A collection of three ear-shaped votive offerings unearthed at San Casciano dei Bagni.Credit: Emanuele Mariotti/SABAP-SI
Posted on 08/12/2022 8:35:00 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Rare items believed to have been used as votive offerings to the gods -- including so-called fertility statuettes shaped like a phallus, a womb and a pair of breasts -- have been dug out from the site's mud. So have 3,000 ancient coins, 700 of which are freshly minted -- and still shiny. In the second century AD, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Carus had the coins thrown into the baths to honor gods watching over his health, as well as that of all Romans traveling to San Casciano for thermal treatment...
During Etruscan and Roman times, womb-shaped votive offerings were usually made with terracotta. A bronze one found at San Casciano -- which would have been very expensive to commission -- is the first of its kind, said Tabolli, and serves as proof of how important this thermal site was...
The excavation site currently features one Etruscan pool, which at eleven meters long and five meters deep is known as the "big bath," and five smaller Roman pools where hot water still flows in at a pace of some 2,000 gallons per minute. There are ruins of fountains and statues alongside travertine stone altars to the god of prophecy and medicine, Apollo, the goddess of fertility, Isis, and the goddess of the first born, Fortuna Primigenia.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
A collection of three ear-shaped votive offerings unearthed at San Casciano dei Bagni.Credit: Emanuele Mariotti/SABAP-SI
[snip] MARCUS AURELIUS CARUS, Roman emperor A.D. 282-283, was born probably at Narbona (more correctly, Narona) in Illyria, but was educated at Rome. He was a senator, and had filled various civil and military posts before he was appointed prefect of the praetorian guards by the emperor Probus, after whose murder at Sirmium he was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers. Although Carus severely avenged the death of Probus, he was himself suspected of having been an accessory to the deed. He does not seem to have returned to Rome after his accession, but contented himself with an announcement of the fact to the senate. Bestowing the title of Caesar upon his sons Carinus and Numerianus, he left Carinus in charge of the western portion of the empire, and took Numerianus with him on the expedition against the Persians which had been contemplated by Probus. Having defeated the Quadi and Sarmatians on the Danube, Carus proceeded through Thrace and Asia Minor, conquered Mesopotamia, pressed on to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and carried his arms beyond the Tigris. But his hopes of further conquest were cut short by his death. One day, after a violent storm, it was announced that he was dead. His death was variously attributed to disease, the effects of lightning, or a wound received in a campaign against the Huns; but it seems more probable that he was murdered by the soldiers, who were averse from further campaigns against Persia, at the instigation of Arrius Aper, prefect of the praetorian guard. [/snip]
https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/c/marcus_aurelius_carus.html
Is this some kind of Ferengi pornography?
:^) The Ferengi wouldn’t have left all that gold.
“This one, capiche?”
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