Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – An ancient Roman sculpted portrait of an unidentified woman was discovered in a residential house in the western section of Chersonesos Taurica, located in the southwestern region of the Crimean Peninsula, present-day Sevastopol, Ukraine. The woman’s identity remained a mystery—until now.
Identifying Roman portraits, especially those discovered in remote provinces or outside the Roman Empire, where written sources are scarce, poses a significant challenge. To overcome these difficulties, researchers use interdisciplinary methods to study ancient sculptures. These approaches help determine the age and origin of the material and can potentially link the artifact to a specific historical figure.
A The special plan of the residence in block LV (drawn by E. Klenina and P. Peresvetov). B The 3D reconstruction of the residence (created by M. Markgraf). C A semi-cellar of room No. 16. D The marble head at the stratigraphic level during the moment of uncovering, the view from the southeast (photograph by A. B. Biernacki).
A research team from Poland and Spain adopted a comprehensive strategy that combined historical and art historical analysis with spectral-isotopic and traceological techniques. This multifaceted approach enabled them to identify the individual commemorated by the sculpture found at Chersonesos Taurica.
The Dorian Greek city was established in 422/421 BC, replacing an earlier Greek settlement that dated back to the late sixth century BC. By the last quarter of the second century BC, Chersonesos had gained strategic importance for Rome, serving as a key transit point for moving Roman troops to Asia Minor. In recognition of its significance, Rome granted Chersonesos a special political status called eleutheria, making it a free Grecian city and an ally of the Roman Empire. Despite this autonomy, real authority rested with wealthy families closely connected to Rome. The actions of local officials led to an increase in political, economic, and military dependence on Rome—a relationship reflected in daily life and extending into cultural and spiritual spheres.
The earliest known description of Chersonesos’s ruins comes from Marcin Broniewski, who visited during a diplomatic mission in 1578. His account is one of the first detailed records about Crimea and the northern Black Sea coast in modern European history. Archaeological interest began much later; excavations began in 1827, focusing on uncovering early Christian relics.
Despite nearly two centuries of exploration at Chersonesos, research into portrait sculpture has been limited due to significant challenges such as extensive fragmentation and a lack of precise archaeological context for most finds. To date, only five fragments of marble portrait sculptures have been discovered at the site. Notably, one marble sculpture portrait was recently found exceptionally well-preserved—the first example from Chersonesos unearthed within a clearly defined archaeological context—marking an important milestone for further study in this field.
Laodice, The Wife Of Titus Flavius Parthenocles
A recent study by scientists from Poland and Spain has identified an ancient marble sculpture of a woman’s head as a portrait of Laodice, a Roman woman who lived during the first centuries CE. The researchers made this connection after examining the sculpture, which a Polish-Ukrainian archaeological expedition discovered in 2003 in the Chersonesos Taurica region (present-day Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine). They determined that the face likely depicts Laodice, who was married to Titus Flavius Parthenocles—a city council member and representative of one of Chersonesos’s most influential families.
Illustrations of the sculpture of the head of a woman (photographs by A.B. Biernacki).
Professor Elena Klenina from the Faculty of History at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan led the research team. She had long suspected that this marble head represented a person of high social status, based on its craftsmanship and the excavation site’s context. However, “a detailed, interdisciplinary analysis was needed to confirm this hypothesis,” she said. This new identification offers valuable insight into both local history and Roman-era portraiture.
The researchers conducted a comprehensive examination of the sculpture using several scientific and analytical techniques. These included spectral-isotopic analysis of the marble to determine its origin, wear testing to assess the sculptor’s skill level, carbon-14 dating, and materials science studies of the layers on the head’s surface. Additionally, a stylistic analysis was performed by an art historian from Spain, complemented by historical and epigraphic analyses to provide further context and understanding.
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“The use of interdisciplinary methods in research allowed us to not only determine the date and provenance of the material, but also link the sculpture to a specific historical figure,” Professor Klenina explained and added that in the first centuries CE, “Roman women played an active role in political life both within the Roman Empire and beyond its borders.”
The identification was made by scientists from Poznań, the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
The study was published in the journal Nature
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer