by Jane Sheehan
Parts of a giant marble sculpture depicting the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius have been found at an archaeological site on 20th August in Burdur near Aglasun in South West Turkey.
Fragments of the statue were unearthed at the ancient city of Sagalassos. So far the statue’s head, right arm and lower legs have been discovered.
Marcus Aurelius is remembered for his writings, and is considered one of the foremost Stoic philosophers.
That’s why I thought you’d find it interesting to know what the feet reveal... (click here).
Big toe pads indicate deep thinking—but they’re not as bulbous as I’d expect for a philosopher. The second toe is narrow at the base and goes wider at the tip which indicates an over-exaggeration in the way he expresses his feelings (think drama-queen tendencies). Big toe is very short which indicates a multi-tasker. Little toe is also shorter than expected in comparison to the other toes so that would indicate a well-developed sense of fun and an appreciation of the simple things in life.
Long necks to the toes indicate creative expression. The gap between big toe and second toe indicates delayed reactions to things. Logic and emotions are working separately and it’s best for the owner of such a gap to sleep on all decisions rather than make immediate decisions, because otherwise they’ll wake up the next day and think “oh no! Why did I say that, I wish I’d said this!”
The shoulder reflex (below little toe) is sloped indicating having big shoulders for other people to cry on. In other words, people are naturally drawn to him to share their problems.
Last year, the archaeological team led by Prof Marc Waelkens, from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, uncovered fragments of a colossal marble statue of the emperor Hadrian. Then in August this year, the researchers found a huge head and arm belonging to Faustina the Elder—wife of the emperor Antoninus Pius. They now think that the room hosted a gallery of sculptures depicting the Antonine dynasty - rulers of Spanish origin who presided over the Roman Empire during the second century AD.
Early on 20 August, a huge pair of marble lower legs, broken just above the knee, turned up in the debris. They were identified as the young Marcus Aurelius’s after his head was found. The whole statue would have stood about nearly 15ft tall (4.5m). The emperor wore exquisitely carved army boots decorated with a lion skin, tendrils and Amazon shields... which makes me wonder what Donna Sozio, the shoe reader, would make of that!
Quotes from Marcus Aurelius:
- “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart”
- “Be content to seem what you really are”
- “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not assume it impossible for anyone to accomplish”
- “Confine yourself to the present”
- “Do every act of your life as if it was your last”
- “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth”
- “How much more grievous the consequences of anger than the causes of it”
- “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live”
- “Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability”
- “Our life is what our thoughts make it”
- “Poverty is the mother of crime”
- “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane”
- “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”