While repairing the sewer system under a park in Rome, an ancient Roman statue of Hercules, likely dating from the Roman Imperial period (27 BC to AD 476), was found.

"This place gave us a big surprise: a life-size marble statue. "Because of the club and the lion's skin cloak, we know that it is a figure representing Hercules," the Archaeological Park of Appia Antica announced on Facebook.

The statue was discovered during work on sewer pipes that collapsed causing ravines and landslides. The workers excavated at a depth of 20 meters and their activities, as often happens in Rome, were monitored by archaeologists, it says "The Guardian".

Such findings are not surprising for the area of ​​Italy, the cradle of the wooden Roman Empire. Last November, an incredible group of bronze statues were discovered that had been preserved in the mud for thousands of years. Archaeologists have discovered 24 statues under the mud ruins of an ancient bath in San Cassiano dei Bagni, a hilltop town in the province of Siena.

The statues depict Hygieia, Apollo and other Greco-Roman gods and are estimated to be around 2300 years old. Most of the statues found under the baths, along with about 6.000 bronze, silver and gold coins, date between the 2nd century BC. and 1st century AD. During that period, the area passed from Etruscan to Roman rule.