Trascrizione
Imagine: a blacksmith at work, not to forge a sword, but to make it unusable.
This sword was found in 2003, near San Vittòre, not far from the town of Cassino. It is bent, crooked – it is no longer useful.
We must try to understand the codes of conduct of a society light years away from our own. The owner of this weapon was probably a veteran of one of the many wars fought by Rome against the Italic peoples.
Survivor grateful to the gods, left the ex voto in a sanctuary in the lands between Lazio and Campania.
But before finally parting with the sword, a witness of death and pain, he asked a blacksmith to spoil it – to silence it.
The signature survived the ritual deformation, engraved by those who forged the iron for the first time, drawing inspiration from Celtic models in the 4th century: the name of the craftsman is Trèbios Pomponios.
It is still clearly visible, next to two eight-pointed stars and the locative RÒMAI.