THE CITY GENIUS OF CATANIA In 1770, Ignazio Paternò Castello, Prince of Biscari, excavating in the Roman theatre of Catania found the inscription on display here. The inscription records the dedication of a statue of the Genius, set up by the governor of Sicily. A few metres away the Prince discovered a marble torso, which he suggested belonged to the statue of the Genius. In his private museum he combined the torso of Hermes (Percorso romano no.4) with the head of Apollo (inv. 23) and a marble support in an imaginative reconstruction. Libertini (1937) argued that the torso was not contemporary with the inscription. Recently some scholars, while accepting this judgement, have renewed the suggestion of Biscari to identify the torso with the Genius of the city: the torso may have been reused and adapted in antiquity in order to assume the guise of the Genius, supported by a base on which was placed the inscription.
Re-elaboration of the torso found by Biscari.
Study of the head found by Biscari.
Hypothetical reconstruction of the bust of the Genius of Catania.
Head of Apollo, of the type "Musagetes" (leader of the Muses). Inv. 23. Marble. Second century AD. From the Biscari collection. Head of a youth wearing an olive wreath: examples of the type in the Vatican, Stockholm and London. The head was found by the Prince of Biscari during his excavations in the Roman theatre in 1771, in the area where he found the dedication to the Genius of Catania (inscription no.12) and a fragmentary marble torso (Percorso romano no.4). Biscari combined the head and the torso to create a statue of the Genius, but the two pieces come from separate statues (of Apollo and probably of Hermes): it is likely that both decorated the theatre.
