The Cache is ****NOT**** at the Posted Coordinates.
You may assume N44 and W89.
This is part of a series of caches highlighting the connection Rome, WI has to ancient Rome. Rome was known for its great literature written by great minds such as Vigil, Livy and Cicero. You can find their works at the Lester Public Library (N44 12.123 W89 48.603), just south of the city center of Rome and the posted coordinates. This is a great source of information, but it may not help you. Do not go there asking about for help, the workers there know nothing about this cache. It is a great location to stop and read a good book or two, to learn about the history of this city, or its namesake in Italy, or just to take a break from finding caches.
If you research the history of either Rome, you will soon discover they both are built upon the past, and the old and familiar is reworked into something “new or “improved”. As old familiar businesses, structures and traditions are bought out and new homes, business, golf courses a new look is given to what was once a quaint little crossroads.
The great capital of the Roman empire started out as a similar crossroads near water, founded by two brothers. The people of the city, its proximity to opportunities for growth, and the desire of the people for more and more allowed this once humble village to morph into what is still one of the most important cities in the modern world.
The world goes through changes. Summer, the time to find caches, turns to Fall. Fall, the time to enjoy the variations of the colors of the landscape, turns to Winter. Winter, the time to find caches while crossing liquid water that has altered its form to a solid, turns to Spring. And finally, Spring is road repair season. During a recent round of reworkings of roads outside downtown Rome, a significant number of ancient writings were discovered that all seem to be connected. They discuss adaptations of the great ancient myths that all ancient Romans grew up hearing as they passed from childhood, sitting at the knees of their elders and listening, to the old ones retelling these tales to the latest generation.
After careful consideration, it seems that the scraps found north of town seem to be connected in some way. They tell tales of Romulus, a Great Deluge, Daphne & Apollo, and Dryope.
While these are not complete passages, we can make out that Romulus led forth Roman soldiers and covered the ground with Sabine dead despite the intervention of their women. We also learn that he gave laws to the Roman people for the first time. And there we lose the thread.
We see how Jove smote the earth with thunderbolts and Neptune used his trident to call up the waters to drown the mortal race because all the houses of man had done evil. Surely knowing more about this story could shed light upon the beliefs of early Rome!
A small snippet discusses how the God of Light, Apollo – sometimes called Phoebus – insulted Cupid’s bow. In revenge, the love god shot his arrow into Apollo who fell in love with a Nymph, but she could not return his love. But, we do not know how the story ends.
The final snippet discusses how Dryope (her mother’s only child), stopped to admire nymphs but turned into a tree even as her own child felt her hardening into a tree. Does the child’s love free her? We do not know.
Off to the west of the city, as the roads were being altered back into a usable form, another cluster of documents were uncovered, each with a story to tell. These discuss the Minyades, Jason and Medea, the Calydonian Boar Hunt, the death of Hercules, and the Nine Muses and Minerva.
It seems all work and no play is not only something James Howell warned against. We can see the results of ignoring a feast to Bacchus, God of wine and other pleasures. Daughters of King Minyas ignore the wild party being held to honor the god and are turned into bats. Maybe if the others had asked them if they wanted to go geocaching instead of throwing wild beast pelts on their backs and drinking wine, their lives would have ended differently?
Much has been said in the past about Jason and his quest to find the Golden Fleece. While we do not have the beginning or middle of the story within this collection, we can read how he used the lotus to put the dragon to sleep and snatch the Golden Fleece.
While boars are not found near our Rome, they were feared in ancient Rome. Our story tells of one that the Goddess Diana sent a wild boar to ravage the lands around Calydon because she, alone among the gods, had not received offerings of thanks for the bountiful harvest they had this year. It was as large as a bull, red eyes, breath as hot as fire and lightning that shot from its throat. Who would be able to free the people of Calydon from this beast? We do not know; it is not part of the document unearthed by the road graders.
Just as there are many stories about Jason and his quest, Hercules travelled the world as part of his Trials. A new housing development uncovered a small tablet that tells the story of how his wife hears about his supposed love for a maiden named Iole. She sends him a cloak that was soaked in the blood of the centaur Nessus, who was killed by Hercules. Our tablet sadly misses much of what happens next, but it is clear from the fragments that Hercules loses his mortal body as the poison from the blood seeps through his skin.
Finally, the Goddess of Wisdom, Minerva travels with her flying horse, Pegasus, to the Nine Muses. They tell her that Pegasus was born from the blood when the Medusa was beheaded. The jet of blood leaving her neck mutates into the body of the winged equine. Her reaction is not included in our small record.
But is there an iteration or alteration of these tales that will be something you can use?
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Proudly brought to you by the students in the ancient history and civil engineering departments at Midstate Travel Bug University.
Part of the "When in Rome" series of mystery caches.
When in Rome 1: Do as the Romans Do
When in Rome 2: Chickens Rule
When in Rome 3: Ancient Rome!
When in Rome 4: #AMA
When in Rome 5: Roman Tic Tac Toe!
When in Rome 6: Show Your True Colors!
When in Rome 7: Seek Power!
When in Rome 8: Arm Yourself
When in Rome 9: Find a Nice Quiet Place to Retire
When in Rome 10: Relax and Read a Good Book