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NIDORAX t1_j66k20k wrote

Now who would throw away a statue in the sewer? I mean even in ancient times, statues are quite expensive

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spongish t1_j66s687 wrote

If I'm a rich Roman citizen, maybe I'm putting a statue in my sewer just because I can.

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WorldLieut8 t1_j66n43c wrote

In honor of the literal shit he endured with the Augean Stables.

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ieatcavemen t1_j671r3p wrote

Hercules didn't have to deal with any shit first hand, although the point of the labour was to attack his dignity. Instead of mucking out the stable he rerouted a river through it to flush it out.

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SobiTheRobot t1_j677rf5 wrote

To be fair, it was a nasty fucking stable. Heracles was just pioneering this revolutionary idea called "pressure washing".

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HeruAkhety t1_j67231j wrote

Christians. They were all viewed as Pagan artifacts. From another discovery at an ancient hot springs: "Tabolli told Ansa that the hot springs, rich in minerals including calcium and magnesium, remained active until the fifth century, before being closed down, but not destroyed, during Christian times. The pools were sealed with heavy stone pillars while the divine statues were left in the sacred water." source

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HaywireMans t1_j674mld wrote

Ancient artifacts covered by dirt over thousands of years, then someone builds a sewer on top of it, which leads to its discovery during maintenance?

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this-aint-Lisp t1_j67pkj9 wrote

When the Visigoths invade your city to plunder your gold and take your family into slavery, a 400 kilogram marble statue may not be on your list of priorities.

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Mechasteel t1_j67s2eu wrote

I mean a sewer would be the correct place to put Confederate statues, so they can receive the correct amount of honor. The Bible mentions using a statue as a latrine too. But this statue was found on an ancient road. Not in the sewer but while they were repairing the sewer.

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fantomen777 t1_j67i59i wrote

> Now who would throw away a statue in the sewer?

Pagan (demi) gods are no longer fashionable, look a convenient sewer hole to dump the statue in....

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J_Bard t1_j673xn1 wrote

Overthrow your rival? Deface his monuments and throw his statue in the sewer, make them forget his name. Only to end up preserving something of it.

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themattboard t1_j678hog wrote

Everybody gets to the point where they have too much stuff eventually, I guess

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YZJay t1_j688o5w wrote

Before it’s revival as the capital of the Roman Catholic Church, Rome was at one point, no man’s land, where settlers lived on the crumbling structures around them and lived whatever life they could scrounge up, not unlike a sci-fi dystopia. Those people were multiple generations removed from the age of Tiberius and Augustus and have little context to what Rome meant historically. Literacy was a luxury only afforded by Roman nobles, who lived in secluded castles clinging to whatever wealth they could cling to. The common folk used the stone and marble around them to build new buildings and houses. To them these were just resources to use.

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Swiss_cake_raul t1_j68u8bg wrote

This is such a fascinating period of history. I remember reading an article about the Roman colosseum during this period and it blew my mind.

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Joy2b t1_j69iuje wrote

Insecure politicians didn’t always love statues that looked too much like political enemies.

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KristinnEs t1_j66qj67 wrote

Sure, but they seem to have had a crapton of them just everywhere if archaeology is an indication

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_qoop_ t1_j68mu26 wrote

Having run through most of the History of Rome podcast, after an emperor went king Joffrey, after his assassination it was common to destroy works associated with him. Crushing, burning etc but the sewer was a popular place as well, especially for the corpses.

If I remember correctly, Commodus was a particularily despicable emperor who was obsessed with the idea of him being a reincarnation of Hercules. He started wearing garb like in the statue depicted as well as walking around with Hercules’ club.

The reason why he thought he was Hercules was because his handlers gave him disabled people to fight to the death so he could pretend to be a great gladiator.

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sub333x t1_j6bj3nm wrote

During the Christian period, pagan statues intentionally had heads/arms/legs removed, and thrown in the sewers. Sometimes it was while statues.

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