A newly found statue in Rome appears to depict a slain Roman emperor dressed as Hercules.

It may offer insight to the viewpoint of a Roman emperor who embraced traditional Greco-Roman gods at a time when Christianity was spreading throughout the empire.

Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, also known as Emperor Decius, ruled for only two years, between A.D. 249 and 251, before he and his son were killed by the Goths during the Battle of Abritus in A.D. 251 in what is now Bulgaria.

The statue was found near the Via Appia (“Appian Way”), a major road that connected Rome to Brundisium (Brindisi) in southern Italy. It was discovered in a trench near a sewer duct in Parco Scott, a park in Rome, archaeologists from the Parco Archeologico dell’ Appia Antica said in a statement posted(opens in new tab) on Facebook. The statue had probably been placed in the trench sometime in the past 100 years, the team said in the statement.

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(Image credit: Photo courtesy Parco Archeologico dell’Appia Antic)