Colossus of Barletta
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The Colossus of Barletta is a bronze statue of an Eastern Roman emperor, more than twice life size (5.11 meters), placed in Barletta, Italy.
The legend says the statue washed up on a shore, after a Venetian ship sank returning from the 1204 sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, and that it represents Emperor Heraclius. Modern scholars think the statue should represent Theodosius II, even if Honorius has been also proposed with some success. An emperor is clearly depicted, identifiable from his imperial diadem and his commanding gesture that invokes the act of delivering a speech, with his right arm raised, now holding a cross, but probably originally wielding a labarum. The emperor wears a cuirass under 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 and in his right a sword. His diademed head wears a Gothic jewel, similar to the one worn by Aelia Eudoxia, mother of Theodosius II.
