Temple of Quirinus Found?

Assorted outlets in the Italian press are mentioning the excavation of a sculpture, identified as a maenad, from a depth of 27 metres, on the Quirinal. It is thought to date from the third century A.D. and archaeologists involved in the dig think they have found the site of the Temple of Quirinus and are sitting on a “gold mine”. This appears to be adding weight to Andrea Carandini’s suggestion some five years ago that the temple’s remains were in the gardens of the Quirinal Palace (see: Temple of Quirinus?).  It would have been kind of nice if they had held off the original reporting of this (on February 14th) to February 17th, which would have coincided with the ancient date of the Quirinalia, which presumably would have happened in the area as well, but oh well …

Il Messagero has the best coverage, including  brief (unembeddable, alas) video which show the sculpture that was brought out (not quite sure how it is being identified as a maenad, other than the fact that it seems to be nude):

• Un tesoro nascosto sotto il Quirinale: statua a 27 metri di profondità (Il Messaggero)

… the video, in case you missed it, is here.

More coverage:

• Trovata una Menade sotto il Quirinale (Il Tempo)

• Archeologia: Godart, sotto il Quirinale c’e’ una miniera d’oro (Libero)

For info on the Temple of Quirinus:

• Sacellum et Aedes Quirini (Platner and Ashby via Lacus Curtius)

• Quirinus, Aedes(Richardson)