5 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Found in Spain a poem by Virgil engraved in a Roman amphora

Archaeologists have deciphered a verse by Virgil, the greatest poet of Rome’s Golden Age, carved into the clay of a small piece of a Roman jar. Experts call the discovery “exceptional” because it is the first time verses from the poet with whom children learned to read have been discovered in a commercial container.

The fragment was discovered by members of OLEASTRO, a collaboration between the Universities of Cordoba, Seville, and Montpellier while prospecting in the municipality of Hornachuelos (Córdoba). It is a fragment of an oil amphora from the Roman province of Betica that was made around 1,800 years ago and has a written text on it.

While the ceramic vessels were routinely engraved with information relating to producers, quantities and taxes, the 6cm by 8cm shard appeared to contain an unusual amount of text.

It was hardly shocking to find a piece of an amphora in an area like the plain of the Guadalquivir River, considered one of the nerve centers of olive oil production and trade throughout the Empire.

In the surroundings of Corduba, modern-day Cordoba, a good part of the olive oil consumed by Rome was produced and packaged, as evidenced, for example, by the remnants of amphorae with “Betica” seals preserved on Mount Testaccio.

The fragment of pottery with the Virgil quote overlaid. Photo: Iván González Tobar/Labex Archimède; University of Córdoba
The fragment of pottery with the Virgil quote overlaid. Photo: Iván González Tobar/Labex Archimède; University of Córdoba

The epigraphic richness of the oleary amphorae of Baetica is well known since ancient times since it is known that Roman potters engraved their seals on them or wrote labels (tituli picti) with names of people, dates, or places, but never poems.

As a result, the fragment of an amphora with text on it appeared to be just another piece with no special significance at first. However, everything changed when the epigraph was deciphered, revealing the following words: S vais avoniam glandemm arestapoqv tisaqv it

Through overlaying, the researchers were able to infer that the text corresponds to the seventh and eighth verses of the first book of The Georgics, a poem by Virgil dedicated to agriculture and life in the countryside, written in 29 BC, which say,

Auoniam[pingui]glandem m[utauit]aresta, poq[ulaque][inuen]tisAqu[eloia][miscu]it [uuis]C[ambió] la bellota aonia por la espiga [fértil] [y mezcl]óel ag[ua] [con la uva descubierta]

Photo: Iván González Tobar/Labex Archimède; University of Córdoba

The researchers’ key theory, as published in the Journal of Roman Archeology, is that the verses, written on the lower part of the amphora, were never really intended to be seen.

They believe the author may have been a skilled labourer or perhaps even a child worker at the factory where the amphora was manufactured. In any case, the lines make it clear that whoever scratched the letters into the clay was more educated than such workers are traditionally supposed to have been.

The greatest poet of the Golden Age of Rome, Publius Virgilius Maro—Virgil—was born in 70 B.C. and died in 19 B.C. Virgil is one of the true immortals, a poet who was read in antiquity and has been read ever since. He is best known for his great epic the Aeneid, the story of Aeneas, the founder of Rome.

Virgil’s texts were used for children to learn to read in schools.”

Virgil was the most popular poet of his time. The Aeneid was taught in schools and its verses were a pedagogical exercise for many generations. Therefore, it is common to find them in remains of ceramic construction materials, which has led many authors to relate them to educational functions (Roman schoolchildren wrote Virgil on their blackboards). But why in an amphora? And why The Georgics and not The Aeneid?

In any case, the verses on the amphora from Hornachuelos/Fuente Palmera make it a unique piece posing many more questions in need of answers.

Experts believe that the author was doing a memory exercise or wanted to teach a child to read.

Related Articles

The Oldest-Known Center of Prophecy “Claros”

16 June 2021

16 June 2021

Claros is an ancient Ionian settlement located in the hamlet of Ahmetbeyli near Ozdere, approximately 50 kilometers south of Izmir....

Petalodus shark teeth found for the first time in China

29 August 2021

29 August 2021

A 290 million-year-old fossil of a shark with petal-shaped teeth has been discovered in China. Seven well-preserved Petalodus teeth were...

Ancient stone grenades discovered at Badaling Great Wall in Beijing

16 October 2023

16 October 2023

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed 59 ancient stone grenades from the ruins of a building in the western section of the...

30 Graves Found in the Basilica-Planned Ancient City

4 April 2021

4 April 2021

Kibyra ancient city is situated south of Turkey, located in the town Gölhisar in the southwestern part of Burdur Province,...

Discovery Shedding Light on Ancient Maritime Trade: 1,500-Year-Old Trade Shipwreck Found off Türkiye’s Ayvalık

21 December 2024

21 December 2024

‘Turkish Sunken-Ships Project: Blue Heritage’, a 1500-year-old trade shipwreck was found off the coast of Ayvalık district of Balıkesir. Under...

Newly Discovered 200,000-Year-Old Rock Carvings in Marbella: Potentially Among Europe’s Oldest Cave Art

14 March 2025

14 March 2025

Marbella has just made an incredible discovery that could change everything we thought we knew about prehistoric Europe. Archaeologists working...

Dark secrets of Korea’s famous Wolseong palace complex are unearthed

8 September 2021

8 September 2021

The remains of an adult woman were discovered at the base of the Wolseong palace in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang province,...

Turkey to Present 12 Historic Artifacts to Istanbul Patriarch

10 August 2021

10 August 2021

The government said on Monday that Turkey will deliver stolen icons from ancient local churches to Istanbul’s Fener Greek Patriarch...

The greatest Anglo-Saxon treasure trove ever unearthed has been discovered by a metal detectorist

10 November 2021

10 November 2021

A metal detector in West Norfolk, England, unearthed 131 coins and 4 golden artifacts going back 1,400 years. This is...

2,000-Year-Old Garlanded Sarcophagus Unearthed in City of Gladiators

2 May 2025

2 May 2025

A remarkably well-preserved, 2,000-year-old sarcophagus adorned with intricate garlands has been discovered during ongoing excavations in the ancient city of...

New Discoveries on the İsland of Skokholm

29 March 2021

29 March 2021

New discoveries dating back 9000 years have been found in Skokholm, located in the Celtic Sea two miles off the...

1400-Year-Old Folding Chair Found in a Woman’s Grave in Germany

30 August 2022

30 August 2022

In Steinsfeld, in the German state of Ansbach, archaeologists have unearthed a 1,400-year-old folding chair from an early medieval woman’s...

In Pontefract, archaeologists have discovered Neolithic remains

18 June 2021

18 June 2021

Archaeologists working on the site of the former Carleton Furniture factory at Mill Dam Lane in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England,...

Parts of the City of the old city of Ghadames called the pearl of the desert collapsed due to rainfall

28 January 2022

28 January 2022

Some parts of the Old City of Ghadames, located in an oasis about 600km southwest of Tripoli near Libya’s border...

10 Ancient Shipwrecks and Finds from Prehistoric to Ottoman Periods Discovered οff Kasos Island in Greece

14 March 2024

14 March 2024

The research team of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, has identified ten shipwrecks...