Excavations in Soli have been ongoing since 2015 (see: A two-month project to excavate the city of Soli), and each year, more remains of buildings, walls, and statues reach the news.
The most recent
find appears to be the bust of a Roman Emperor or another high-placed nobleman.
Based on the style of his curly full beard, he has been dated to the 2nd-3rd
century AD. Emperor Hadrian, who visited
After Hadrian, Roman men were generally depicted with a beard, and many of the successive emperors followed suit.
The bust was recovered near the colonnade street and may have belonged to one of the statues that stood on the plinth of one of these columns.
The near life-size head has been transferred to the Museum in Mersin, which holds many of the recent finds.
