ritual

A marble inscription discovered at Hadrian’s Villa has preserved the rare physical reminders of the Roman rite of lightning which was performed at the place the lightning was thought to have struck. Still attached to the original masonry, the slab mentions Summanus, the Roman god of night lightning, and probably indicates the site had been declared sacred. This small find has revealed a telling detail about the faith of the Romans in one of the Empire’s grandest residences. A Message Cut into Marble On September 10, 2026, the Italian Ministry of Culture announced a new discovery after excavations in the location known as the Amphitheatre. The excavation team from University of Urbino Carlo Bo came to discover a small quadrangular