Museum reconstructs statue believed to have stood in Scotland

National Museums Scotland has reconstructed a monumental equestrian statue believed to have depicted Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, using a gilded bronze leg found in a Scottish bog. The museum’s new interpretation is that the statue once stood in Scotland, rather than the surviving fragment having been brought north after being looted from a site farther south.

The lower leg and booted foot, known as the Milsington leg, were discovered in a bog at Milsington in 1820. Dating to about 140 AD, it is the only known fragment of a monumental Roman emperor statue found in Scotland. The bronze has been incorporated into a replica that will feature in the National Museum of Scotland exhibition “Roman Scotland: Life on the Edge of Empire,” opening November 14 and running until April 18.

National Museums Scotland experts say research into Roman frontier sculpture makes a local origin more likely. Imperial statues were displayed at frontier forts, they said, and the fragment may have come from a statue of Antoninus Pius on horseback. The emperor ruled from 138 to 161 AD and directed a Roman campaign into southern Scotland, where forces built the Antonine Wall.