Ludovisi Throne

National Roman Museum Palazzo Altemps

Perhaps part of a throne for an enormous statue, balustrade for a stairway or the upper part of a building, the piece was found in  1887 in the area of  Villa Ludovisi, on the Esquiline Hill, which in those years was subdivided into parcels, but once was home to the gardens of Sallust. The subject is thought to be the birth of Venus from the sea and for this reason it has been connected to the Temple of Venus which was also in the same part of the city.