Atrum tempestas

Atrum Tempestas, meaning "Dark Storm", is the title of an ancient Roman inscription discovered in 1915 by the French archaeologist Louis Chatelain [Brouquier-Reddé V. Rebuffat R. Louis Chatelain (1883-1950) : biographie et bibliographie (2004) ISBN 978-2-86538-282-8] in the area of Volubilis in Morocco.

History

Only a few fragments of the inscription remained, and these showed signs of manual destruction. The words that remained were "atrum tempestas mos defaeco orbis terrarum totus humanus ut orbis est in locus" roughly meaning "a dark storm will cleanse the world of all mankind when the sphere is in place". Some archaeologists of the time believed it to be a folk tale, others a prophecy relating to an astrological event, or even about an ancient relic of great power. Interpretation of the story is severely limited by the lack of further words.

Unfortunately the stones, which were on display in the local library in modern Volubilis were stolen in 1927, the only evidence of their existence remaining is in the published papers of Chatelain.Chatelain, L. Inscriptions romaines à Volubilis. BCTH: 218-219 (1915)] [Chatelain, L. Inscriptions et fragments inédits de Volubilis et de Banasa (Maroc). BCTH: 161-4, CCIII (1916)] [ Chatelin, L. Inscriptions de Volubilis, CRAI, 1918, p. 184] . The stones are also mentioned briefly in a 2001 book by M. Riáe [ Riáe M. Volubilis: Eine römische Stadt in Marokko von der Frühzeit bis in die islamische Periode (2001) ISBN 978-3-8053-2664-3 p72 ] .

References