Pompeii Find Shows Secrets Of The Samnites

[Primus Pilus]

The discovery in Pompeii of a pre-Roman temple is being hailed as evidence that the city was sophisticated and thriving 300 years before Vesuvius erupted.

 

The temple is said to be of Mephitis, a female deity worshipped by the Samnites, a mysterious ancient people who preceded the Romans in Pompeii.

 

The temple complex includes a sanctuary where it is thought girls from good families worked briefly in "sacred prostitution" as a rite of passage to full womanhood.

 

From The Telegraph

[Viggen]

to the same story the Washington Post published an interesting article (free subscription required)

[gilius]

It was very interesting to see the Oscan script on an artifact at the British Museum last week as part of their sadly-soon-to-be finished exhibition. I'm very curious about the previous peoples who occupied the city. There was a great book that tried to piece together the early history of Pompeii mainly looking at the walls since most of the earliest layers have not been excavated. This then led me to question some of the assumptions/mysteries relating to the Roman invasion of Italy.  

Edited August 16, 2013 by gilius

[GhostOfClayton]

An aside, but how was the exhibition? I have tickets for 20th September.

[gilius]

I thought it was going to be complete rubbish, but it was actually superb! I hope you haven't researched it or checked any youtube videos, so I won't spoil it for you, as the context of the whole exhibition came as quite a surprise to me. Like waking up and realising I'm in a virtual reality show. They've done a very good job gathering together all the relevant objects for the exhibition. It seems inspired/based on a 2009/2011 documentary, which they sell at the museum shop. The only disappointment was the lack of the Alexander the Great mosaic and the lack of any fountains, though the water engineering artifacts were very impressive. Just a shame you will not find many parallels with Roman Britain or probably even Gaul. The ending to the exhibition is quite sad, but the whole thing is well thought out. I can see why they've extended the friday opening times to 2200 and the reason its so popular. My favourite artifact was the spiked chest or the sun god statue with 4 horses. Summary: if you're mainly a fan of architecture like me, you will have a new appreciation of small finds and household objects!

Edited August 16, 2013 by gilius

[guy]

It was very interesting to see the Oscan script on an artifact at the British Museum last week as part of their sadly-soon-to-be finished exhibition.

Very thought-provoking post.

 

 

From Wikipedia: Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy during the 6th century BCE.

 

I always found the Oscan language to be interesting.

 

If I remember correctly, it was used on the coinage of the rebels during the Social War (91

Edited August 17, 2013 by guy

[gilius]

Hi guy, thanks for your reply! Nice map of the Italian tribes...  would appreciate your help with another of my posts:

http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/16213-roman-italy-before-the-social-war-91-88-bc/

 

Can't say I've found a satisfactory answer for this yet.