Bronze Horse Legs

Right and left hind legs of a horse, preserved up to shin height.

In 1932, the archaeologist Umberto Zanotti Bianco began the first systematic surveys in the Plain of Sybaris in order to identify the site of ancient Sybaris, which until then had been sought on the surrounding hills because of the marshy conditions of the plain—reclaimed only in the early 20th century.

In the area of the Semicircular Theatre, where excavations first began, Zanotti Bianco discovered two bronze horse legs belonging to an equestrian statue dating to the early Imperial period, possibly dedicated to a magistrate of the Roman municipium of Copiae. The archaeologist later recounted that the name Parco del Cavallo (“Horse Park”) was inspired precisely by this discovery. Subsequent excavations also yielded fragments of the rider’s drapery and the animal’s tail.