The Bosham Head is part of the largest Roman statue found in Britain, a large, sculpted piece of stone that was discovered in
Bosham
Bosham () is a coastal village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, centred about west of Chichester with its clustered developed part west of this. ...
, near
Chichester
Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...
, around 1800. It later resided for some time in the garden of the
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...
's palace before being exhibited in the
Chichester Museum where it now stands.
In 2013,
3D laser scans led Dr
Miles Russell and Harry Manley of
Bournemouth University to conclude that enough survived to suggest that the head was that of a lost sculpture of Emperor
Trajan
Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
, perhaps erected by
Hadrian
Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
at the mouth of
Chichester Harbour.
References
External links
The Bosham Headat The Novium website
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Statues in England
2nd-century Roman sculptures
Monuments and memorials in West Sussex
Roman sculpture portraits of emperors
Bosham