The Statue of Germanicus from Amelia: New Discoveries

Abstract

DIS MANIBVS GERMANICI IVLII CAESARIS (on the 2,000th anniversary of his death)This archaeological note presents the findings from a scientific analysis of the bronze of an over-life-sized cuirassed statue of Germanicus from Amelia (ancient Ameria). The examination was recently carried out in the Museo Archeologico di Amelia to determine both the nature of the statue's production and its relative dating. The 41 nondestructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry measurements taken on 32 different parts clearly show that there were two, not three, phases (as had been proposed in the only major monograph on the statue) involved in the production of this sculpture. Some analyses using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry were also carried out on drillings taken from detached fragments of the statue that were recently rediscovered in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia. The new scientific examinations indicate that all parts of the statue except the cuirass were produced at the same time and apparently were originally being prepared for gilding, which in the end was not carried out for reasons that are discussed.