It’s a field day for history buffs in Rome! The archaeological circles and the Italian government has announced large-scale ongoing exhibits of never-before publicized artifacts from ancient Rome.
The artifacts will be shown to the public in equally historical sites such as the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Previously hidden artifacts that only academics could access will be open to the public.
According to an archaeologist from the Colosseum archaeological park, the amount of hidden ancient Roman artifacts is so vast that it could be displayed in a hundred museums. It’s a well-known fact that even though Rome itself has many historical artifacts and places open to the public, there is a huge amount of treasure still hidden in storerooms around the city. The Colosseum archaeological park wants these artifacts to be shown to a bigger audience who wants to learn about the life of their ancestors.
The antiquities to be displayed give the public a glance at how the ancient Romans lived centuries past. Some notable artifacts to be displayed are colored dice believed to be thrown in wells ritualistically, tombs from the 10th century B.C. when the ancient Romans first started living near the Tiber River, and even a rain-gutter believed to be part of a temple depicting Silenus, a mythological creature.
The Colosseum Archaeological Park is currently doing inventories of over a hundred storerooms around the city to count the extent of hidden antiquities.
“We want in some way to make objects come to light that otherwise would be invisible to the great public…We’re talking of objects that tell a story, not a big story, but a daily story, a story of daily life.” Colosseum Archaeological Park director Alfonsina Russo said.
Tourists can visit the “taberna” or “tabernae” to view the antiquities in the Colosseum, the Forum, and Palatine Hill every Friday until July. Reservations are required, and the visit would include a 90-minute guided tour. The museum staff is limiting visitors to only eight people at a time, though, because of the limited space the “tabernae” have.
The Colosseum Archaeological Park hopes that the exhibits will be renewed or extended in the future, but for now, the tours are open only on Fridays until the end of July.