Here’s one from L’espresso which goes beyond brief mention and hopefully we’ll read about this one in the English press (because we should! I was unaware of all this for some reason) … back in 1999 at Monti Parioli archaeologists found a pile of artifacts in a fountain dedicated to Anna Perenna dating from the second century A.D. (possibly earlier). What’s especially interesting for our purposes is that they found 22 defixiones, 14 other sheets of lead, and a pile of containers with anthopomorphic wax figures in them, obviously for black/sympathetic magic purposes. A pile of coins was also found. What the article seems to be primarily doing is advertising a conference focussing on all that … but it sure sounds interesting!
Turns out there’s some good stuff on the web too, e.g.,:
- Attilio Mastrocinque, Late Antique Lamps with Defixiones (pdf … looks at a number of items from the fountain)
![Mostra: Roma - Memorie dal sottosuolo. Ritrovamenti Archeologici (1980 / 2006). [Image # 053 © Sara Gavanovich, Rome. March 2007].](https://live.staticflickr.com/189/481761855_9f7d436c29.jpg)
![Mostra: Roma - Memorie dal sottosuolo. Ritrovamenti Archeologici (1980 / 2006). [Image # 054 © Sara Gavanovich, Rome. March 2007].](https://live.staticflickr.com/167/481744113_7ffff44477.jpg)
![Mostra: Roma - Memorie dal sottosuolo. Ritrovamenti Archeologici (1980 / 2006). [Image # 055 © Sara Gavanovich, Rome. March 2007].](https://live.staticflickr.com/198/481744057_34ede73bb9.jpg)
![Mostra: Roma - Memorie dal sottosuolo. Ritrovamenti Archeologici (1980 / 2006). [Image # 056 © Sara Gavanovich, Rome. March 2007].](https://live.staticflickr.com/227/481733414_a58be45469.jpg)
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