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| How did that get there? And why was it left behind? |
"mysterious 'spirits of the dead' message". Trump's Americans are so funny and so weird. Dis Manibus... a common formula in Roman funerary art.
The small marble tablet recently unearthed in a New Orleans backyard turns out to be WW2 loot, and the item came from a museum in Italy. Originally discovered in the 1860s in a Roman military cemetery near Civitavecchia, Italy, it marked the grave of a sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus.
The object entered the collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia, where it remained until the Second World War. During heavy bombardments in the early 1940s, the museum suffered extensive damage, and numerous artefacts were lost or stolen amid the chaos. Among them was the gravestone of Sextus Congenius Verus.
It is believed that a U.S. serviceman stationed in Italy around this time took possession of the piece — either as a keepsake or as part of the widespread movement of cultural property that occurred during and after the War. The tablet was later brought to New Orleans, where it passed quietly through a family for decades, eventually serving as a decorative garden stone.
Its true identity remained unknown until 2024, when new homeowners accidentally unearthed it during garden work. Scholars quickly matched the find to records from the Civitavecchia museum, confirming its authenticity. Today, the FBI and Italian authorities are coordinating its repatriation. It is a shjame that it was looted in the first place. More shocking is that not only did the family keep it, but then when they moved house just left it behind lying in some weeds in the garden.
It is believed that a U.S. serviceman stationed in Italy around this time took possession of the piece — either as a keepsake or as part of the widespread movement of cultural property that occurred during and after the War. The tablet was later brought to New Orleans, where it passed quietly through a family for decades, eventually serving as a decorative garden stone.
Its true identity remained unknown until 2024, when new homeowners accidentally unearthed it during garden work. Scholars quickly matched the find to records from the Civitavecchia museum, confirming its authenticity. Today, the FBI and Italian authorities are coordinating its repatriation. It is a shjame that it was looted in the first place. More shocking is that not only did the family keep it, but then when they moved house just left it behind lying in some weeds in the garden.
"When news of the discovery broke, Erin Scott O'Brien's ex-husband called her to watch the story. She instantly recognised the marble piece, which they had used as a garden ornament. They had forgotten about it before selling the house to Santoro in 2018. O' Brien explained she inherited the tablet from her grandparents: her grandmother was Italian, and her grandfather, a New Orleans native, had been stationed in Italy during World War II."
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