The Sarmatian connection of Marcus Aurelius

The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius is one of the most iconic sights in Rome. Made of bronze, the statue is 4.24 meters tall and has been on display at the Piazza del Campidoglio since the mid-16th century. The statue currently in the square is a replica made in 1981, while the original is kept in the Capitoline Museums. The saddle cloth of the horse is actually Sarmatian in origin, suggesting that the horse is a Sarmatian horse and that the statue was created to honour the victory over the Sarmatians by Marcus Aurelius, after which he adopted "Sarmaticus" to his name.

The statue was erected around 175 AD. Its original location is debated, though the site where it had originally stood had been converted into a vineyard during the early Middle Ages. It is believed that an equestrian statue of Constantine had stood beside the Arch of Septimius Severus and was likely taken on the orders of the emperor Constans II during his visit to Rome in 663. With its removal, the people eventually mistakenly identified Marcus Aurelius's statue as Constantine's. In 1474, the statue remained on public view in the Campus Lateranensis on a pedestal provided by Pope Sixtus IV.

In 1538, by order of Pope Paul III, it was moved to the Piazza del Campidoglio during Michelangelo's redesign of the hill to remove it from the main traffic of the square. Although Michelangelo disagreed with the central positioning, he designed a pedestal for it. In 1981, work began on producing a replica of the statue for outdoor display using digital image files for reference and a laser beam to ensure accurate measurements.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons