Le nanoparticelle nel vetro dicroico romano

La coppa di Licurgo è una coppa diatreta di vetro di epoca romana, risalente al IV secolo. La coppa è costruita con vetro dicroico e mostra un colore diverso a seconda del modo in cui la luce passa attraverso di essa: rosso quando illuminata da dietro e verde quando illuminata frontalmente. La coppa di Licurgo è un unicum: è l'oggetto romano integro che maggiormente mostra l'effetto cangiante.

A sinistra: La coppa di Licurgo, illuminata posteriormente, esibisce una colorazione rossa. Se illuminata frontalmente, la coppa appare di colore verde (Cortesy: Brit Mus and Johnbod per Wikipedia). 

L'effetto dicroico è realizzato perché il vetro è stato contaminando con nanoparticelle di oro e argento disperse in forma colloidale in tutto il volume vetroso. Il processo esatto utilizzato rimane poco chiaro e non si sa sia stato controllato o accidentale. Se vista in luce riflessa la coppa appare verde poiché le particelle metalliche sono abbastanza grandi da riflettere la luce senza eliminarne la trasmissione. In luce trasmessa le particelle disperdono la luce blu in modo più efficace rispetto a quella rossa facendo risaltare il colore rosso nella coppa. Le particelle hanno le dimensioni di circa 70 nanometri e sono visibili solo con un microscopio elettronico a trasmissione. Le dimensioni delle nanoparticelle si avvicinano alla dimensione della lunghezza d'onda della luce visibile.

Se volete conoscere altre meraviglie della scienza dei materiali nell'antica Roma, si veda:

Materials Science in Ancient Rome

La guerra di Caligola contro Poseidone

La guerra di Caligola contro Poseidone

Questo link vi porta alla discussione di un meme motivatore, su curioso aneddoto di Gaio Giulio Cesare Augusto Germanico, il terzo imperatore romano passato alla storia col nomignolo di Caligola.

"Ogni volta che fai qualcosa di stupido, ricorda che l’Imperatore Caligola intraprese una guerra contro Poseidone (Dio del mare) e ordinò ai suoi uomini di sferrare coltellate all’acqua e scagliare lance in mare così a caso."

"Sfortunatamente, - dice il sito - stiamo parlando in questo caso dell’equivalente storico di una leggenda urbana. Tutto quel che sappiamo degli imperatori è frutto ciò che ci è stato tramandato dai membri della classe senatoria, i quali erano ostili a chiunque volesse incentrare tutti i poteri su di sé. "
In questo caso è Svetonio, Caligola, Liber IV.46.  "L’evento ricalca un topos letterario nella narrazione delle guerre persiane: la flagellazione dell’Ellesponto. Durante la seconda spedizione, Serse I di Persia volle costruire un ponte di barche per superare un tratto di mare piuttosto profondo dell’antico Stretto dei Dardanelli. Il ponte fu distrutto dalla violenza del mare quando i lavori erano ormai quasi giunti al termine. Serse decapitò i responsabili della costruzione e ordinò di flagellare l’Ellesponto, colpevole di avergli arrecato un’offesa personale."

Artù a Mediobogdum (Hardknott Roman Fort)

"Il forte è il luogo in cui un Artù bambino trascorre gli anni dell'infanzia, vegliato e istruito da un giovane Merlino"
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediobogdum

Solstices at the Hardknott Roman Fort

A roman fort in Britannia, a specific orientation to solstices

More at SSRN

Solstices at the Hardknott Roman Fort

Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino



Abstract

From the most ancient times, the Roman military camps were planned according to a certain ideal pattern that was also applied to the coloniae, the outposts established in the territories conquered by Rome. The planning of castra and colonies was based on a chessboard of parallel streets, the main of them being the Decumanus. Probably, some Decumani were oriented to confer a symbolic meaning to the place too. Here we discuss the distinctive layout of a castrum in the Roman Britannia, the Hardknott Fort, and its orientation to the solstices.

Keywords: Archeoastronomy, Solar Orientation, Solstices, Urban Planning, Satellite Images, Google Earth.

Sea Silk (Bisso)

From Wikipedia - ...
China never managed to reach the Roman Empire directly in antiquity, although general Ban Chao sent Gan Ying as an envoy to "Daqin" in 97 AD. Gan Ying did not reach Daqin, he stopped at the coast of a large sea, because "sailor(s) of the Parthian west border" told him that the voyage to cross the sea might take a long time and be dangerous. Gan Ying left a detailed account of the Roman Empire, but it is generally considered to have been based on second hand information:
The Kingdom of Da Qin (the Roman Empire) is also called Lijian. As it is found to the west of the sea, it is also called the Kingdom of Haixi ("West of the Sea"). The territory extends for several thousands of li. It has more than four hundred walled towns. There are several tens of smaller dependent kingdoms. The walls of the towns are made of stone. They have established postal relays at intervals, which are all plastered and whitewashed. There are pines and cypresses, as well as trees and plants of all kinds.
- Gan Ying gives a very idealistic view of Roman governance which is likely the result of some story he was told while visiting the Persian Gulf in 97 AD. He also described, less fancifully, Roman products:
Their kings are not permanent. They select and appoint the most worthy man. If there are unexpected calamities in the kingdom, such as frequent extraordinary winds or rains, he is unceremoniously rejected and replaced. The one who has been dismissed quietly accepts his demotion, and is not angry. The people of this country are all tall and honest. They resemble the people of the Middle Kingdom and that is why this kingdom is called Da Qin. This country produces plenty of gold [and] silver, [and of] rare and precious [things] they have luminous jade, 'bright moon pearls,' Haiji rhinoceroses, coral, yellow amber, opaque glass, whitish chalcedony, red cinnabar, green gemstones, gold-thread embroideries, woven gold-threaded net, delicate polychrome silks painted with gold, and asbestos cloth.
They also have a fine cloth which some people say is made from the down of 'water sheep' [sea silk], but which is made, in fact, from the cocoons of wild silkworms (wild silk). They blend all sorts of fragrances, and by boiling the juice, make a compound perfume. [They have] all the precious and rare things that come from the various foreign kingdoms. They make gold and silver coins. Ten silver coins are worth one gold coin. They trade with Anxi [Parthia] and Tianzhu [North-western India] by sea. The profit margin is ten to one. . . . The king of this country always wanted to send envoys to the Han, but Anxi [Parthia], wishing to control the trade in multi-coloured Chinese silks, blocked the route to prevent [the Romans] getting through [to China].

Caesar and Arles

Image processing of the Arles bust 

It was probably between 49 and 46 BC, when Caesar had close relationships with Arles that, according to the French archaeologist Luc Long, who found it in 2007 after struggling with poor visibility, strong currents and the catfishes of Rhone, the famous marble bust of Arles had been carved. This beautiful portrait, discovered in the depths of the right bank of the river near Arles, has been undoubtedly attributed by Long to Julius Caesar. Here we compare the Arles bust with some others and propose the application of image processing and multimodal biometric systems to the ancient artifact. ... More at SSRN

Caesar and Caesarion

Quello sguardo amaro: i volti di Cesare e Cesarione. Intervista a Paolo Moreno

24/01/2011 - UmbriaLeft, by Giovanni Corazzi

Giusto un anno fa, nella nostra Umbrialeft veniva pubblicato un articolo in cui si parlava di una grande mostra, iniziata allora da qualche settimana (ottobre 2009) nel centro francese di Arles (presso il Musée départemental Arles antique) e dedicata agli oggetti riemersi dal fiume Rodano (riva destra, all’altezza, appunto, della cittadina provenzale) nel corso di una ventennale campagna condotta dal Drassm, il dipartimento ministeriale francese delle ricerche archeologiche, subacquee e sottomarine, guidato da Luc Long. .. tra cui un bellissimo busto. .. il Long sin dall’inizio avesse proposto senza esitazioni il nome di Cesare per il busto riemerso. Tale attribuzione, sebbene confermata da studiosi di valore quali lo storico Christian Goudineau (un classico il suo saggio su Cesare e la Gallia) e l’esperto di iconografia cesariana Flemming Johansen (autore di un importante lavoro del 1967, revisionato vent’anni dopo, dedicato ai ritratti in marmo di Cesare), è stata inizialmente contestata da altri studiosi, che hanno pensato a un magistrato romano o a un notabile di Arles. Fin dall’annuncio della scoperta (maggio 2008) era intervenuto al dibattito uno dei più importanti archeologi italiani, Paolo Moreno, ... Il Moreno ha toccato la questione anche nel 2009, con l’interessante ed elegante volume Cleopatra Capitolina (Editinera), e lo scorso ottobre in una lezione tenuta a Torino in occasione del «FestivalStoria». I suoi interventi hanno fornito nuove indicazioni sul ritratto, inserendolo in un ampio contesto che abbraccia il tratto mediterraneo da Arles ad Alessandria e che parla di una famiglia tanto grande quanto sfortunata. Divengono, infatti, protagonisti anche la regina d’Egitto Cleopatra e il figlio da lei avuto con Cesare, Tolemeo XV Cesare, meglio noto come Cesarione. Questi, nato nel 47 a.C., venne associato al regno a soli tre anni per volontà della madre, che evidentemente nutriva per il piccolo grandi progetti. ... 

http://www.umbrialeft.it/approfondimenti/quello-sguardo-cos%C3%AC-amaro-volti-cesare-e-cesarione-intervista-paolo-mor

When America discovered Europe

A very remarkable book this one
The American discovery of Europe,  By Jack D. Forbes
 Let me suggest the reading of it. To stimulate the curiosity, here some small abstracts

What is Cornelius Nepos telling? And Pliny?

 

 

Roman jewelry in Japan

TOKYO —"Glass jewelry believed to have been made by Roman craftsmen has been found in an ancient tomb in Japan, researchers said Friday, in a sign the empire’s influence may have reached the edge of Asia."
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/roman-jewelry-found-in-ancient-tomb-near-kyoto

Arles, Turin and Caesar

The heart of the ancient history of Arles, this is what is on show at the Louvre Museum of Paris, until 25 June 2012. The Museum is  hosting an exhibition of spectacular Roman pieces recovered from the bottom of the Rhone! From March 9 to June 25, 2012, the Louvre Museum in Paris

On exhibition fifty of the most spectacular artifacts unearthed by archaeologists: columns and capitals, fragments of statues and reliefs, Roman jewelery, lamps, vases ... These pieces are coming from the museum of Arles, and other pieces from Avignon, Vienne and Turin.
Among the pieces from Turin, you can admire Julius Caesar's bust, unearthed in 1825,  long considered unique, until the discovery in 2007 in Arles of another bust of the Roman politician. At the Louvre, these sculptures will be presented for the first time side by side.

http://www.france.fr/it/arti-e-cultura/evenement/arles-gli-scavi-del-rodano-un-fiume-memoria

   Arles

Torino

Un altro ritratto interessante è quello del busto Farnese, a Napoli

 Napoli

Casting the dice

"Cleromancy is a form of divination using sortition, casting of lots, or casting bones or stones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God, or other supernatural entities." Source: Wikipedia
"Alea iacta est (Latin: "The die has been cast") is a Latin phrase attributed by Suetonius (as iacta alea est) to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 BC as he led his army across the River Rubicon in Northern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. The phrase is still used today to mean that events have passed a point of no return, that something inevitably will happen." Source: Wikipedia

On Roman and Etruscan Dodecahedra again

This morning I found the following link: http://sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?t=10801 having a quite interesting discussion on the " Roman Dodecahedron Mystery "
Let me report what SteveW wrote:
"This object is an on-the-fly surveying device. Worn on a chain around the neck, a military officer could hold it out to arms length and "fit" an enemy soldier or catapult, ballista etc between the opposing holes and then multiply by 100 (or whatever factor/number of links of the chain) to guage his distance. It would have been accurate enough to place a man within a few feet up to roughly a mile away. "
This is a quite good  reference for my paper  A Roman Dodecahedron for measuring distance
http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.6497

A figure from my paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.6497

Somebody is considering that there are also dodecahedra of stones. These were tools for gambling, please see An Etruscan Dodecahedron http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.0706 or the previously written post.

A dodecahedron of a Roman soldier

In a recent  post (April 2012) I have discussed about Roman Dodecahedra.
After preparing a model of a Roman Dodecahedron, I was able to investigate it as an optical instrument.
In the  paper "A Roman Dodecahedron for measuring distance", published in arXiv, http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.6497 you can find how a Roman soldier could had used it to determine the distance of a target.The dodecahedron is quite simple to use and portable. Someone could tell (or is telling)  that it is more complicated compared to a simple cross-staff. Well, a cross-staff is rather long. In the case it were of bronze, the instrument turned out to be too heavy. Moreover, it seems that the cross-staff had been developed during the 14th century, therefore it was an instrument of the Middle Age in Europe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob's_staff)

Roman Dodecahedra

Recently I have read a very interesting paper entitled "The magic dodecahedron of Gauls, that saved Roman legions: Mirror of Universe  and gauge of seasons." by Cinzia di Cianni, published on La Stampa,   in Italian  (Il dodecaedro magico dei Galli che salvò le legioni romane: Specchio dell’Universo e misura delle stagioni:, July 28, 2010). Here I  shortly discuss this article.
It starts with the following questions. Was is it, "a sacred symbol for Druids or the tip of a scepter? A gauge or a candlestick? Nobody knows what it is really, in spite of the fact that in museums and private collections, we find over than a hundred of them. It is a small hollow object of metal, dating from the fourth century and having a Gallo-Roman origin." The object exists in a variety of designs and sizes, always consists of 12 regular pentagons and this is known as "Roman dodecahedron". All the found "Roman dodecahedra"  have a diameter between 4 and 11 cm. and have at the center of the 12 faces holes of different sizes. Each of the 20 vertices is surmounted by one or three knobs, may be to fit them on some surfaces.
"The Roman dodecahedron is a simple object, actually a "time capsule", containing an incredible density of history and myth. By itself it does not reveal anything relevant because it has no inscriptions on patterned surfaces. No document  speaks about it."  The article continues telling that, in fact,  there are 27 theories about its use, ranging from a game for divination to surveying or military purposes. Scholars gave up probably until some new finds: however, some amateur archaeologists, among them Sjra Wagemans, continue to study this mystery, that is "what was it used for?"
Cinzia di Cianni tells that the first description of the geometrical volume of this object is in the "Timaeus" by Plato. It is a solid as the tetrahedron, octahedron, cube and icosahedron, that is, one of the five Platonic solids. Before Plato, it was also described in the fifth century BC by the Pythagorean Hippasus of Metaponto. "Harmony of proportions and mathematical properties, has continued to captivate artists and scientists, from Euclid to Poincare, from Leonardo to Luca Pacioli, to Escher. So, during several centuries, the dodecahedron had accumulated magic and symbolic features, from Greeks to Celts, from Renaissance to modern times." Di Cianni continues reporting the interest on dodecahedra by  Francesco Maurolico, a Greek mathematician and astronomer of Sicily, who lived in the XVI century, and the contemporary astronomer Jean-Pierre Luminet, who works with data provided by the scientific probe "WMAP" (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe), used to observe the cosmic background radiation in the microwave range.
For what concerns the Roman dodecahedra the article tells that all of them, collected in several European museums, always came from Gaul and the lands of the Celts: Great Britain, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Eastern Europe. A defined scholar theory about their use is still lacking. Recently Sjra Wagemans, of the Dutch multinational DSM Research and amateur  archeology, proposed a theory which assigns an astronomical feature to these objects. Sjra used a bronze copy of a dodecahedron to see that it is possbile to determine the equinoxes of spring and autumn. "The dodecahedron is therefore linked to the agricultural cycle, both sophisticated and simple at the same time, to determine  without a calendar, the most suitable period of time during the autumn for sowing wheat."  And crops were of vital importance for the Roman legions. At the site www.romandodecahedron.com, Wagemans introduced the research and waiting for comments.

Courtesy: DieBuche, Wikipedia

I like very much the discussion by Cinzia di Cianni about this mistery of archaeology.
For what concerns the measurement of time, we know that Romans used gnomons (the Vitruvian equinoxial gnomons) to determine the latitude and that they had very good meridians. In fact, Vitruvius deeply describes in his De Archtectura, how to prepare the analemma. See my Measuring times to determine positions, http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.2746
It is possible that the dodecahedron was used to determine more precisely the time during the equinoctial period. According to Cinzia, there are  many proposal for their use.
In my opinion it is necessary to study how they can move, since they are biased structures, in order to understand whether they could have been used as dice for divination or bowls for simply playing with them. In a static use of them, the hypothesis for measuring time is quite interesting.
However there is the possibility to use it to measure distances as in the following approach:

Indos

"Sed praeter physicos Homerumque qui universum orbem mari circumfusum esse dixerunt, Cornelius Nepos ut recentior, auctoritate sic certior; testem autem rei Quintum Metellum Celerem adicit, eumque ita rettulisse commemorat: cum Galliae pro consule praeesset, Indos quosdam a rege Botorum dono sibi datos; unde in eas terras devenissent requirendo cognosse, vi tempestatium ex Indicis aequoribus abreptos, emensosque quae intererant, tandem in Germaniae litora exisse. Restat ergo pelagus, sed reliqua lateris eiusdem adsiduo gelu durantur et ideo deserta sunt."Pomponius Mela
De chorographia, Liber III

"Mais à l'autorité des anciens philosophes et d'Homère, qui ont prétendu que la terre était de tous côtés environnée par la mer, on peut ajouter celle de Cornélius Nepos, qui, étant plus moderne, est par conséquent plus sûr. Or, cet auteur rapporte, à l'appui de cette opinion , le témoignage de Q. Metellus Celer, auquel il fait dire qu'étant proconsul dans la Gaule, le roi des Botos lui fit présent de quelques Indiens , et que, s'étant informé d'où ils étaient venus, il apprit que, les tempêtes les ayant emportés loin de la mer des Indes, ils avaient été jetés, après un long trajet, sur les rivages de la Germanie. Le reste de la côte asiatique est donc baigné au nord par une mer sans bornes; mais cette partie est couverte de glaces éternelles, et par conséquent déserte."
Louis Baudet translation

To the ancient philosophers and Homer, who claimed that the land was surrounded on all sides by the sea, we may add Cornelius Nepos, who, being more modern, is therefore more reliable. However, this author reports in supporting this fact, the witness of Q. Metellus Celer: when he was proconsul in Gaul, the king of Botos  made ​​him a present of a few Indians, and that, being informed of where they came from, he learned that the storms have swept away them of the Indian Ocean. They were thrown, after a long journey, on the shores of Germania. The rest of the northern Asian shores are surrounded by the sea, but this part is covered with eternal ice, and therefore deserted.

Caligae

A massive statue believed to be that of  Emperor Caligula, sitting on a throne, coming from an illegal dig south of Rome, was unveiled. The statue, broken in several large pieces, was found last January when Finance Police stopped it from being smuggled out of the country. The  "tomb raiders" tried to sell this archaeological treasure on the black market. The statue has feet wearing "caligae": this is why the person shown by the statue is identified as the emperor Caligula. 

More http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/13/us-italy-caligula-idUSTRE76C3VG20110713

The Emperor Caligula. Statue in the Museo Nazionale, Naples.

1911, Source G. Ferrero, The Women of the Caesars, New York, 1911.

Caligula's statue will come back home

"La statua dell’imperatore Caligola torna a Nemi. A recuperarla il comando provinciale della Guardia di Finanza di Roma, guidato dal generale Ignazio Gibilaro, nel corso di una più vasta operazione di tutela del patrimonio artistico nazionale. «E' stato recuperato un pezzo di straordinaria bellezza e rinvenuto un sito archeologico finora sconosciuto alla stessa sovrintendenza – ha spiegato Giuseppina Ghini, direttrice del Museo delle Navi dove sarà collocata la statua dopo il suo restauro - Abbiamo sottoposto la statua ad una prima ripulitura, presto inizieremo il restauro ma per ora si sta ancora studiando, analizzando»."
http://www.newnotizie.it/2011/07/13/ritrovata-la-statua-di-caligola-in-trono/
Emperor Caligula's statue is coming back home to Nemi. It was the provincial team of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome, led by General Ignacio Gibilaro, to retrieve it, during an police action to protect the national artistic heritage. According to Giuseppina Ghini, head of the Museum at Nemi,  this staue is a piece of extraordinary beauty, discovered in a previously unknown archaeological site. The statue, after restoration, will be soon bach home in the Museum of Nemi. 

Caligula's Tomb

"Hallan la tumba de Calígula", Tras dos milenios de su muerte, hallaron la tumba del emperador Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, más conocido como Calígula, de quien se decía que era promiscuo, depravado, cruel y demente, en el sur de Roma. El lugar fue detectado cuando la policía descubrió a un hombre que trataba de contrabandear una estatua del emperador robada del sitio, de dos metros y medio de alto. Calígula murió a los 28 años, cuando sus propios guardaespaldas acabaron con su vida en el año 41 A.C. Una de las locuras más célebres de Calígula fue nombrar consejero y sacerdote a su caballo favorito, Incitatus. http://connuestroperu.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14915&Itemid=1

"Caligula's tomb found after police arrest man trying to smuggle statue"
Police arrest tomb raider loading part of 2.5 metre statue into lorry near Lake Nemi, south of Rome, where Caligula had a villa. The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/17/caligula-tomb-found-police-statue   The lost tomb of Caligula has been found, according to Italian police, after the arrest of a man trying to smuggle abroad a statue of the notorious Roman emperor recovered from the site. ...  The emperor had a villa there, as well as a floating temple and a floating palace on the Lake Nemi.

La tomba perduta di Caligola è stata trovata, secondo la polizia italiana, dopo l'arresto di un uomo che cercava di contrabbandare all'estero una statua dell'imperatore romano famigerato recuperata dal sito.

Emperor Caligula, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. (courtesy, Louis le Grand)

Caligula's Floating Palaces

"Caligula was a man of many passions, and he indulged nearly all of them, including his passions for chariot racing, theatrical performances, gladiatorial games, and ships. During his brief rule from A.D. 37 to 41, he had two enormous ships--a sailing ship and an oared galley--built and anchored on Lake Nemi as pleasure craft. Pillaged and deliberately sunk later in the first century, they were recovered in a feat of engineering sponsored by Benito Mussolini in the 1930s, but destroyed during a German retreat in 1944."  http://www.archaeology.org/0205/abstracts/caligula.html

Here an interesting description, written by Colonel Maceroni, in 1838.

A very singular piece of antiquity exists in the lake of Nemi, of which I have never seen any mention made by travellers. On the north-east side of the lake, in about forty feet water, lie the ruins of a large floating palace constructed by the Emperor Claudius or by Nero (in fact, Caligula). The lakes of Albano and Nemi are the craters of extinct volcanos, from which, at the time when they were covered by the sea, has proceeded all that vast quantity of tuffo and puzzolana which covers the Campagna di Roma. The high, steep banks of these circular lakes, covered with most beautiful trees and villas, cause one side of the water below to be constantly sheltered from the wind. Hence a floating habitation will give the choice of shade and shelter, or sunshine as the season may require. The way in which I became acquainted with this sunken palace was quite accidental. Being one evening in my punt about to lay some eel lines, the fisherman whom I employed told me, that the best place in that vicinity was "about the old palace". I stared and looked about. "What palace?" said I. I see plenty of houses and cottages, and ruins, on the hills around, but they are not even quite at the water's edge. My man rejoined : "I mean about the wooden palace under water in which the Emperor Claudius used to live." Delighted and excited by this announcement more than I should have been by the capture of a thousand eels as big as the mast of a ship, I hastened to the spot, but the declining sun had sunk below the high crater wood-clothed margin of the lake, and looking down into the limpid waters, all seemed dark and blue, and nothing could be seen but the hills and trees, and my own anxious physiognomy reflected in the watery mirror. However, I laid my lines, the hooks being baited with the thighs of frogs, and next morning I found fourteen eels, all about a pound a piece, and some of three pounds weight. Moreover, a brilliant sunshine enabled me to see the sunken palace, which appeared to be about one hundred feet square and fifteen to twenty feet high. How did I then regret not having the command of a diving-bell! What most curious and precious objects of antiquity might not be found in the interior of this construction? But this discovery I must leave to some future traveller, who may have the means of causing a diving-bell to be constructed at Rome, and know how to use it. As for myself, I mentioned the discovery to General Miolis, the imperial locum tenens, or Governor of Rome, and also to the learned antiquary, Mr. Norviuse de Monbreton, but nothing was done.

From the MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI. LATE AlDE-DE'-CAMP to JOACHIM MURAT, King of NAPLES etc.
LONDON, JOHN MACRONE, ST. JAMES' SQUARE, MDCCCXXXVIII