Railway Construction Unearths Ancient Artifacts In Germany

Boston.com ^ | 1-21-2007 | Colin Nickerson

[blam]

Railway construction unearths ancient artifacts in Germany

By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff | January 21, 2007

COLOGNE, Germany -- Genialinius Gennatus was one fine duck hunter.

Alerts In the third century , he recorded his prowess in high Latin on a stone tablet that he dedicated to Jupiter. That and a hefty donation probably ensured that the tablet won display in the temple to the Roman god in the settlement then called Colonia.

Five or six centuries later, Cologne's early Christians, perhaps offended by the tablet dedicated to a pantheist god, chucked it into the silting channel between the Rhine river port and a small island on the Rhine, unknowingly ensuring the hunter's immortality.

Historians now know the ordinary man named Gennatus hunted ducks and prayed to Jupiter because of Cologne's decision to punch 2 1/2 miles of new north-south light railway tunnel through the silt and sediment that lie beneath one of Germany's oldest cities.

"It would not have seemed valuable to anyone at the time," said Bernhard Irmler, one of scores of researchers mucking through damp tunnel s beneath Cologne in Europe's largest ongoing archeological dig. "But for us it's another small window into a long-ago time."

The $1 billion cost of the rail project includes $194 million for 100 archeologists to dig, sift, and probe the depths in front of the giant, boring machines and other equipment that will chew out the subway tubes .

And what a fine mess archeologists and diggers alike are making. Great swaths of downtown Cologne are cordoned off for the scientific sleuths working against construction deadlines -- the dig started two years ago and subway trains are supposed to be zipping from Breslauer Platz to Market Strasse in 2010.

In a sense, that's lightning speed by local standards: the landmark Cologne

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Red Badger]

IT's Duck Season!...........It's Rabbit Season!..........

[Red Badger]

Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm huntin ducks!.......

[andy58-in-nh]

Kill the Wabbit...kill the Wabbitt!!

[Publius6961]

Fascinating but little known fact: the first dinosaur bones ever discovered and publicized, were from Paris, during the construction of the earliest Metro tunnels.

Before that the concept and study of the ancient giant extinct animals was close to zero.

[Red Badger]

LOL!!! I'd forgotten about THAT one!.......

[Eric in the Ozarks]

He hunted ducks but did he own a Lab ?

[TruthConquers]

Five or six centuries later, Cologne's early Christians, perhaps offended by the tablet dedicated to a pantheist god, chucked it into the silting channel between the Rhine river port and a small island on the Rhine, unknowingly ensuring the hunter's immortality.

No. It was really Buttus the butcher who couldn't stand that Gennatus fellow getting all the girls and HE threw it into the river in the dark of night. Then the town decided that he did not have the favor of the Jupiter. No more girls for him!

[Red Badger]

He had a dog, and BINGO was his name-o........B-I-N-G-O......

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Ouch !

[andy58-in-nh]

My all-time favorite: What's Opera, Doc?

[Fierce Allegiance]

I don't think he had a lab. More likely, a telescope.

[reagan_fanatic]

LOL - one of the best Loony Tunes EVER!

[andy58-in-nh]

The part with the overture to The Barber of Seville is absolute genius. I first saw it when I was 6 or 7 years old and I've loved the music of Rossini ever since. And every time I see a wedding cake, I think of the Marriage of Figaro.

[reagan_fanatic]

It still cracks me up when Bugs perches on top of ol' Elmer's bald head and proceeds to massage the hair growth solution into his scalp with his feet.

A true classic indeed.

[si tacuissem]

Nice article! Seems to be as difficult as the building of the metro in Athens and Rome...

[massgopguy]

I had a recording from the cartoon. The only difference between the WB recording and a record is the whistling sound Elmer makes as he's falling into the cake.

[SunkenCiv]

...the ordinary man named Gennatus hunted ducks and prayed to Jupiter because of Cologne's decision to punch 2 1/2 miles of new north-south light railway tunnel...

oops.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. Another story about a tunnel under the river, from the Boston Globe. ;')

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
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[SunkenCiv]

http://adrianmurdoch.typepad.com/bread_and_circuses/2007/01/a_third_century.html

A third century mystery

Via Archaeology in Europe (and Rogueclassicism), a neat piece about a stone tablet dated to the first half of the third century, telling of a man called Genialinius who dedicated a tablet to Jupiter recording his prowess in duck hunting.

The mystery?

In the Boston Globe piece yesterday he is Genialinius Gennatus in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, where the piece was reported in May last year, he is Genialinius Gemmatus.

Which one is right?

January 22, 2007

[Fiddlstix]

LOL! An all time Great one! Kill the Wabbit! LOL

[xcamel]

Not Glutius Maximus?

[commish]

Or the ever popular Biggus Dickus

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1226657/posts?page=62#62

[Fred Nerks]

Lorem, eu consectetuer, praesent enim, suscipit minim aliquam laoreet dignissim, veniam dolor iriure. Tation dolor iusto aliquip ex sed delenit quis zzril, exerci nulla dolore.

Lunaticius Maximus.

[lepton]

Historians now know the ordinary man named Gennatus hunted ducks and prayed to Jupiter because of Cologne's decision to punch 2 1/2 miles of new north-south light railway tunnel through the silt and sediment that lie beneath one of Germany's oldest cities.

Wow! How'd he know!?!

[SunkenCiv]

He should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque...