'Mini Pompeii' discovered under Vatican car park
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Terracotta vases in an ancient necropolis unearthed at the Vatican [Credit: AP] |
An ustrinum was also found along the path which divided the necropolis in two. This was the site of the funeral pyre, marked by overlapping layers of terracotta and earth deposits, with coal fragments, pine kernels and combusted pine cones, used to light the pyre. Above the ustrinum, excavators found some simple pits which had been dug into the earth, for ground burials.
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Black-and-white mosaic flooring uncovered in the ancient site [Credit: AP] |
The numerous inscriptions have made it possible to reconstruct a historical-social fabric that was unknown until today. Indeed, the more grandiose tombs belonged to imperial freedmen who were quite well off but of whom no memory remained. The Natronii family stands out in this group. In this family’s tomb (20-40 B.C.), excavators discovered a complete marble portrait of Tiberius Natronius Zmaracdis, aged 4 years, 4 months and 10 days. In his stele, he appears good looking, according to his mother Natronia Sinphyle’s wishes; so good looking in fact that his parents named him Venustus, despite the expression of melancholy on his face.
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Grave stelae found at the site [Credit: romeguide] |
This noble character, who according to some sources was assassinated by his august wife, had a great number of properties which Agrippina inherited and eventually became part of the imperial estate. “One could ask, at this stage, whether the Horti Agrippinae, which are said to be located near the Vatican, are part of this estate,” “L’Osservatore Romano” pointed out.
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The Roman necropolis of the Via Triumphalis [Credit: romeguide] |
Alcimus was one of Nero’s servants; he worked as a stage designer in the Theatre of Pompey. This is why he appears with a chisel in his hand, surrounded by the tools of his trade: the set square, compasses, a level and a surveyor’s cross. Two women of Ancient Rome, two wives, who with their love, devotion and the esteem they felt for their husbands, made it possible for us to learn about two individual artists who were rarely mentioned in historical accounts of that era.
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Roman sarcophagus found at the site [Credit: romeguide] |
However, one need only go a few metres down into the opening that has been created between the Vatican car park and the new multifunctional Santa Rosa building (where the head offices of the Vatican Telephone Service are located) to go back in time two thousand years. “It is like finding oneself before a mini Pompey in cemetery form, because it is possible to reconstruct whole chunks of daily “funerary” life, which had previously been interrupted and forgotten about,” Giandomenico Spinola, curator of the Greek and Roman Antiquity section of the Vatican Museums, told “L’Osservatore Romano”.
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Plan of the Santa Rosa/Via Triumphalis necropolis in Rome [Credit: flickr/melissa hargis] |
The excavations that are under way have made it possible to connect two sections of the same Necropolis, which has now been transformed into one large single museum space, over one thousand square metres big. The Pope’s newspaper underlined that “the Necropolis, which dates back to the early imperial era, extends along the Vatican hill’s north eastern side, near the Magna Mater sanctuary and some imperial gardens that belonged to Agrippina. There were also some mansions present in the area. Caligola built a naumachia for these and Gaianum built a circus for chariot drivers to practice. This was later restored by Nero. According to tradition, this was the circus where Peter suffered martyrdom.”
Author: Giacomo Galeazzi | Source: Vatican Insider/La Stampa [December 08, 2011]
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