On coin portraits his name provides identification, but the artist had little scope for showing any noticeable difference between the features of Drusus the elder and those of Germanicus. Unfortunately Germanicus so closely resembled his father that it is all the more difficult for us to identify statues of him today. The portrait is either that of Tiberius’ brother, Drusus the elder, or of the latter’s son Germanicus. Once all comparative material has been studied only two choices seem possible. However, the features are obviously of someone closely related to Tiberius. This belief was later disproved by comparison with other portraits of this unfortunate ruler. At first the members of the expedition believed the portrait bust to represent the emperor Tiberius. The children of the imperial family were Livia’s by her first husband, Tiberius Claudius Nero. He was a Julio-Claudian, so called by reason of descent from both the Julian family of Caesar and the Claudian family into which Livia had married before becoming the wife of the emperor Augustus. The physical characteristics of the most important family in the Roman empire are easily recognizable in the broad forehead, the delicate but definitive chin, and the thin almost pursed lips. The ancient Romans knew the town as Minturnae and many entered its gates as transient guests en route to resorts, further south, for the heavily traveled Via Appia passed through Minturnae before crossing the river Liris not far from the seacoast.ĭuring the excavations, men digging in the remains of temple “B” uncovered fragments of a marble bust which when assembled produced a fine portrait head. Between 19 workmen under the direction of Jotham Johnson labored for the University Museum at a Roman site not far north of the Bay of Naples.
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