Tag: Roman

Traces of history

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Lopodunum

Ladenburg was called Lopodunum in Roman times and an important town in the region.  Many streets were named to remember this past.  Some of the street signs come with explanations.

Vespasian

Titus Vlavius Vespasianus was Emperor when the first wooden fort was built.

Domitian

During the time of Emperor Domitian the fort was rebuilt in stone.

Ausonius Trajan

Emperor Trajan elevated Lopodunum to a town and is considered the founder.

Decimus Magnus Ausonius was a Roman poet from Burdigala (Bordaux, France) in the 4th century. In his poem Mosella Lopodunum was mentioned for the first time in a literary text.

Hadrian

Emperor Hadrian ordered the limes in this region built, to safeguard the Roman settlements.

Januarius

There were to men called Januarius documented in Ladenburg, a decurio (soldier) and a magister pagi (a town official).

Mithras

Mithras was a Persian, later Roman sun god. A stone relief depicting him was found in Ladenburg.

For Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge.  More photos of streets, alleys, paths, avenues, and street signs can be found here.

Cee's-which-way-1

 

 

 

 

Vellibia Ertola

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TS 13 traces

Traces of the past are everywhere around us – whether they are from millions or billions of years ago or from last week.

Some of these traces are stored in museums, artefacts of times gone by.  Few have touched me as much as this tombstone of a little girl called Vellibia Ertola (which we saw in “Chesters Roman Fort and Museum”, built on the site of Cilurnum, a Roman fort that was part of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland).  On her tombstone she is depicted holding a ball, and the inscription below reads: “she lived most happily for four years and sixty days”.

Ancient civilisations are usually depicted as cultures of adults. When children are mentioned at all it is mostly in their capacity as offspring, descendants, heirs.  But here we see love shining through the grief that built an expensive tomb, a love that is so tangible because it shows an actual four-year-old with a toy and whose happy life is remembered, every single day of it.

For me, this created a unique connection with these parents of almost 2000 years ago which I never felt for any Roman soldier, politician, merchant, slave, even poet.

 

Überall um uns sehen wir Spuren vergangener Zeiten – manche Millionen oder gar Milliarden Jahre alt, manche von letzter Woche.

Manche dieser Spuren werden in Museen aufbewahrt, Gegenstände aus vergangenen Zeiten.  Selten hat mich etwas mehr berührt als dieser Grabstein eines kleinen Mädchens namens Villibia Ertola (in “Chesters Roman Fort and Museum”, erbaut an der Stätte des römischen Kastells Cilurnum am Hadrianswall in Northumberland).  Auf ihrem Grabstein sieht man das Bild eines kleinen Mädchens mit einem Ball in der Hand und die Inschrift darunter lautet: „sie lebte höchst glücklich vier Jahre und sechzig Tage lang“.

Alte Zivilisationen werden normalerweise als Kulturen von Erwachsenen dargestellt.  Wenn Kinder überhaupt erwähnt werden, so hauptsächlich in ihrer Eigenschaft als Abkömmlinge, Nachfahren, Erben.  Aber hier scheint Liebe durch die Trauer, die ein teures Grabmal baute, eine Liebe, die so greifbar ist, weil sie ein richtiges vierjähriges Kind mit einem Spielzeug zeigt, an dessen glückliches Leben erinnert wird, an jeden einzelnen Tag davon.

Für mich erzeugt dies eine einzigartige Verbindung mit diesen Eltern von vor fast 2000 Jahren, die ich nie für einen römischen Soldaten, Politiker, Händler, Sklave, selbst Dichter gefühlt habe.

https://bopaula.wordpress.com/2017/07/13/thursdays-special-traces-of-the-past-y3-07/

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