Police recover head of statue of Nero's mother stolen years ago from Pompeii
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Italian police have recovered a statue head believed to be of the mother of Roman emperor Nero — artwork that was stolen more than two decades ago from the ruins of Pompeii.
The announcement Thursday from the Carabinieri in the northern Italian city of Piacenza said a professional art trafficker had tried to sell the work but it was too well known to attract buyers.
Nero's mother, Agrippina the Younger, has been described as a ruthless, beautiful woman who in some historical accounts is said to have been killed by her own son in A.D. 59.
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Twenty years later, in A.D. 79, the city of Pompeii was destroyed by a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius.