Lost statue of Roman emperor Caligula unveiled in Rome

A massive statue of the notorious Roman emperor Caligula sitting on an elaborate throne, has been unearthed from an illegal dig south of Rome.

Italian officials hope the piece will lead them to what may have been a palace owned by Caligula on volcanic Lake Nemi, reports the Telegraph.

The statue, which had been broken in several large pieces and a head, was first found last January when finance police stopped it from being smuggled out of the country by boat at a port near Rome.

The operation led to the arrest of two so-called ‘tomb raiders’ ?" those who dig up the countryside looking for archaeological treasures to sell on the black market.

But more importantly, the arrests led police to the site near Lake Nemi, just south of Rome, where Caligula was believed to have had one of his imperial residences.

Significantly, it shows a man wearing a "caliga," shoes worn by Roman legionaries and from where the emperor got his nickname. His real name was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

Caligula, who reigned from 37 to 41AD, has gone down in history as a crazed and power-hungry sex maniac who demanded that his horse, Incitatus, be made a consul.