Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Solved the Mystery of This Marble Statue. Its Subject Was a Woman Who Might Have Helped an Ancient City Achieve Political Freedom

The marble sculpture, discovered at Chersonesos Taurica in Crimea in 2003, has been identified as a woman named Laodice

Ella Feldman | Daily Correspondent

September 23, 2025

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More than two decades ago, archaeologists excavating the ancient site of Chersonesos Taurica, outside of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, discovered a rare marble statue depicting an unidentified matron’s head. Now, researchers have solved the mystery of this ancient Roman woman’s identity.

In a paper published in the journal npj Heritage Science last month, the authors identified the sitter as Laodice, an elite woman who belonged to one of the most influential families in Chersonesos during the second century C.E.

According to UNESCO, Chersonesos was founded as a Greek colony in the fifth century B.C.E. It later became an “outpost of the Roman and Byzantine Empires” and was one of the “remotest point of contacts between the Mediterranean civilizations and the ‘barbarian’ population of southeastern Europe.”

A Ukrainian-Polish archaeological expedition led by Elena Klenina and Andrzej B. Biernacki (who also serve as co-authors of the new study) discovered the statue of Laodice in 2003. The researchers were tasked with excavating an ancient residential house in the western part of Chersonesos. They unearthed a Chersonesos coin, a ceramic altar featuring the gods Artemis and Apollo, and a number of ceramics dating as far back as the fourth century B.C.E.

The team’s most mysterious discovery was the marble likeness of a woman’s head, which appeared to have been separated from a full-body sculpture. The artwork depicted an older woman with an oval face, elongated eyes and an elegant Hellenistic hairstyle. It was immediately clear to the archaeologists that the statue was significant.

“The marble sculpture portrait in question was initially unearthed in an immaculate state of preservation, the first find of this type firmly embedded within a clear archaeological context,” write the authors in the paper.

Researchers used an interdisciplinary approach to learn more about the statue. Radiocarbon dating and isotope analysis determined that the marble came from the Greek island of Paros, while a traceological analysis of tool marks determined that the sculptor used 11 different tools.

The key to the woman’s identity was an inscription on a pedestal, which was rediscovered in the archives of the Odessa Archaeological Museum in Ukraine, reports Artnet’s Richard Whiddington.

The pedestal matches the statue’s style and provenance. Per historical records, only one statue was erected in Chersonesos in honor of a woman at the time, so researchers were able to connect the two marble fragments.

According to the pedestal’s inscription, Laodice was the daughter of Heroxenos. She was married to Titus Flavius Parthenokles, whose family was one of the most powerful in Chersonesos. Throughout his career, Titus Flavius held numerous positions in the city’s government.

The researchers believe that Laodice may have played a role in Chersonesos obtaining the highly sought-after status of eleutheria around 140 C.E. This status granted the ancient city the independence to administer its own affairs, issue currency and collect taxes. The paper’s authors “cautiously assume” that Laodice’s role in achieving self-governance inspired the city to erect a statue in her honor with a laudatory inscription.

In its entirety, the statue likely stood around six and a half feet tall, suggesting that it was created for public celebration and display.

The discovery of Laodice’s identity and her role in ancient Chersonesos has greater implications for how historians understand this era of the Roman Empire, the study’s authors argue.

“The findings of this study have demonstrated that matrons exercised significant influence and played an active role in political life, both within the confines of Rome and beyond its borders in the first centuries [C.E.],” the paper concludes.

Ella Feldman | Read More

Ella Feldman is a journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in NPR, Washington City Paper, DCist and more.