Posted on 11/14/2021 4:46:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Marcus Venerius Secundio died in his 60s decades before Mount Vesuvius’ eruption...
As Silvia Lambertucci reports for Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA), the skeleton, which still has hair and a partially visible ear, belonged to a man who died in his 60s in the decades leading up to Pompeii’s destruction.
Per a statement from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, experts discovered the remains at the necropolis of Porta Sarno, just east of the ancient city center. An inscription on the man’s tomb identifies him as Marcus Venerius Secundio, a formerly enslaved individual who later became a priest...
The skeleton shows signs of partial mummification, suggesting Secundio may have been embalmed before his burial, reports Reuters’ Crispian Balmer. Ancient Romans used certain textiles to preserve corpses, and scholars found scraps of what appear to be fabric in the tomb.
According to ANSA, the find is unique because the Romans typically cremated adults’ remains, reserving burials for young children and infants. Two funerary urns, one of which was labeled Novia Amabilis, or “kind wife,” were found in Secundio’s tomb, notes Stephanie Pappas for Live Science.
Secundio served as the custodian of Pompeii’s Temple of Venus upon gaining his freedom from slavery. Inscriptions on his tomb indicate that he led ludi, or theater performances, in both Latin and Greek, offering researchers confirmation that the languages were used alongside each other in Pompeii...
Since 2012, the Great Pompeii Project, an ongoing conservation initiative funded largely by the European Union, has unearthed a stunning array of treasures in the ancient city, from a snack bar that served snails and fish to a sorceress’ kit. To date, experts have exhumed about two-thirds of the 165-acre settlement.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
That is a *great* idea. Instead, we'll probably get 240 hz displays on cell phones.
Good point.
Looks like he didn’t need to do a combover.
It's the woke way of distinguishing between the only *real* slavery -- that of North America -- and the humane forms of the ancient world. /s
Brings to mind the island community in the film The Wicker Man.
ALOHA SNACKBAR!.................
Larks’ tongues?
Larks’ tongues, you say?
In aspic?...........................
I guess they were all out of Milk Duds.
I have an old book EROS IN POMPEII about that art. I would imagine all the Roman and Greek areas had such art on constant display.
Think of the early Christians and Jews who had to live their lives seeing public displays of that.
Is that 79 BC or 79 AD?
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