‘Rome’ emerges in the excavations of the Eternal City subway

Every time an excavation is started, in the bowels of Rome some wonder of its ancient treasures appears. The last one is a very rare and refined piece of golden glass, which represents ‘Roma’, the woman symbol of the Eternal City. It has been found in the excavations of line C of the Metro. It is a well-known iconographic theme, but it is the first and only case so far in the world in which her face, with her helmet, spear and proud profile, has come down to us executed on a golden glass. “A golden glass is already a very rare find. Never had one come across the personification of the city of Rome». Simona Morretta, an archaeologist from the Special Superintendence of Rome, explained to the Ansa agency. “The thousand-year history of our city never ceases to amaze and enchant the world,” the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, wrote in a tweet. Code Desktop Gli scavi per la realizzazione della #MetroC hanno riportato alla luce straordinari reperti archeologici. Tra questi, the fund gave a glass in vetro gilded with the personification of #Rome. The millennial history of our city will not smette mai di stupidire and incantare the world. pic.twitter.com/AViY2Eu3Mk— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) February 2, 2023 Image for mobile, amp and app Mobile code Gli scavi for the realization of the #MetroC have not reported all the luce straordinari reperti archeologici. Tra questi, the fund gave a glass in vetro gilded with the personification of #Rome. The millennial history of our city will not smette mai di stupidire and incantare the world. pic.twitter.com/AViY2Eu3Mk— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) February 2, 2023 Code AMP Gli scavi per la realizzazione della #MetroC hanno riportato alla luce straordinari reperti archeologici. Tra questi, the fund gave a glass in vetro gilded with the personification of #Rome. The millennial history of our city will not smette mai di stupidire and incantare the world. pic.twitter.com/AViY2Eu3Mk— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) February 2, 2023 Code APP Gli scavi per la realizzazione della #MetroC hanno riportato alla luce straordinari reperti archeologici. Tra questi, the fund gave a glass in vetro gilded with the personification of #Rome. The millennial history of our city will not smette mai di stupidire and incantare the world. pic.twitter.com/AViY2Eu3Mk— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) February 2, 2023 Ancient technique Gilded glass decoration is an ancient technique of an image or motif in gold leaf; that is to say, a very fine sheet of gold with a purity of 22 carats that is fused between two layers of transparent glass. The glass container to which the decoration was applied must have had a flat part of the same size as the decorated disk, and it overlapped it, so that they melted together. The container was then heated one last time to complete the fusion and make it into a single body. Originally it was the bottom of a cup, a particular object that was often used as a gift. Basically, and as is the case today with some special glasses or jugs, the drinker could look at the transparent image at the bottom, while consuming the contents of the cup: “We do not know -stresses the archaeologist Morretta- if in this case the cup was actually used to contain something or as an ornament. But certainly putting an image at the bottom reflects that idea.” The piece has had several lives: «It was a precious object -explains Morretta- and when it broke or splintered they did not want to throw it away. But since a glass vase was beyond repair, the bottom has been ‘cut out’, and may have been displayed on a piece of furniture or hung on a wall. Based on our first study -concludes the archaeologist- it seems to us to be an object from the beginning of the 4th century”. Golden glass The history of golden glass begins in ancient Egypt (already known in the middle of the 4th millennium BC) where gold -the most malleable and ductile metal known- was used to decorate imperial sculptures and sarcophagi and also for glass. Then the golden glass decoration was exported to Greece, and later to Rome, where it was also applied to different materials, including the marble of the sculptures. MORE INFORMATION news Yes Amazing discovery of a statue of Hercules on the ancient Appian Way news Yes 30 gems from 2,000 years ago come to light in some Roman baths near Hadrian’s wall news Yes The search for ‘kilometre zero’ of the Via Apia, one of the greatest civil engineering works of Ancient Rome The Roman technique of glass soon spread, conquering Roman manufacturing and commerce. Many golden glasses show images of various religions. Other medallions bear the portraits of their owners. Starting in the 1st century, this technique spread and was also used for golden mosaics, used to decorate walls. Gold glass partially replaced gold; for example, if some gold beads were lost in a necklace, they were replaced with gold glass ones. But their manufacture was a refined and complex technique that required highly skilled labor.