A hedonistic message encouraging people to drink alcohol has been found inscribed on a 1,600-year-old bottle which was a gift to the lord of a Roman villa.
The 5th-century glass bottle is believed to have been given as a gift to the lord of the Roman villa of Veranes in the municipality of Gijon in the autonomous community of Asturias in Spain.
The glass inscription on the bottle reads: “Drink and live many years, good man.”
Archaeologists from the Autonomous University of Madrid explained that only a small part of the bottle was found but the inscription on the fragment can be read in both Latin and Greek.
Archaeologists Javier Salido Dominguez and Belen Madariaga Garcia said that the person who engraved the message onto the bottle wanted to send “a hedonistic wish of delight and pleasure of life” to the lord of Veranes.
Investigators have determined the age of the exceptional piece, which stands out as until now there were practically no remains found of this type in the territory of Hispania (the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces).
The piece was located at the site of the Roman villa which archaeologists first began excavating in 1997. The site now features a contemporary museum displaying relics found on the site.
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Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
