In the impression of many people, ancient Rome was rich and strong, and all aspects of society were perfect, but in fact, is this really the case? In the 1980s, Western archaeologists investigated Somerset and found a site from the ancient Roman period, which resulted in the excavation of many unexpected lead plates, and the text on it also made the experts sweat coldly, indicating that this is the real society of ancient Rome... What terrible content is written on the lead plate? If you are also curious, the following Xiaobian will reveal it to you.
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Somerset is located in the southwest of England, where the landscape is diverse, ranging from mountains to plains, and the climate is mild. According to archaeological research, as early as 20,000 years ago here there are traces of human life, Somerset's largest city called Bath, is also the only British "World Cultural Heritage" of the historical city, although the overall area of Bath is not large, but all kinds of historical sites are well preserved, such as houses and streets, many are still the style of the ancient Roman period, thousands of years have not changed, so every year also attract a large number of tourists, experts and scholars from all over the world to sightseeing and research.
Experts said that Bath originated in the ancient Roman royal baths, and there are still a large number of bath sites, and also set up a bath museum. In the 1980s, British archaeologists visited Bath and stumbled upon a ruined roman site, which was cleared and found to be a circular pool with a diameter of about 4.5 meters, and some bronze artifacts such as wine glasses and jars were also found in it. Therefore, archaeologists say that this was the holy spring at that time, and it was a place where people prayed for blessings and sacrifices.
The ruins of holy springs are not unusual, and have been found in many places in Italy, but this is the first time in Bath. After intensive excavations, the experts found another metal plate in the silt, about 11.2 centimeters long and 9.6 centimeters wide. At first, the experts were not interested in these boards, but in the later stages, more than a dozen pieces appeared in succession, and even some of the boards had text, so the experts had to start to take it seriously. After research, experts determined that some of these plates were lead plates, some copper plates, and some were stone plates, and several lines of clear and variable ancient Roman script were found on several of the lead plates, but this was a lost script, and it was not known for a while.
After a while, the plates unearthed from the Holy Spring were sent to the British Museum, and the paleography experts studied in depth and also translated the difficult ancient Roman language, but the experts were very frightened, because the content of the texts was not harmonious, mainly some curse words, such as the hope that the thief would be drunk into blood, the intestines of the bad guys would be rotted, the cursers would be killed, and so on. Experts at the British Museum said that most of these plates were curse plates, and that the ancient Romans at that time were unjust, or after being harmed, because there was no way, they wrote down the curse plates to pray to the goddess, hoping to maintain justice.
In various historical materials, the wealth and civilization of ancient Rome, fairness and justice are emphasized, but in fact, only a few rulers, or upper-class groups, who enjoy these, do not receive any protection for ordinary citizens and vulnerable groups in society, although the ancient Roman legal system is perfect, but ordinary citizens are difficult to maintain justice through laws, such as theft of homes, the authorities can not catch the crime of theft, or themselves and their relatives are beaten by others, or even killed, and the ruler does not ask, Or they are often bullied by people in the upper class, and so on. Under such circumstances, ordinary people do not feel the justice brought by the law, so they use the way of writing curse plates to breathe out evil breath, hoping that the gods can be the masters for them, punish adultery and eliminate evil, and let the bad people get the worst end.
Through these curse plates, we can find that behind the beauty of ancient Rome there is also a dark side, although the country is strong, but the people have not got the happy life they deserve. It is worth mentioning that not all boards are curse plates, and experts have also found that some boards are good wishes, such as hoping that diseases will be eliminated and health will be obtained, and then get rid of darkness, get light, and so on. It can also be shown that the character of the ancient Romans was clearly divided between love and hate, and they wanted the evil things to be removed, and they wanted the good things to be maintained for a long time.
Every era is complex and cannot be comprehensive in any aspect, but rulers should also know what is important and what is secondary, and only by putting the interests of the people in the most important position can society be harmonious for a long time.
Resources:
Everyday Life in Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela Publisher: Social Science Literature Press
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's