A Louisiana woman was clearing up some overgrowth in her backyard when she uncovered a marble tablet with the mysterious inscription “spirits of the dead” on it. It turned out to be the 1,900-year-old grave marker of a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus.
Verus died of unknown causes at age 42 after serving more than two decades in the imperial Navy.
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The gravestone called him “well deserving” and was commissioned by two people described as his “heirs.” However, they were likely shipmates, as Roman military personnel were not permitted to be married at the time, according to the Associated Press.
The gravestone’s travels
So how did it end up in New Orleans? The woman learned the tablet had been missing from an Italian museum for decades.
A U.S. soldier from New Orleans who served in Italy during World War II had apparently taken the tablet when the museum was destroyed by Allied bombing.
It was passed down to his granddaughter, who used to own the house where the tablet was found. She said she used it as a garden decoration and forgot about it.
Now, the FBI is in talks with Italian authorities to return the tablet to its rightful home.
