The Colossus of Barletta is a bronze statue of a Late AntiqueRoman emperor, more than twice life size (5.11 meters) that washed up on the shores of Barletta, Apulia, on the Adriatic, after a ship sank returning from the 1204 sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade.
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. Which emperor is unknown, for individual portrait characteristics were fading before the iconic imagery of an idealized military emperor, and the Colossus has been identified with various 5th century Emperors of the East. 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.
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