Roman Throne Found Amid Volcanic Debris

Dec. 5, 2007 -- A dig into the solidified mud of Herculaneum has yielded the first known example of an ancient Roman throne, Italian archaeologists announced on Tuesday.

Hailed as the most significant piece of wooden furniture ever discovered, the throne was entombed under 82 feet of volcanic mud by the same eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried the nearby towns of Pompeii and Stabiae in 79 A.D.

Archaeologists found it near the Villa of the Papyri, believed to have been the magnificent seafront retreat for Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Julius Caesar's father-in-law.

So-called because it has yielded a library of thousands of ancient papyri, the 30,000 square-foot villa has only been partially excavated. It is not yet clear if the throne belonged to Piso's residence or if it belonged to another house in Herculaneum and was brought near the Villa of the Papyri by the eruption.

"We are still excavating the area. We hope to find out more clues about this unique piece of furniture. This is really an exceptional find, the first original throne from Roman times that has survived until today.

"Before this discovery we had only seen this chair in artistic depictions," Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, Pompeii's archaeological superintendent, told Discovery News.