A fourth-century BC ancient Greek statue caught in a trawler’s nets off Sicily five years ago went on display in Rome yesterday. Some historians think it could be a work by Praxiteles. Italian antiquities officials believe the satyr came from an ancient shipwreck containing other Greek artworks, several of which could still be lying on the seabed, 500 meters deep.

ROME - Romans flocked to see a 2,400-year-old bronze Greek satyr that went on public display in the Italian Parliament yesterday, five years after it emerged from the bottom of the sea in a Sicilian fisherman’s net.

One of the most important archaeological finds in Italy in recent years, the 2-meter-high, 108-kilo (237-pound) statue was placed on display after a painstaking four-and-a-half year restoration by experts in Rome who added an internal steel frame to help it stand upright.

It will remain on display until June 2 at the Montecitorio building, which houses the Italian Chamber of Deputies. It will then go on permanent display in the Sicilian fishing port of Mazara del Vallo, close to where it was caught in the nets of a local trawler in March 1998. A year before, the same vessel had snagged the statue’s leg from the same part of the seabed between Sicily and Tunisia. Experts say the statue, recovered 80 kilometers (50 miles) offshore at a depth of 500 meters, is most likely a fourth-century BC Greek work, possibly by Praxiteles. (Combined reports)