The Roman city of Asti through the finds coming from the archeological excavations of Mazzetti Palace.
The basement of Mazzetti Palace has given back a piece of Asti’s history, with finds that go through different historical periods. The archeological researches in fact brought to light some interesting evidences dating back to the Roman era, that allowed to add new pieces to the reconstruction of Hasta, the ancient Asti. The foundation of Hasta dates back to the period of military campaigns carried out by the consul Marco Fulvio Flacco from 125 to 123 b.C. Under its medieval heritage probably more visible, Asti hides in fact a more ancient past. The succession of demolition and rebuilding also involving the underground area of the palace makes still difficult today a precise reconstruction of the urban set-up of the Roman city at the moment of its foundation.
The marble stone with the inscription to the College of Blacksmiths.
One of the finds brought to light is a small and fragmentary marble memorial stone from Val Varaita area, dated to the II century a.C. It shows an inscription proving the presence of a powerful corporation in Hasta during the imperial time: the Blacksmiths. Builders and workers of metals, stone and wood, they were a foundamental association in the municipal society. The Roman colleges, that could be civic or religious associations, elected their own administrators, managed a collective fund and had a reference seat where could gather in a counsil. They were formed by people associated by common functions, arts and crafts, to protect their interests such as a modern consortium and under the protection of a tutelary divinity. The inscription from Asti reads, according on the interpretations, what follows:
Gen(io) C(ollegii) F(abrum) H(astensium) M(arcus) Bennius Aemilianu[s] miles ra[…]
“To Genius of the College of Blacksmiths of Asti, (by) Marco Bennio Emiliano, soldier”
To the Ancient Romans the Genius was a divine entity who protected people, institutions and places. Because of its fragmentation, it’s not possible to find much information about the devotee, the man who commissioned the inscription as a thanksgiving for a favour received or as a request. We know that he was a soldier and, like his name suggests, he probably came from Dalmazia.
The gem with figure of a farmer or Winter.
Among the small objects discovered, a gem engraved in carnelian stands out; a material that Pliny the Elder describes as very common and with a great resistance to the obfuscation. The engraving shows a curved male figure leaning on a stick and bringing on the shoulders a two theet hoe, called “bidens”. The figure could be interpretated as the personification of Winter; similar characters in fact are very common in the mosaics. A second interpretation recognizes in the man a reference to the job in the fields, in particular in the vineyards. Probably the gem was accidentally lost after it detached from its support and also served as a seal for its owner.
The bone distaff: a female symbol.
The finding of a pin distaff instead is an evidence of the female presence in the Roman society and in this case in Hasta. The distaff was the tool where the rough fiber was put on, in order to be transformed into the yarn; so since the archaic age this object was useful to carry out a purely female activity, that is spinning. The most common Roman typology was made of a simple wooden or bone rod, sometimes decorated with elements in the upper part. Other types are also documented, such as the finger rock, getting name from the method of grip and that corresponds to the discovery of Asti. Some funerary contexts have also returned glass finger rocks that, thanks to their preciousness, testify both the social status and the “virtus” of women. About these objects, there is no evidence of use in daily life but, placed among the grave goods of the dead, they indicate us a value and a symbolic function exalting the qualities of the woman who was able to enclose in herself virtues and domestic skills concerning home and family care.
