1800-year-old Roman Goddess Venus Statue in Zadar Discovered at Future Hotel Site

A statue of the Roman goddess Venus was found on the construction site of a future hotel in the center of Zadar, about a meter high, preserved from the knees to below the chest, made of marble, and about 1800 years old, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.

"Academician Nenad Cambi, our greatest expert on antiquity, believes that it is most likely a statue of the goddess Venus. Its full height was about two meters, and it was probably on a pedestal in the atrium of this ancient urban villa where we are now," said Smiljan Gluščević.

A statue of the Roman goddess of beauty, love, fertility, and sexuality was found at a depth of about two meters, and stone fragments of a large base, most likely a crown, were discovered in the immediate vicinity...

As soon as Venus was taken out of the earth, it was clear to archaeologists that they had discovered a "sensation." It was immediately separated from other artifacts and transferred to the depot of the Homeland Museum in Biograd na Moru. An agreement was signed on the disposal of all finds at the investigation site...

The location of the villa and the details of the mosaic coincided with the results of research by Professor Boris Ilakovac 60 years ago. Before constructing the neighboring building of Božidar Rašica, he researched the foundations of buildings demolished during and after the Second World War.

Professor Ilakovac found two villas in a row there; they touched each other's outer walls and had an identical mosaic decoration in the atrium. All this tells us that here, a hundred meters from the ancient Forum, several representative residential buildings were later, possibly in the early Middle Ages, demolished and only now being revealed in their full beauty.

The masonry from the Circus Maximus (which started out with wood risers/bleachers for the crowds, replaced after the 1st c AD great fire) probably got carted off for construction. That was a problem even during the imperial period, a continual series of prohibitions on using public buildings as quarries was issued. The coliseum was rebuilt at least once after a quake I think.

The short answer is: earthquakes and popes, in that order.

For much more on the life and death of the Colosseum - and many other fascinating facts about the classical world - check out my book “Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants: Frequently Asked Questions about the Ancient Greeks and Romans.”
What happened to the missing half of the Colosseum? | February 6, 2021 | toldinstone

We owe the Roman poet Martial a debt of gratitude for recording so vividly the gladiatorial battle that took place on the opening day of the Colosseum. It was a battle for the ages - with an unexpected outcome. From the Series: Eight Days That Made Rome.
The Story Behind the Colosseum's Greatest Battle | February 8, 2019 | Smithsonian Channel

The Pantheon in Rome was converted to a church, and was in its day and remains to this day the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Other than missing statuary, it wouldn't have been profitable to demolish it, not really any bldg materials that could be recycled.

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