The statue found in 1964 had long been believed to be that of a young Roman with connections to the royal family. But that theory has been quashed after a 3-D scan carried out last Thursday confirmed the marble head's uncanny likeness to the only two other remaining depictions of the disgraced emperor left in the world.

Curator of archaeology at the palace, Dr Rob Symmons, worked on the project with Bournemouth University lecturers Dr Miles Russell and Harry Manley.

He said: "This is exciting as it indicates there may have been links between the Chichester area and one of the most famous Roman emperors of all time.

"Obviously people here have known for some time it's an important piece, it's a technically well executed piece, it's of good Italian marble, but no-one has been able to identify necessarily who it is."

Dr Russell said the shape of the statue's eyes, a distinctive wisp of hair, the pouting expression, and the end of a laurel reef just visible by his ear, makes him certain it's a young depiction of Emperor Nero.

He added: "Given that it now seems to be Nero, it becomes an internationally significant find.

"It means that whatever was going on here before the palace was built, the earliest phases of civilian structure here, they had imperial sponsorship.

"It means that the pre-palace owners were one of the big movers and shakers within the early province of Roman Britain."

Fishbourne Roman Palace director Christine Medlock said: "This is fantastic news, not only for the team here at Fishbourne and at Bournemouth University, but also for the original team who worked on the excavation of the palace in the 60s.

"It also leads us to ask many more questions about whether Nero had personal links with Fishbourne."

Two of the best-known examples of the teenage Nero are preserved in the Museo Nazionale d'Antichita in Parma and the Musee du Louvre in Paris.

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Why was the statue damaged?

After his suicide most portraits of Nero as a young man were destroyed through a process called damnatio memoriae.
Damnatio memoriae is a Latin phrase literally meaning damnation of memory.
Dr Russell said: "Just before he died he had been made an enemy of the state because of his debauched lifestyle, because the people believed he was no longer interested in them, only his self glorification.
"So in AD 68, he was really a hunted man. He committed suicide and afterwards the Roman Senate decided they would eradicate him from history, they pretended he never existed, he became a non-person.
"So any portraits around the empire, around towns, outside forts, or in places like this would have been smashed up, defaced or buried.
"And given this is exactly what's happened to this, I think that further increases the probability that this is in fact the fifth emperor or Rome himself."
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How did the 3-D scan work?

Dr Russell said: "Effectively we want to move beyond just looking at photographs of the emperor.
"We want to be able to look at it from all angles under all lighting conditions, so by passing a laser across it we will be able to record the light reflections back on a sort of form of digital camera.
"We are able to get a series of images from all angles which we can then mesh together to create one image and be able to spin that through 360 degrees and be able to look at it from across different conditions.
"We are able to pick up points of damage where the original axe has smashed this portrait up and we can match that pretty confidently with other photographs of the portraits of the imperial family across the empire."

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The life of Emperor Nero, born 37 AD, died 68 AD.

He was the only surviving direct male descendant of the emperor Augustus through his mother Agrippina.

He had his mother and his first wife executed, he kicked his second wife to death, and had the husband of his third wife killed so he could marry her.

He lost a lot of support from the public after the great fire in 64 AD.

He was a lover of the arts and singing, and took to the stage on several occasions, but this was frowned upon.

The senate declared him a public enemy and he committed suicide on June 9, 68AD. Disputes over his succession led to civil war in Rome.





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