Images of 3D model of Marco Nonio Balbo at Herculaneum

Image of the 3D model of the statue of Marco Nonio Balbo in Ercolano. The Lorraine statue (covered with armour) was placed on the terrace at the entrance of the Thermal Suburbane, behind the altar dedicated to the deceased himself and was offered by the faithful freedman, Marco Nonio Volusiano. The statue was reconstructed by placing its head and base, found 65 years ago by Amedeo Maiuri. The body was found forty years later during the excavations of the ancient beach. For the recomposition of the original statue a fiberglass cast was used as a model. Marco Nonio Balbo was an eminent figure of Augustan age. Originally from Nuceria, but residing in Herculaneum, he was praetor and proconsul of the province of Crete and Cyrene, tribune of the plebs in 32 BC and partisan of Octavian. Following his munificence towards the city of Herculaneum (his works on walls, urban gates and in the basilica are epigraphically known), he was appointed patron and on his death he was awarded exceptional honours, summarized in the long inscription carved on the funerary altar raised at the center of the terrace adjacent to the Thermal Baths.