The Marengo treasure

The treasure of Marengo came to light during some agricultural works in 1928 in the countryside of Marengo, a small town about 90 km east of Turin, in northern Italy.

The treasure is made up of 24 pieces, most of them dating back to the 2nd century A.D.

A peculiarity of this treasure is the almost complete absence of banquet objects.

Most of the retrieved pieces  are instead elements for furniture and architectural decoration.

Some of the objects might also have had religious value.

However, the variety of the objects has led to various hypotheses:

• the treasure is part of some sanctuary's assets;

• the treasure is a voluntary depot hidden by its owner to protect it from some kind of imminent danger.

 

However, the most accredited hypothesis is that the treasure, given its heterogenity, is probably the outcome of a saccheggio and was ready to be fuso. This explains why there is such a variety of objects not related to one another and why complementary objects that would be expected to accompany the retrieved ones are missing entirely.

Below is the silver bust of the emperor Lucius Verus,

who reigned with his bother Marcus Aurelius between 161-169 A.D.

Here are a vase and a feminine head, dating from the second century.

Lateral decoration of a bed (fulcrum).

Lamina with dedication to Fortune by M. Vindius Verianus.

The inscription reads:

FORTUN ·  MELIORI / M ·  VINDIUS / VERIANUS ·  PRAEF /

CLAS ·  FL ·  MOES / ET ·  A ·  MILITIS ·  III / D ·  D