As a result of archeological excavations being carried out there, they found pieces from Etruscan and Roman times, including 24 bronze statues, some with a size of more than one meter, with inscriptions both in the Etruscan language and in Latin. The objects, which date back to a period between the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., also include votive statuettes as well as some five thousand gold, silver, and bronze medals. For their value it turns out to be “a discovery which will rewrite history,” archeologist Jacopo Tabolli, heading the project since 2019, said.
It is an “absolutely unique” treasure, said Tabolli, who is also a professor at the University of Siena, adding that it was most likely that “the 24 statuettes were made by local sculptors, who included a remarkable number of inscriptions on them.”
San Casciano dei Bagni is a town especially famous for its thermal waters, since it has 42 springs, with an average temperature of 42 degrees Celsius and a daily flow of 5.5 million liters, placing it as the third most important in Europe. The area’s public or thermal baths, named Balnea Clusina, were founded by Etruscan King Porsenna, who ruled the region at the end of the 4th century B.C. and gained momentum in Ancient Rome times among the people and aristocrats who visited it, including the first Emperor Augustus.
At that time its waters were believed to have magical powers and the site was considered sacred, the reason for which thousands of people went there to ask gods to grant them wishes.
Last August they found on the site “a sanctuary, much larger than we could imagine, with buildings, altars, and pools,” Tabolli highlighted.
People asked their gods for health, and to that effect offered them objects related to their ailments, which is why, they found reproductions of organs, including an ear, a leg, a penis and a bronze uterus.
On that occasion the General Director of Italy’s Museums, Massimo Osanna, announced that in San Casciano a 16th century building will be prepared to hold a permanent exhibition in which the archeological treasures found in the place will be on display.
Taken from Orbe
By Oscar Redondo, Chief Correspondent/Rome
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