Posted on 08/08/2018 2:51:01 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists have discovered a massive stone sarcophagus in Zülpich, Germany, dating to the 3rd century AD; inside, the remains of a Roman woman and her beauty tools... Because of the number of well-preserved artifacts in this burial and because additional burials were expected to be found, the finding was not announced until yesterday at a press conference. The sarcophagus required a full week to excavate, and its lid alone weighed two tons. When archaeologists removed it, they found the skeleton of a young woman, estimated to have been between 25-30 years old at the time of her death. They also found numerous grave goods including a small hand mirror, a string of pearls, a make-up palette, and a small jar that was inscribed with the Latin "Utere Felix" -- a common expression that means "use this happily" and is somewhat similar to our "good luck" or "good health." "The focus of the objects is clearly related to jewelry and cosmetics," Susanne Willer of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn told Der Spiegel. The woman buried in this sarcophagus was "beautiful to the death." While the artifacts will be conserved and restored, no plan is yet in place for their permanent display, and no additional information on the skeleton, including potential testing, was announced.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
alas, the images are Getty, so they can't be posted.
Located southwest of Bonn, Zülpich was known in Roman times as Tolbiacum, an important way station on the road between Trier and Cologne. Excavations in the area in service of a new sewer line revealed the grave last September along the ancient Agrippa Street.
Avon calling.
How interesting it would be to see the colors of the makeup palette. Some enterprising cosmetic company could try to replicate them for the next season’s release.
Always love the finds that humanizes the people they uncover.
“If every woman got out of bed tomorrow and liked what she saw in the mirror, the world economy would collapse within 30 days.”
-Estee Lauder
I thought Romans largely cremated their dead. It would have been helpful had they provided an approximate date for the burial. Maybe she was from a later or earlier era I am most familiar with, the 100 years where the republic sank and the empire began.
Perhaps she was a well-placed call girl of her time with the tools of her trade.
It must have been a pain to carve her phone number on walls around town, stupid Roman numerals.
On the DVD extras disk for the 1960 "Cleopatra", there's a snip of an ad, model Suzie Parker, talking about "Sphinx Pink" which makes all other pink makeup "pallid". :^) But of course, that was in support of the most expensive movie ever made up to that time.
Cremation was indeed usual, but not exclusive. Inhumantion was not uncommon, throughout Roman history. There's not some specific era for it. Sarcophagi were used to hold inhumations as well as cremations.
The Roman republic was actually just a hierarchic state run by a hereditary oligarchy. There was no republic -- senators had to be from specific families, and decided when and for how long they'd serve. And even in the sol-called republican period, Rome was already an empire, beginning with the conquest of Ostia. The evolution of governance to add a permanent, full-time chief executive was a necessity, and led to upward mobility among Romans and newly acquired citizens in the various conquered areas. The last of the "old family" emperors was probably Galba, who ruled for a few weeks or months during the Year of Four Emperors.
Where there is a gladius, there is a way
:^)
Interesting.
:^)
Some of the most poignant are the grave markers left by grieving Roman parents.
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