Caligula Clears Blocked Sewer
 

Oops - make that Constantine :)

Fascinating. Thanks for posting

Good subject title - it hooked me.

Interesting story, thanks.

Of course, since he was emperor from 306 - 337 AD, the statement that the statue is 2,000 years old is a little bit exaggerated. Still, an interesting story.
((H))

Very interesting story...thanks. It doesn't surprise me, everywhere you dig up in Rome you will unearth something of historical value.

Thanks Steve, interesting article.
But actually Emperors block sewers :).
In 222AD the Praetorian Guard killed Emperor Heliogabalus (he was a real wacko) and his mother.
The soldiers then threw there mutilated bodies in the sewer.
But the pipes were too narrow in that section and they blocked it up.
They had to drag them out of the sewer :( and settle for throwing them off a bridge and into the Tiber River. Regards, Walter

Has anyone read the series of books about Marcus Didius Falco, an informer in ancient Rome, written by Lindsey Davis?

travlsolo--yes, great fun.

Rufus - yes, great fun, plus some interesting information about daily life in those times. I still have a couple to read. :)

Here is Lindsey Davis' website: http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/

I can't help but think of that line from the television series "I, Claudius" (with Derek Jacobi.) At the very end, Caligula appears posthumously and says, "They said I was a psychopath. You could have knocked me over with a feather when they told me...."

Thanks, dancin! Another good website is www.italian-mysteries.com

dancin, Caligula's ghost is a good ending to 'I, Claudius'. Ancient writers claim that after his murder, not a night passed without some fearsome apparition 8-X appearing in the Palatine Palace. It remained haunted until it was finally destroyed 23yrs later in Nero's Great Fire in 64AD. Regards, Walter