In the Middle Ages, when many ancient bronze and marble statues were melted down, burned, or reused in other ways, the Marcus Aurelius was spared.   The statue was part of the Papal collection of antiquities kept at the church of Saint John Lateran.

The Papcy protected the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius because it had been mistakenly identified as a representation of the fourth-century emperor, Constantine, who legalized Christianity.