Romans attributed lightning to divine intervention

[guy]

 

A Roman marble slab unearthed in Hadrian’s Villa suggests Romans revered lightening strikes, attributing them to divine intervention.

 

 

Archaeologists working at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli uncovered a marble slab still buried in its original ancient position, engraved with the Latin phrase FVLGVR SVBMANIVM. This inscription refers to Summano, the Roman god associated with nocturnal lightning.

The slab marks the exact spot where lightning struck, and its deliberate burial reflects a Roman ritual known as fulgur conditum, in which materials hit by lightning were collected and interred to sacralize the site.
 

Researchers say that the find was important because it provides physical evidence of Roman religious practice, showing how Romans believed lightning represented the intervention of a deity and turned the struck location into divine space. 
 

Roman sources distinguished daytime lightning (attributed to Jupiter) from nighttime lightning (attributed to Summano), and the slab’s inscription confirms the strike occurred at night. 
 

https://www.discovermagazine.com/a-marble-slab-at-hadrian-s-villa-records-a-lightning-strike-romans-believed-came-from-a-god-49659

[guidoLaMoto]

Romans not only thought death by lightening strike was an act of vengeance from the gods, but that you had to be buried on the spot on which you were struck....Tullus Hostillius, third king of Rome was said to have been struck and killed just outside the Regia, royal residence right next to the temple of the Vestal Virgins in The Forum. ...Emperor Marcus Aurelius Carus (282-83 AD) was also said to be killed by a lightening bolt while on campaign, but more likely he was assassinated and the gods were blamed.

The strict delineation of responsibility for day time vs night time lightening reminds me of Union Rules. A union carpenter once told me that he was hired to assemble some shelves for an upcoming convention at Chicago's huge McCormick Place. He needed some more light, so he plugged in a drop light....A union steward walked over immediately, shaking his head and said "The contract calls for a union electrician to do that." One was called, and the carpenter had to idle away 30 minutes for him to show up. He didn't care. He's paid by the hour, not the piece.