The Ancient Votive Stones of Pesaro are 13 sandstone rocks that were unearthed in 1737 in a Pesaro, Italy farm field owned by

Patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

Annibale degli Abati Olivieri. Oliverio dug up the stones at the site of his newly discovered Lucus Pisaurensis

Sacred Grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...

on his property at ''Il Pignocco'' in Pesaro. These votive stones were incised in a pre- Estrucan script, each bearing the name of an early

Roman god Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representat ...

APOLLO Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, the Sun-God; MAT RMATVTA, an ancient semone divinity of ''

luci Luci is an English feminine given name variant of Lucy and an Italian surname derived from the Latin personal name Lucius (from Latin '' Lux'', genitive ''Lucis'', meaning "light"). Luci is also an ancient Norman territorial surname derived from ...

''; FIDE, an ancient goddess of High Divinity status, and IVNONII (

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

), a goddess of multiple origin myths, are a few of the names inscribed on the stones. They are estimated to date from c. 400 BC, a time when Pesaro was called by its

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name of

Pisaurum Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

. The stones are on display at the Museo Oliveriano, a Library and Museum in Pesaro housing the collections of Annibale degli Abati Olivieri, Giovanni Battista Passeri, and Giulio Perticari.

Etymology

Pesaro (''Italian''), fr.

(''latin''), ''pis'' (pi ''π'', plural) + (''aurum'', reflecting

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

).''History of Pesaro'', Etymology of Pisaurum, http://www.italythisway.com/places/articles/pesaro-history.php

References

{{reflist Pesaro Archaeology of Italy

Etymology

See also

Further reading

References