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Thread: Archaeologists Uncover Rare 2,000-year-old Roman Sundial

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    Archaeologists Uncover Rare 2,000-year-old Roman Sundial

    ...it Tells Them More than Just the Time

    • The sundial is inscribed with two Latin texts, revealing insight on its owner
    • Researchers say the name on the sundial translates to Marcus Novius Tubula
    • And, the inscription reveals he was elected to the office of the Plebeian Tribune




    The artifact is made from limestone, and has a concave face with 11
    hour lines. It is inscribed with two Latin texts, revealing its owner
    was a public official who likely commissioned the piece to celebrate
    his election, according to the experts



    The experts say the intact Roman sundial is one of just a handful that
    have survived, and was likely left behind as Medieval and post-Medieval
    inhabitants scavenged the town for building materials



    Archaeologists have discovered an ancient limestone sundial inscribed with details on the life of the man who owned it 2,000 years ago.

    The experts say the intact Roman sundial is one of just a handful that have survived, and was likely left behind as Medieval and post-Medieval inhabitants scavenged the town for building materials.

    It was discovered lying face down at an entrance of a roofed theatre in the Roman town of Interamna Lirenas.

    Researchers from the University of Cambridge say the remarkable artifact was likely removed from a prominent spot, such as the top of a pillar in a nearby forum.

    The sundial is inscribed with two Latin texts, revealing its owner was a public official who likely commissioned the piece to celebrate his election, according to the experts.

    ‘Less than a hundred examples of this specific type of sundial have survived and of those, only a handful bear any kind of inscription at all – so this really is a special find,’ said Dr Alessandro Launaro, a lecturer at the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge and a Fellow of Gonville & Caius College.

    ‘Not only have we been able to identify the individual who commissioned the sundial, we have also been able to determine the specific public office he held in relation to the likely date of the inscription.’

    The inscription suggests the inhabitants of this town had been granted full Roman citizenship by that time, according to the team.

    ‘That being the case, Marcus Novius Tubula, hailing from Interamna Lirenas, would be a hitherto unknown Plebeian Tribune of Rome,’ Launaro said.

    ‘The sundial would have represented his way of celebrating his election in his own hometown.’

    The artifact is made from limestone, and has a concave face with 11 hour lines.


    It was discovered lying face
    down at an entrance of a roofed
    theatre



    It measures 54 by 35 by 25 cm, and once contained an iron needle to cast the shadow.

    The sundial also has three day curves, to indicate the season relative to the solstices and equinoxes.

    These timekeepers were relatively common during that time, the researchers say.

    The ‘spherical’ sundial was known as a hemicyclium.

    ‘Even though the recent archaeological fieldwork has profoundly affected our understanding of Interamna Lirenas, dispelling long=held views about its precocious decline and considerable marginality, this was not a town of remarkable prestige or notable influence,’ Launaro said.

    ‘It remained an average, middle-sized settlement, and this is exactly what makes it a potentially very informative case-study about conditions in the majority of Roman cities in Italy at the time.

    ‘In this sense, the discovery of the inscribed sundial not only casts new light on the place Interamna Lirenas occupied within a broader network of political relationships across Roman Italy, but it is also a more general indicator of the level of involvement in Rome’s own affairs that individuals hailing from this and other relatively secondary communities could aspire to.’


    Archaeologists discovered the sundial during excavations in the Roman
    town of Interamna Lirenas






    Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...n-sundial.html


    peace...

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