There’s been a rash of articles recently announcing that Italian archaeologists have discovered a series of wooden boxes containing the imperial regalia of the Emperor Maxentius, which was apparently buried by his partisans at a sanctuary on the Palatine Hill in the hours following his defeat and death at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD/CE. The items were carefully – even lovingly -- buried, wrapped in linen and silk. Maxentius has had a terrible press, as a pagan Emperor who fought against Constantine, but this find shows that there were those who, for whatever reason, were devoted to him. I remember seeing a spectacular statue of him in the Museum in Ostia when I was there on my honeymoon almost 14 years ago. Maxentius was said to be cross-eyed; some have also thought that he is depicted in one of the floor mosaics found in the villa near Piazza Armerina in Sicily (one theory is that the villa was built by his father Maximian).