Il Colosso - Barletta, Italy - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

The statue reportedly washed up on a shore, after a Venetian ship sank returning from the sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade in 1204, but it is not impossible that the statue was sent to the West much earlier. The identity of the Emperor is uncertain. According to tradition, it depicts Heraclius (reign 610–641 AD); though this is most unlikely on historical and art-historical grounds. More likely subjects are Theodosius II (reign 408–450 AD), who may have had it erected in Ravenna in 439, Honorius (reign 393–423 AD), Valentinian I (r. 364–375), Marcian (r. 450–457), Justinian I (r. 527–565) and especially Leo I the Thracian (r. 457–474).

The statue evidently depicts a bearded emperor, identifiable from his imperial diadem and his commanding gesture that invokes the act of delivering a speech, with his right arm raised, holding a cross. The Emperor wears a cuirass over his short tunic. His cloak is draped over his left arm in a portrait convention that goes back to Augustus. In his outstretched left hand he now holds an orb. His diademed head wears a Gothic jewel, similar to the one worn by Aelia Eudoxia, mother of Theodosius II.

Group that erected the marker: Municipality of Barletta URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Corso Vittorio Emanuele Barletta, BT Italy 76121

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