right Head of Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. AD 138-161). Marble from Göktepe (Turkey), c.AD 138-140.

Off with their heads! The emperors of Chiragan

One of the finest collections of Roman emperors is to be found far from Rome in the Musée Saint-Raymond in Toulouse. But where did they come from, and how did such a magnificent gathering of Roman emperors come to lose their heads? The late Roman Empire was a time of growing religious intolerance. In the East, a Christian mob destroyed the Serapeum temple at Alexandria: did a similar outburst of violence take place in south-western France? Andrew Selkirk investigates.

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Minerva Magazine

February 17, 2022

An exceptional collection of Roman statuary at the Musée Saint-Raymond, the archaeological museum of Toulouse in south-western France, was discovered at a very large and very difficult-to-explain Roman villa at Chiragan. Chiragan lies 60km south-west of Toulouse, near the village of Martres-Tolosane, on the banks of the River Garonne. The site of the villa became known in the 18th and 19th centuries when the first statues were unearthed. Several excavations in the 19th century culminated in a major investigation by Léon Joulin, who produced a fine report on the whole site and the surrounding area. Bust of Emperor Trajan (r. AD 98-117), from the Roman villa of Chiragan, south-western Fra

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