A rare inscription marking a spot where lightning hit has been unearthed at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, about 12 miles outside of Rome. The marble slab is inscribed “FVLGVR SVBMANIVM.” “Fulgur” is Latin for lightning bolt and “Submanium” related it to Summanus, the god of nocturnal thunder in the ancient Roman religion.
It was unearthed in an excavation of a part of the imperial palace complex known as the Amphitheater. The slab measures 40 by 35 cm (15.75 x 13.8 inches) and was mounted into a wall of a small quadrangular structure made of volcanic tufa blocks mortared together. Archaeologists believe the structure was built to mark the spot struck by the lightning bolt.
Lightning strikes were considered direct messages from the gods. They were major portents and the places where they hit were considered sacred spaces, consecrated by Jupiter (day lightning) or Summanus (night lightning). All traces of the strike were to be collected and buried in a ceremonial deposition ritual known as “fulgur conditum.”
In a visit to the site, Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli said:
“This discovery provides us with a rare and extraordinarily evocative testimony to Roman religiosity: the mark left by lightning and the ritual through which the struck place was recognized as belonging to the divine sphere. It is a theme deeply rooted in ancient culture, forcefully brought back to our attention thanks to the extraordinary finds at the Bagno Grande in San Casciano dei Bagni, where a bronze lightning bolt, deposited alongside a flint arrow, has yielded a suggestive trace of the fulgur conditum ritual. Hadrian’s Villa today adds a new, exceptional piece to this religious horizon, still preserved in its original context.”
* This article was originally published here
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