New focus on the imperial portrait from the Early Christian necropolis of Tarragona

Abstract

A new study is presented about an imperial portrait, discovered during an excavation in the Early Christian necropolis in the twenties of last century. It had been identified as a portrait of Trajan, but we accept the new interpretation (by D. Ojeda) of identifying it as a portrait of Claudius, recarved from an image of Caligula. Finally, some considerations are given about the original context of the piece.