Friday, December 20, 2019

Roman Secret Society Lodge Discovered in Pompeii

From Ancient Origins:
Details of the ancient floors found in the house of Pompeii have been published in a paper by Massimo Osanna, director of the Pompeii archaeological site, and Luisa Ferro and Giulio Magli, of the School of Architecture at the Politecnico of Milan. The Great Pompeii Project, an EU-backed initiative to restore the ancient Italian city, stated that a small section of the House of Orion had been excavated between 1892 and 1893, but the greater house was only discovered in December last year. And now, researchers believe their excavations have uncovered the first ever depiction of the “groma”, a clever measuring tool developed in ancient Egypt and later used by Greek then Roman land surveyors. 
The ancient images were created by the embellishment of cement paving stones within the house using small stones and tiles, and they are located on the pavements of the House of Orion in the ancient city of Pompeii. According to an article in The Daily Mail two mosaics represent Orion, the hunter in Greek mythology, and appear to reference the Roman agrimensores, (Roman ground surveyors and planners). 
One illustration features a representation of the ancient mathematical problem of squaring the circle, and circling the square, and it shows a square inscribed within a circle. This symbol, resembling a compass rose, is cut by two perpendicular lines and one of these falls in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the house. This square in a circle, the researchers propose would have been the first image visible to any visitor upon entering the house and may represent the duties of the agrimensores and their sacred measuring principles. (Read more.)
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