italy. The statue supposedly washed up on a shore, after a Venetian ship sank returning from the

Sack of Constantinople The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the ...

in the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

in 1204, but it is not impossible that the statue was sent to the West much earlier. The identity of the emperor is uncertain. According to tradition, it depicts

Heraclius Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, led a revol ...

(reign 610–641 AD); though this is most unlikely on historical and art-historical grounds. More likely subjects are

Theodosius II Theodosius II ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος, Theodosios; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450) was Roman emperor for most of his life, proclaimed ''augustus'' as an infant in 402 and ruling as the eastern Empire's sole emperor after the death of his ...

(reign 402–450 AD), who may have had it erected in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...

in 439, Honorius (reign 393–423 AD),

Valentinian I Valentinian I ( la, Valentinianus; 32117 November 375), sometimes called Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor, he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the eastern provinces. Val ...

(r. 364–375),

Marcian Marcian (; la, Marcianus, link=no; grc-gre, Μαρκιανός, link=no ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457. Very little of his life before becoming emperor is known, other than that he was a (personal a ...

(r. 450–457),

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...

(r. 527–565) and especially

Leo I The LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office I) was the first computer used for commercial business applications. The prototype LEO I was modelled closely on the Cambridge EDSAC. Its construction was overseen by Oliver Standingford, Raymond Thompson and ...

(r. 457–474), in which case it probably topped his Column of Leo, from which fragments remain in Istanbul. It is known that a colossal statue was discovered in 1231–1232 during excavations commissioned by emperor Frederick II in Ravenna and it's possible that he had it transported to his southern Italian lands. Regardless, the first certain historical reference of the statue date from 1309 when parts of its legs and arms were used by local Dominicans to cast bells. The missing parts were remade in the 15th century. The statue evidently depicts an emperor, identifiable from his imperial

diadem A diadem is a type of crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. Overview The word derives from the Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", from διαδέω ''diadéō'', " ...

and his commanding gesture that invokes the act of delivering a speech, with his right arm raised, holding a cross, although this is a later addition when the statue was being repaired and in place of the cross there was originally a spear or a military standard. The emperor wears a

cuirass A cuirass (; french: cuirasse, la, coriaceus) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The word probably originates from the original material, leather, from the French '' cuirac ...

over his short tunic. His cloak is draped over his left arm in a portrait convention that goes back to

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

. In his outstretched left hand he holds a small orb, another later addition to replace a larger original orb. His diademed head wears a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

jewel, similar to the one worn by

Aelia Eudoxia Aelia Eudoxia (; ; died 6 October 404) was a Roman empress consort by marriage to the Roman emperor Arcadius. The marriage was the source of some controversy, as it was arranged by Eutropius, one of the eunuch court officials, who was attempt ...

, mother of Theodosius II. The emperor's face is rigid with strong jaw and high cheekbones with short shaved beard, his eyes being directed upwards.

External links

{{coord, 41, 19, 9.45, N, 16, 16, 53.34, E, type:landmark_region:IT, display=title Barletta Buildings and structures in the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani Hellenistic and Roman bronzes Outdoor sculptures in Italy Late Roman Empire sculptures 5th-century Roman sculptures Ancient Greek and Roman colossal statues

See also

Further reading

External links