Photo: Rob Sheahan / Unsplash
A woman in England was very pleasantly surprised to discover that she was using a Roman relic as a stepping stone to mount her horse.
A bungalow owner in southern England came across a marble slab in her rock garden ago 20 years, the same that he used in his stable to lean on it and climb his horses for almost 10 years.
Marble slab dug up in British garden revealed to be rare # Roman relic worth £ 15, 000. https://t.co/eVXDGuQrv7 # RomanArchaeology # RomanBritain # Archeology pic.twitter.com/H9o96 Vin6g
– Roman Archeology News (@RomArchable) January 4, 2021
Initially, the The slab had layers of soil and moss, which were removed over time to finally reveal laurel wreaths and an inscription carved on its surface, according to the British auction house Woolley and Wallis, which plans to auction the slab for an estimate of between £ 06, and £ 15, 01 pounds (approx between $ 15, 600 and $ 20, 550 Dollars).
Realizing that the garden rock was anything but ordinary, the woman consulted a local archaeologist who identified the marble slab as being from the 2nd century, probably originating from Greece or Asia Minor, the peninsula that today constitutes the Asian portion of Turkey.
Slab measures 63 centimeters high, and has an inscription in Greek that reads: “The people (and) the youths (honor) Demetrios (son) of Metrodoros, (the son) of Leukios” , as reported in CNet .
“Artifacts of this type arrived in England as a result of the Great Tours in the late 18th and 19th centuries, when wealthy aristocrats roamed Europe I learned ndo on classical art and culture . We assume that is how it entered the UK, but what is a complete mystery is how it ended up in a home garden, and that is where we would like the help of the public, ”said Will Hobbs, Wooley & Wallis Antique Specialist.
The bungalow where the valuable slab was found is located in the town of Whiteparish, about 100 miles west of London, and built in the mid-sixties . The auction house hopes that someone who has lived in the area at the time or who has helped to build the place will be able to provide information that will shed some light on the valuable stone that was placed in the garden.
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