Naples, Agonistic Inscriptions of the Olympic Games, second half of the first century
Date
Monday April 18th, 2016
DATA SHEET
DATING:
Second half of the I century A.C.
LOCATION:
Naples, National Archaeological Museum, second half of the I century A.C.
CUSTOMER:
METROPOLITANA DI NAPOLI Spa
HIGH SURVEILLANCE:
Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Naples and Pompeii – Dr. Daniela Giampaola
THE PROBLEM
The restored epigraph was staged at MANN during the exhibition “Augustus and the Campania. From Octavian to Augustus the Divo. 14-2014 AD “, which was inaugurated on December 19, 2014.
Dated with certainty to the second half of the first century AC, it contains a catalog of the winners of the olympic contests during one of the editions which took place in Naples every four years.
This is just part of numerous texts discovered in the collapse of a structure describable as a portico environment of the olimpic games sanctuary.
The discovery and retrieval of these precious texts was realized during the works for the construction of the Duomo station – Line 1 of the Naples Metro.
THE METHOD
The epigraph was composed of 35 fragments and measuring a total height of 240 cm to 141.5 cm in width, with a weight of about 182 kg. It’s a Proconnesian marble cut into slabs with thicknesses of 40 to 60 mm.
The collapse, in ancient times, has determined its fragmentary state, later there definitely was a great dispersion of the material and then a degradation triggered by contact with the earth and with the infiltration of rainwater and groundwater.
The restoration has also faced the problem of assembling fragments.
The epigraph was dismantled from the outfitting in May 2015 and temporarily brought back in the warehouses of the Naples Metro.
Today is subject of a new construction project along with all the other epigraphes found during the excavation and relevant to the editions of the olympic games 74-94 AC.
