Archeologists have unearthed parts of a giant sculpture of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the ancient Turkish city of Sagalassos.

The exquisitely carved marble sculpture was found in the largest room of Sagalassos's Roman baths, high in the mountains of southern Turkey.

The cross-shaped room, covered in mosaics, was probably used as a frigidarium - a room with a cold pool which Romans could sink into after a hot bath, BBC reported.

According to team-director Professor Marc Waelkens of Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven they found the sculpture with its pupils gazing upwards "as if in deep contemplation, perfectly fitting of an emperor who was more of a philosopher than a soldier."

The Roman ruler, who reigned from 161 to 180 BC, was depicted in exquisitely carved and decorated army boots and his torso was probably covered in bronze armor filled with terracotta or wood.

Considered one of the leading Stoic philosophers, Marcus Aurelius is known as one of the so-called 'Five Good Emperors', along with Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius.

The team, which has been excavating the frigidarium for the past 12 years, has also unearthed parts of the statue of the emperor Hadrian and Faustina the Elder - wife of the emperor Antoninus Pius.

Waelkens and his colleagues now believe that the room housed a collection of sculptures depicting the Antonine dynasty, who ruled over the Roman Empire during the second century BC.

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