This rare bronze head would originally from a full-length statue. It probably stood in a public space such as a forum, and may have been put there to commemorate Hadrian’s visit to Britain and Roman London in 122 CE. Hadrian travelled extensively throughout the Empire, and imperial visits generally gave rise to rebuilding programmes of cities.
Hadrian was emperor from 117 to 138 and is famous in Britain for ordering the building of a wall eighty miles long across the country, the north-western extremity of the Roman empire
Number:
530
Material:
Bronze
Location of Original:
London, British Museum
Size:
0.43m
References:
Macdonald: JRS XVI (1926), pl.1
Walters, HB: British Museum Select Bronzes, pl. LXII
Date:
Early C2 CE
Provenance:
Found in the River Thames near London Bridge in 1834
