A hitherto unknown statue of the Roman Emperor Caligula, concealed on a lorry and destined to be sold illegally abroad, was recovered recently by Italian carabiniere at Lake Nemi near Rome. The gigantic throned statue, in precious Greek Paros marble and measuring a total 2.5m, is not intact, but archaeologists were able to identify the subject through the characteristic sandals, or Caliga, on its feet. This was the classic footwear of the Roman legionnaires, which Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus  adopted and from which he was given the nickname he is best known by.

Lake Nemi, a small crater lake in he Alban Hills some 30km south of Rome, has long been connected with Caligula, who ruled between 37-41 AD and was assassinated by his Praetorian guards when he was not yet thirty. It is known that the young Emperor was a follower of the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis who was worshipped in the crater in the form of the Roman goddess Diana. The area became famous in the 1930s thanks to the recovery of two colossal ceremonial barges that had been sunk in the lake. Housed in a custom-built museum on the lakeside, these unique Roman ships were destroyed during the last war.

Archaeologist Giuseppina Ghini, curator of the Museum and head of excavations of the Temple of Diana at Nemi lake, said that she hopes that the discovery of such an important piece of sculpture would act as an incentive to undertake new archaeological digs and that the necessary government funding would be forthcoming.