New Discovery of Ancient Sacred Baths – History Blog

Excavations at an ancient thermal spring sacred to the Etruscans and Romans at San Casciano dei Bagni, near Siena in central Italy, continued this year with the discovery of exceptional ancient rituals. Taste. Four new bronze statues, plus bronze arms, head, legs, a small bronze bull, a gold crown, a gold ring, precious stones, amber, Etruscan and Latin inscriptions, complete Whole eggs and a stunning bronze snake nest. In 2022, when the discovery of 24 bronze votive statues was announced, it was the largest group of ancient Italian bronze statues ever discovered, with approximately 6,000 coins discovered to date. This number has now increased to more than 10,000 Roman coins from the Republican and Imperial periods.

The newly discovered special inscriptions are in Etruscan and Latin. The Etruscan names “Chiusi” and “Cleusi” appear on the ballot, as well as devotions to nymphs and hot springs, the Etruscan Flere Havens, and oaths to the emperor’s wealth and genius. One particular naked male body was cut in half with precision, as if surgically cut from the neck to the genitals. A half-body dedicated to a hot spring by Gaius Roscius may attest to the healing properties of body parts immortalized in bronze. A little diviner, a minor priest from the end of the 2nd century BC, with a long inscription in Etruscan on his right leg, holding a ball in his left hand with a classic pentagon sewn on it, the ball still in his Spinning between fingers: perhaps a divination element, rotating through the ritual. The posture of the sacrificer is represented by a female statue that is almost identical to the one discovered in 2022, with elegant braids falling on the chest and placed to one side. The votive head is an elegant primitive imperial portrait, with the first Latin dedication on the neck of the head, its features almost reminiscent of Julius Caesar, who also mentioned the thermal springs.

Between June and October this year, a team of more than 80 archeology students from around the world worked alongside professional archaeologists and international researchers from multiple disciplines. The excavation area of ​​the Great Baths was expanded and the team dug deeper than ever before. Thousands of egg fragments and several whole eggs were found, with the yolk still visible inside, proving that the offerings were quickly and deliberately layered. Eggs, a symbol of new life and rebirth, alternate with travertine stone flakes, clay and plant artifacts, including pine cones and branches trimmed and twined with plant material.

Then the snake came. At the base of a series of large wooden trunks planted vertically in the oldest basin, nearly 16 feet above the water, archaeologists found an entire layer of bronze snakes of various shapes and sizes with different scale patterns, descended from a small grass snake. The three Roman feet long bearded and crested snake represents the Agato demon, a patron of good luck and plays an important role in divination. It is the largest Agatha snake ever found. Depictions of the Agathon demon are common in the Lararium (temple) frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum, often reaching up to eat altar offerings, including fruit, eggs, and pinecones, which are associated with snakes above The organic offerings found in hundreds of layers are identical.

This video (without audio) from the Ministry of Culture shows, among other discoveries, the Agato demon and the extraordinary child diviner, with the ball still spinning in his hands.