Comments
huramazda t1_jcoj5fw wrote
Given they sincerely believed in witchcraft or flock of birds showing will of the god with it's fly path, I think that we can be pretty sure that it was not just annoying behavior that they feared.
Supranatural was accepted fact of every day life.
War_Hymn t1_jcp6vk7 wrote
I mean, stuff like this lives on in the modern age. My wife's side of the family believes in this sort of voodoo. After one of her uncles got violently robbed, her aunt sacrificed a chicken on the altar to "ward off evil spirits following him". On the more extreme side, my wife's grandfather died young in his 20s because of a construction accident. Her grandmother got ostracized by her in-laws and the entire village because they thought the death was a bad omen and she was cursed.
kokirikorok t1_jcprl0g wrote
Little did they know, treating someone like they’re a bad omen and a curse IS the curse. Self-fulfilling prophecies are littered all through history.
Angdrambor t1_jcqby9i wrote
>After one of her uncles got violently robbed, her aunt sacrificed a chicken on the altar to "ward off evil spirits following him"
tbh, it doesn't sound like the worst way of processing the trauma of getting robbed.
[deleted] t1_jcqfooo wrote
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inksane t1_jcpkevw wrote
A scary idea came into my head. People usually do things for a reason. They sealed that tomb for a reason.
I'm not saying vampires exist, but we just undid everything they did to keep the thing safe.
hadesthief t1_jcq1faj wrote
The Romans would gut livestock and read their entrails for signs of fortune. Clearly they knew something we now don't.
inksane t1_jcq8xfa wrote
And there are people today who still do that. I don't know what they know. But if they're doing it, I assume it does something for them.
gamerdude69 t1_jcr5wju wrote
You think every superstition is true because someone thinks it is? You think there's something to astrology? palm reading? Sacrificing a rabbit to make someone heal faster? Why are you assuming that these people are correct in their superstitions?
Angdrambor t1_jcqbt8w wrote
People do things for a reason, but, if you turn on the news, you'll see that a lot of the reasons are really stupid.
MortLightstone t1_jcrekfm wrote
I'm just thinking this would make a good horror movie
The-Magic-Sword t1_jdf4mwr wrote
Thankfully, vampire slaying has come a long way over the centuries.
ButterflyAttack t1_jcqo272 wrote
Just bury em vertically, head-down. They won't trouble you again.
Dhen3ry t1_jcqr2h3 wrote
Make sure they are actually dead first. Or they will bill you.
PraiseThePun81 t1_jcplyd6 wrote
The tomb of histories first Lawyer?
[deleted] t1_jcoa2o7 wrote
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marketrent OP t1_jcmgemh wrote
From the linked summary^1 by Jennifer Ouellette:
>Archaeologists excavating an early Roman imperial tomb in Turkey have uncovered evidence of unusual funerary practices.
>Instead of the typical method of being cremated on a funeral pyre and the remains relocated to a final resting place, these burnt remains had been left in place and covered in brick tiles and a layer of lime.
>Finally, several dozen bent and twisted nails, some with the heads pinched off, had been scattered around the burn site.
>It's the 41 broken and bent nails—25 bent at a 90 degree angle with the heads pinched off, 16 bent and twisted but otherwise whole—recovered from the site that set this cremation apart.
>These were not coffin nails, which are usually found intact, and nails weren't used in the construction of the funeral pyre.
From the peer-reviewed article^2 by Johan Claeys, et al.:
>Aside from the application of nails to symbolically fix the spirit, heavy weights were also used in an attempt to immobilise the physical remains of a potential revenant (Ogden 2002: 164–66; Alfayé 2009: 191–97).
>The curse ‘sit tibi terra gravis’ (‘may the earth rest heavily upon you’) was sometimes used in contrast to the epitaph ‘sit tibi terra levis’ (‘may the earth rest lightly upon you’) that was commonly reproduced in Roman funerary inscriptions in full or abbreviated (‘s.t.t.l.’) form (Tolman 1910: 5 & 21).
>The combination of nails and bricks designed to restrain the dead with the sealing effect of the lime strongly implies a fear of the restless dead.
>Regardless of whether the cause of death was traumatic, mysterious or potentially the result of a contagious illness or punishment, it appears to have left the dead intent on retaliation and the living fearful of the deceased's return.
^1 Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica/Advance Publications, 17 Mar. 2023, https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/bent-nails-at-roman-burial-site-form-magical-barrier-to-keep-dead-from-rising/
^2 Claeys, J., Van de Vijver, K., Marinova, E., Cleymans, S., Degryse, P., & Poblome, J. (2023). Magical practices? A non-normative Roman imperial cremation at Sagalassos. Antiquity, 97(391), 158-175. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.171
Baziki t1_jcpf7z9 wrote
Well, considering that one guy they killed came back. Can't blame them for being a bit on edge.
Sleepdprived t1_jcoz45e wrote
So... they left it sealed right? They didn't move the nails and line and bricks?
Antique-Presence-817 t1_jcpe4ss wrote
no man they opened it
...thereby releasing the eternal demon storm of world apocalypse
Sleepdprived t1_jcpm86b wrote
That's like the 4th time in a decade
Forza1910 t1_jcs7lvu wrote
I mean, have you seen the news the last couple of years?
privateidaho_chicago t1_jcq32yr wrote
/s Romans have been a bit paranoid about people coming back from the grave since this one time about 2000 years ago :-)
WhalesVirginia t1_jcmo90k wrote
Stop them from rising or stop grave robbers?
BePurgedInFlames t1_jcorb4w wrote
"Look at all those nails on the ground in there, better not chance it"-grave robber
SlouchyGuy t1_jco0zdy wrote
Likely to stop the from rising. Different rituals to ensure that the deseased won't rise and harm the living were widespread in many different cultures throughout the world, it's the opposite of rituals where you preserve the body, talk to the spirits of ancestors, etc,. And all of those come from the same belief that death isn't really death, and something is left alive.
[deleted] t1_jcqcc89 wrote
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Gumnutbaby t1_jcorjkz wrote
It’s an interesting burial and the Romans definitely had some interesting rituals and magic. But I feel the idea of it being a vampire is projecting modern stuff on an archeological site.
bul1etsg3rard t1_jcp3jy2 wrote
Bro you know when Dracula was published right? That wasn't even close to the first thought anyone had about vampires
Archangel289 t1_jcppkhq wrote
What’s amused me before is that Latin has been a dead language for probably more than 1,000 years, and it has a word that directly translates to “vampire.”
The “urban legends” of them have been around for a long time, even if our modern interpretation of them—suave, sophisticated aristocrats and the like—is different
Gumnutbaby t1_jcqivk3 wrote
It's all still more modern than Romans buddy.
MrKGrey t1_jcpuakh wrote
And they went ahead and opened it anyway.
[deleted] t1_jcomhxz wrote
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G_Higgy_Hizzle t1_jcqc6mc wrote
I guess after Jesus they wanted a little more of a guarantee?
[deleted] t1_jcqdib3 wrote
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K1lledByAmerica t1_jcqerci wrote
Turns out he's the last remaining triplet alive from the family.. the local garrison commander got freaked out when he came back alive a second time
88j88 t1_jcowwg5 wrote
Or maybe buried and not quite dead yet? People had much less understanding and angry atypically long death may lead people to believe they are supernaturally coming back or staying alive / demons etc.
the_syco t1_jcq7dk7 wrote
Agreed. If you poisoned someone with snake venom, and they only went into a coma for a few days before waking up again, the 2nd time around you may want to make sure that they don't get up again...
ShakeWeightMyDick t1_jcqi5qy wrote
And just like that, Dracula’s reign of terror recommences
gamerdude69 t1_jcr6mtb wrote
The remains are gone!!
[deleted] t1_jcowmzn wrote
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ogquinn t1_jcpxag3 wrote
Didn't a world war start the last time russia opened a tomb, tell them to leave it closed
JohnnyJukey t1_jcq9ai6 wrote
May have also died of a know dease?.
lucyfurever t1_jcqmwua wrote
Are we sure it isn’t some kind of security system to keep thieves away? Akin to stepping on a Lego in the dark.
alessio84 t1_jcqp1pj wrote
They had to, they talked in Latin and continually raised dead accidentally.
samurguybri t1_jcqpwgv wrote
Some local pagans were sincerely worried about early Christian claims of the resurrection.
[deleted] t1_jcqs1yu wrote
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ElJamoquio t1_jcqxm91 wrote
And, empirically speaking, the empire was successful.
gamerdude69 t1_jcr7lp8 wrote
Of course it's too much to hope for pics of more than just the nails :(
edgiepower t1_jcs0tq7 wrote
They really didn't want a repeat of that Jesus guy
Penitent_Exile t1_jcud0df wrote
Deep within the rock, they buried him. In a tomb so dark, it would never come to light.
rpgaff2 t1_jcnza2g wrote
This is kinda stupid, but reading this, my mind went in a different direction.
Like, we treat these rites as serious superstition right? Like, "Oh no, we must do everything we can so that this person doesn't come back as a vampire/zombie or whatever."
But all I can think of right now is a community burying the most annoying person they know, and thinking, "We cannot, under any circumstances, let this person come back to life. They were UNBEARABLE. We will take any precautions we can to ensure that this body, which is dead, will never somehow spontaneously come back, even if it somehow comes back to life. I just cannot deal with this person, I don't care how miraculous his recovery is. Come back to life? Brick wall. Break through that? Nails to your limbs. JUST STAY DEAD!!!"
Just a stupid idea that came into my head lol.