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The Statue of Caligula in Nemi: the Bronze Face of the Emperor of the Ships
The herm (ancient statue) of Caligula stands at the corner of the Corso (high street) and Piazza Umberto I, in the historic centre of Nemi, in the Castelli Romani. This bronze work by the sculptor Luciano Mastrolorenzi was created in 2008 using the lost-wax process. The eyes are in silver and onyx. The face is modelled on the few ancient coins that survived the damnatio memoriae, the condemnation to oblivion imposed by the Roman Senate on the emperor after his death.
An Inscription in Runic Characters
Beneath the head is an inscription in runic characters, the alphabet of the ancient Germanic peoples, recalling the mythological origins of the place. It is an unusual but recognisable hallmark of Mastrolorenzi: the same detail also appears in his Fountain of the Gorgon, a little further along the Corso.
The Emperor and the Lake
Caligula was born in Antium on 31 August AD 12, and reigned from AD 37 to 41. His story is inextricably bound to Nemi: on the northern shore of the lake he had two enormous ships built, each more than 70 metres long. One served as a floating palace, the other as a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. Adorned with marbles, mosaics and bronzes, they were sunk after his death, and lay on the lake bed for nearly two thousand years, until they were pulled out of the waters between 1929 and 1931. Mastrolorenzi's herm commemorates that bond between the emperor and the stretch of water that the Romans called Speculum Dianae.
