All of Italy is crazy about an almost 2000 year old stone found in Rome.
Rome – An antique stone causes a lot of excitement all over Italy *. It comes from the year 49 AD. At that time it was used as a boundary stone, or as the ancient Romans called it: a Pomerium Cippus. He marked the borders of Rome, the center of the Roman Empire, which at that time comprised the entire Mediterranean area. Emperor Claudius probably had it erected when he had the borders of the capital expanded.
It is the first time in almost a century that such a stone has been found, and the discovery sparked a “real media rush” on the US portal Daily Beast. This is probably due to the fact that ancient letters were found on the stone, which were probably invented in the first century AD. Claudius himself is said to have introduced these mysterious signs and even wrote a book about their use. However, the letters could not prevail and were forgotten. Until now.
Italy: Mysterious stone found in the center of Rome
The boundary that stones like this once marked was called pomerium. One of their functions was that soldiers were not allowed to cross them with weapons. This was to prevent a military coup against the Roman Republic and to ensure that Rome * could not be taken by one of its powerful generals with their huge armies. Foreign rulers were also not allowed to enter the Pomerium, which led to embarrassing moments when the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra visited Caesar and Rome, but was not allowed to enter the city center at all. “It was the realization of the Pomerium that initiated the [actual] founding of the city of Rome,” said Claudio Parisi Presicce, director of the Archaeological Museum in Rome, quoted by the Washington Post.
According to the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, the stone was found in the center of Rome – albeit by chance. Workers actually wanted to lay a new water pipe below the Augusto Imperatore square. They had come across the ancient boundary stone. Since Friday it has been exhibited for the first time in the Ara Pacis Museum in the Italian capital.
Stone found in Italy is fascinating
“This is an extraordinary find: in the course of time only ten other stones of this type from the time of Claudius were found, and the last one so far was discovered in 1909, over a century ago,” said Virginia Raggi, Mayor of Rome *. According to Dr. Lisa Marie Mignone, scientist at the Institute for Ancient Research at the University of New York, explained its proximity to the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus. Burials were only allowed outside the city for fear of illness. But the location of the stone allows the conclusion that Augustus was buried within the former Pomerium.
A report on the find, which is to be published shortly, should bring more conclusions. But even before this report was published, the find was making a large part of the headlines – and was inspiring tourists to Italy as a holiday destination *. (Daniel Dillmann) * fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
