30/08/2026
A friend of mine was going through some photos of a trip to the UK and, as he always does, he takes hundreds of photos for my page. I just came across this beautiful 1st Century AD white marble of a Roman on horseback. It is on display outside in the Great Court of the British Museum. It is an interesting piece, as originally, prior to extensive cleaning, it was believed to be Caligula, but now academics believe it to be one of the younger Julio-Claudian heirs. If this is the case, which is plausible, as he wears nothing but a military Paludamentum.
This symbolic command cloak, clasped at the right shoulder, denoted the wearer as an extremely high-level commander in the war hierarchy or an Imperial heir in line to the rule. Being portrayed naked in Graeco-Roman sculpture was also representative of a deity or someone in the same symbolic level of importance, lending credibility that this is indeed a young heir. It is a beautiful piece and is in astonishing condition, standing two metres. The individual seems to be Germanicus.
He had an astonishing, accelerated political and military career, being Consul in 12 AD and Pro-Consul (Governor) of Germania and Gaul. From 14-16 AD, he commanded an amazing eight Legions and retrieved two of the three lost Aquila (Legionary Eagles) that were lost in the Teutoburg disaster. In 17 AD, he returned to Rome, receiving an enormous Military Triumph, and then embarked upon a campaign and succeeded in incorporating Commagene and Cappadocia in 18 AD.
On top of all this rapidly growing power base, he went to Syria in an attempt to reorganise issues that had arisen with the Governor, Piso. Unfortunately, Germanicus mysteriously became seriously unwell and died. The ancient sources state poisoning, and you don't have to look too hard to see Tiberius, who had only been Emperor for four years at this point, would have viewed Germanicus as the most charismatic, loved by his enormous number of troops, strong support in the Senate, etc as a definite threat to take the throne.
Unfortunately, we'll never know, but it's fairly clear. Germanicus solved five major problems for the Principate in just four years, so Tiberius probably thought that it was time for him to go.
See more photos in the comments section.
Dan & Lily's Roman History
