Giant statue of Roman emperor once stood in southern Scotland

A gilded bronze lower leg and boot, discovered in a bog at Milsington near Hawick in 1820, has been reidentified as part of a large equestrian statue of Emperor Antoninus Pius that once stood in the Scottish Borders, according to new research from National Museums Scotland. For more than two centuries the fragment was assumed to be loot carried north from a site further south, possibly the Roman town of York (Eboracum).

A wider study of statue fragments from the Roman frontier showed that bronze imperial statues were erected in frontier forts, making it plausible the monument was originally located in Scotland. The top of the leg bears no cut marks and matches its original casting, suggesting the statue was deliberately dismantled by the Romans as they withdrew from southern Scotland in the 160s or 180s AD rather than destroyed by local people.

Curators concluded the statue most likely depicted Antoninus Pius on horseback, similar to the well-known equestrian statue of his successor Marcus Aurelius in Rome, because ancient sources say Pius paid particular attention to his Scottish victories. Dr Fraser Hunter, principal curator of Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology at National Museums Scotland, said the find "turns on its head our understanding of Rome's second attempt at conquering Scotland" and shows the importance Pius placed on those victories.

A reconstructed replica of the statue, incorporating the surviving leg, will go on display this weekend in the exhibition "Roman Scotland: Life on the Edge of Empire" at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The exhibition runs until 18 April 2027 and explores life on the frontier from the perspectives of soldiers, local communities, and the emperor who celebrated his conquest with a monumental gilded statue. The whereabouts of the rest of the statue remain unknown; pieces may still lie in the bog or have been melted down and reused.