News from Italy
An important discovery
24 intact Etruscan and Roman bronze statues have been found
Vita gazette – Protected for 2300 years by mud, a votive deposit never seen before has re-emerged from the excavations of San Casciano dei Bagni, in Tuscany, with over 24 highly refined bronze statues, five of which almost a meter high, all intact and perfect state of conservation.
Italy has once again proved to be a country of enormous and unique treasures. Lying on the bottom of the large Roman basin, the beautiful young ephebe seems to be sleeping. Next to him is Hygieia, the goddess of health who was the daughter or wife of Asclepius, a snake coiled on her arm. A little further on, still partially submerged by water, you can see Apollo and then again divinities, matrons, children, emperors. Protected for 2300 years from the mud and boiling water of the sacred basins, a votive deposit never seen before has re-emerged from the excavations of San Casciano dei Bagni, in Tuscany, with over 24 bronze statues of very refined workmanship, five of which almost a meter high, all intact and in perfect condition.
Probably made by local artisans, the 24 newly found statues can be dated between the 2nd century BC and the 1st after. The sanctuary, with its bubbling pools, sloping terraces, fountains, altars, existed at least since the third century BC. and remained active until the fifth century AD, when in Christian times it was closed but not destroyed, the tanks sealed with heavy stone columns, the deities entrusted with respect to water. It is also for this reason that, having removed that cover, the archaeologists found themselves in front of a treasure that is still intact, in fact. the largest deposit of statues in ancient Italy and in any case the only one of which they could fully reconstruct the context.
Arranged in part on the branches of a huge tree trunk fixed to the bottom of the tank, in many cases covered with inscriptions, the statues as well as the countless ex-votos, come from the great families of the territory and beyond, exponents of the elites of the world Etruscan and then Roman, landowners, local lords, wealthy classes of Rome and even emperors. Here, surprisingly, the language of the Etruscans seems to survive much longer than the canonical dates of history, just as the Etruscan knowledge in terms of medicine seems to be recognized and accepted as such even in Roman times.
The Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano
“This confirms once more that Italy is a country of immense and unique treasures,” commented the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano. “I have said it several times, Italy can enjoy a stratification of eras and great civilizations that have followed one another on the peninsula. And these are testimonies that give us back the immanent meaning of all this, spirituality. All this will be enhanced, harmonized, and could represent a further opportunity for the spiritual growth of our culture, but also of the cultural industry of our country.” Then thanks to the archaeologists: “Really congratulations to those who believed in these projects, to those who brought back these finds preserved so well and which testify to an important era of transition from the Etruscan to the Roman world. Panta rei, everything flows: the becoming of our culture.” For Massimo Osanna, dg museums of the Mic it is instead “A more important discovery from the Riace Bronzes.”