6. Hadrian
IMP(ERATORIS) CAES(ARIS) TRAIAN(I)
/ HADRIANI AUG(USTI) / LE(GIO) II
AUG(USTA) / A(ULO) PLATORIO
NEPOTE LEG(ATO) PR(O) PR(AETORE)
This work of the Emperor Caesar
Trajan Hadrian Augustus (was built
by) the Second Legion Augusta
under Aulus Platorius Nepos,
propraetorian legate.
7. Hadrian and Britannia
119 Defeat of rebels? 122/134 Addressing the
troops
122 Arrival in Britain
134 Britannia
9. Wall – Early Years
Period Construction Width Section
(ft.)
122-126 Broad Wall 10 Wallsend to Irthing River
Narrow Wall 8 Irthing to Burtholme Beck
Turf Wall 20 To Bowness
Fortlets
After 122 Forts, mile castles, turrets
By 138 Turf Wall replaced by stone
~140 Abandoned – ditches covered at intervals
~161 Reoccupied
12. Components of Wall
• Wall
– Forts
– Turrets – signal towers
– Fortlets or milecastles
• Ditch (N)
• Vallum (S) with protecting mounds
13. Types of Wall
• All c.15’ high
• Broad Wall (10’)
• Narrow Wall (8’ on a 10’ base)
• Turf Wall (18’ wide)
– Later rebuilt in stone
N
14. Forts
• Newcastle (Pons • Halton Chesters
Aelius) (Onnum)
• Benwell (Condercum) • Housesteads
(Vercovicium)
– Built after broad
foundations but before
narrow wall
• Great Chesters
– Replaced a milecastle
15. Forts
• Carvoran • Stanwix (near Carlisle)
– A Stanegate fort that was – Built by VI Victrix but
near but not on the wall garrisoned by a miliary
• Birdoswald cavalry unit
• Castlesteads
– Only fort not attached to
the wall, garrisoned by
auxiliaries
16. Forts Added after Wall
• Wallsend (Segedunum) • Burgh by Sands
• Chesters (Cilurnum) (Aballava)
– Wall crosses the Tyne – Added to reinforce lines
near Solway
– A cavalry fort
• Carrawburgh • Drumburgh
(Brocolitia) • Bowness
– An early addition – Terminus of the wall
– Possible supply-depot
27. Hadrian’s Wall Forts
The Rudge Cup
• A.MAISABALLAVAVXELODUMCAMBOGLANSBANNA
• A. MAIS ABALLAVA VXELODUM CAMBOGLANS BANNA
The Amiens patera
• MAISABALLAVAVXELODVNVMCAMBOG...SBANNAESICA
• MAIS ABALLAVA VXELODVNVM CAMBOG...S BANNA ESIC
A
The Moorlands patera
• MAISCOGGABATAVXELODVNVMCAMMOGLANNARIGOREVALI
AELIDRACONIS
• MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMMOGLANNA
Drumburgh ? Stanwix Castleheads
Birdoswald Great Chesters
28. Wall – Middle Years
Period Events
~140 Abandoned – ditches covered at intervals
Foray into Scotland
~161 Abandon Antonine wall
Reoccupy and rebuild – Use of British labor in
rebuilding and maintenance
31. Baths - Development
I. Great Bath and two small swimming baths to
east
II. Laconicum; Heated bath suite to east
III. Reroofing; expansion east and west baths
IV.Eastern baths rebuilt in monumental style;
Heated chamber and cold swimming bath
added
V. Immersion bath at west end
52. To the goddess Sulis, for
the welfare and safety of
Aufidius Maximus,
centurion of the Sixth
Legion Victrix, Marcus
Aufidius Lemnus, his
freedman, willingly and
deservedly fulfilled his
vow.
Dedication altar
53. For the goddess Sulis, Lucius Marcius
Memnor, augurer, gave this gift
Local Dedication
54. Peregrinus son of
Secundus, a citizen
of the Treviri, to
Loucetius Mars and
Nemetona willingly
and deservedly
fulfilled his vow
Dedication from afar - Trier
56. May he who has taken
Vilbia from me dissolve
like water. May s/he be
dumb who devoured her,
whether it be Velvinna or
Exsupereus or Verianus
or Severinus or
Augustalis or Comitianus
or Catus Minianus or
Germanilla or Jovina.
Curse Tablets
57. Curse tablets
• About half (~250) of the Latin curse tablets
have been found in Britain
• 100+ from the sacred spring at Bath
• 87 from the rural shrine of Uley, Glos.
58. Thief
Lord Neptune, I give you the man who
has stolen the solidus and
six argentioli of Muconius. So I give
the names who took them away,
whether male or female, whether boy
or girl. So I give you, Niskus, and to
Neptune the life, health, blood of him
who has been privy to that taking-
away. The mind which stole this and
which has been privy to it, may you
take it away. The thief who stole this,
may you consume his blood and take it
away, Lord Neptune.
59. • Pierced 7 times
• Cursed Tretia
Maria threatened
with loss of ability
to reveal secrets
• Misspelled words
and incorrect
grammar
Curse tablet, London
60. Bath
• Lettering
– 80 in cursive
– 29 in capitals
– 4 imitative
– 5 blank
• Often deliberately written backwards
82. Fates
• Wall – TBA
• Baths – Flooding in late 4th – early 5th century
leads to abandonment
– Rediscovered and baths revived in late 18th C.
• Fishbourne –Destroyed by fire in late 3rd C.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Modern British coins often feature the figure of Britannia, the personification of the island of Britain. She has been on British coins continuously from 1672 to 2008, but is much older than that.Britannia is Roman and first appears on copper coins (then known as asses) of the Emperor Hadrian (reigned AD 117-38), who visited Britain in AD 122 and ordered the building of the famous wall. But she appears to have been created before the emperor had set foot on the island. Although the combination of the emperor’s titles indicates that it was made between AD 119 and 128, the style of coin suggests it was unlikely to be after AD 121.The Romans visualised their imperial provinces as figures equipped appropriately to their region. Britain was a military province located on the frontier, so she is on guard with spear and shield. She is well wrapped up in a cloak against the northern cold. She also sits on a pile of rocks. Other mountainous Roman provinces are depicted sitting on or holding rocks, so perhaps Britannia sits on the Scottish Highlands that had been the furthest reach of the Empire. (The rocks are unlikely to represent Hadrian’s Wall as it had not yet been built.)Why Britannia should appear in AD 119/20 is curious. Fighting in Roman Britain is reported about this time but she does not obviously celebrate any sort of victory. Interestingly, this coin is almost always found in Britain or the near part of the continent and forms one of several batches of coppers apparently deliberately supplied as small change for the area in the late first - second century AD. Most likely it was simply known at the Roman mint where the shipment was destined early enough to create an appropriate design. After this chance event Britannia occasionally reappeared on Roman coins and centuries later was adapted for modern British coins.
Moss troopers and reivers in later days along this border
Further, the finding of a third example (with the Hildburgh fragment) of these vases seems to shed new light on their significance. No doubt they were made for the Army on the Wall, and that the soldiers were pleased to take them back in their baggage when they went home. The Hildburgh fragment, which was found in Spain, between Leon and Zamora, may have belonged to an officer of the Cohors I Asturum. It is interesting that Amiens, where a primipilus of the Legio VI Victrix has left his epitaph (CIL XIII, 3497) and which was to see, in A.D. 208, some ' vexillariieuntes in expeditionemBritannicam (ibid. 3496), should also have been the depository of this ' souvenir de guerre '
Description Electrotype (uncoloured) of the Rudge Cup. Inscriptions Inscription Type: inscription Inscription Position: below lip Inscription Language: Latin Inscription Content: A MAIS, ABALLAVA, VXELODUM, CAMBOGLANS, BANNA. Inscription Translation: MAIS (Bowness-on-Solway), ABALLAVA (Burgh-by-Sands), VXELODUM (Stanwix), CAMBOGLANS (Castlesteads), BANNA (Birdoswald). Inscription Comment: Inscribed with names of the five forts lying along or associated with the Western part of Hadrian's Wall. Dimensions Diameter: 90 millimetres Curator's comments This is an electrotype copy of a small bronze bowl found in 1725 in a well on the site of a Roman villa. The bowl was probably made as a souvenir. It shows a schematized drawing of Hadrian's Wall originally picked out in coloured enamels. The Wall, built by Emperor Hadrian (reigned AD 117-138), was a continuous defensive barrier that guarded the north-western frontier of the province from barbarian invaders. It extended from coast to coast, running for 118 kilometres (73 miles) from Segedunum (Wallsend) on the River Tyne in the east, to Bowness on the Solway Firth in the west. Above the drawing are the names of five forts at the western end of the Wall: MAIS (Bowness-on-Solway), ABALLAVA (Burgh-by-Sands), VXELODUM (Stanwix), CAMBOGLANS (Castlesteads), BANNA (Birdoswald). Acquisition notes Original discovered in or after 1725, now in Alnwick Castle and the property of the Duke of Northumberland
Two similar bowls, one from southern England and one from France, found more than 50 years ago, bear some of the same fort names on their rims, but their decoration is quite different. Known as the Staffordshire Moorlands Patera, the new find has astonished experts, who are only beginning to unravel the meanings of the script and the decoration.The bowl confirms the ancient names of four forts in sequence from the western end of the Wall', says Tomlin, 'and for the first time suggests what is likely to be the correct ancient form for the name for Drumburgh. There are further important differences from the other examples: it incorporates the name of an individual, AELIUS DRACO and a further place-name, RIGOREVALI which may refer to the place in which Aelius Draco had the pan made.'Aelius Draco was perhaps a wall garrison veteran who had the vessel made on his retirement. 'Draco' is Greek, pointing to an origin in the eastern Roman Empire. 'Aelius' is Hadrian's family name, adopted by tradition by anyone obtaining Roman citizenship under his rule. So the bowl's probable owner, or a near male ancestor, had been born in Greece, become a Roman citizen during the time of emperor Hadrian, and Aelius himself had served on Hadrian's Wall in the north of Britain. To add to this multicultural story, the bowl combines Roman and native design.For Kevin Blackburn and Julian Lee the last Sunday in June had been a good day, a lovely place on the moors with stunning views. They had been attracted to the site by an old footpath: people loose things out walking. Scanning stony grassland with their metal detectors, in the event they had found little. It was a nice day, but the ground was dry, difficult for detecting.They were packing their gear when a colleague's detector emitted a large signal. It was too big, a Coke can or something, and he left it. Blackburn ('I dig everything up') was unable to resist, and a foot down he came across a metal rim protruding from beneath a block of lime stone.'It was fantastic the moment we saw Kevin pulling it out of the ground', says Lee. The bowl is so well preserved, they were able to wipe off the dirt without risk of damage. They knew at once it was a 2nd century Roman bowl For them collecting is less a matter of possession than of knowledge, of saving objects from destruction. They are experts in artefact identification.The next morning Lee e-mailed Jane Stewart, their local Finds Liaison Officer under the Portable Antiquities Scheme. He headed it 'Awesome Roman artefact'.Stewart had spent much time gaining the confidence of collectors like Blackburn and Lee. The Treasure Act offers legal control over certain objects,items of gold and silver and groups of prehistoric bronzes, but most fall outside its scope. Truly spectacular finds, the ones they almost never make, they would always, have taken to their museum. Before the Portable Antiquities Scheme, however, they never reported objects like coins or brooches, the stuff that now pours into Liaison identification sessions, that is helping to re-write the stories of the people of ancient and historic Britain. Blackburn and Lee had been meeting Stewart monthly, working through their backlog of everyday discoveries.Sally Worrell, Prehistoric and Roman Finds Adviser at the Portable Antiquities Scheme and based at University College, London, brought in specialists Ralph Jackson (Curator of Romano-British Collections, British Museum) and Roger Tormlin (Wolfson College, Oxford University).Jackson describes the vessel as a patera, 'a handled pan rather like a small saucepan'. Its base and handle were made separately and soldered on; both are now missing. 'To judge from other finds', says Jackson, 'the handle would have been flat and bow-tie shaped and also inlaid with coloured enamel. These ostentatiously colourful pans had varied decorative designs but the present example is unusual in its curvilinear scrollwork - a balanced design of eight roundels enclosing swirling six-armed whirligigs. It is also notable for the fine preservation of so much of its enamel inlay and for the large number of colours used - blue, red, turquoise, yellow and, possibly, purple. The most exciting feature of the patera is the inscription. It lists four forts at the western end of Hadrian's wallFIND OF A GENERATION' Bowls of this type. . probably made on Hadrian's Wall in the 2nd century AD, are extremely rare. This one is unique for its style of decoration the names in its inscription .and the quality of its preservation : Bowness (MAIS), Drumburgh (COGGABATA), Stanwix (UXELODUNUM) and Castlesteads (CAMMOGLANNA). Previously only two other vessels were known naming wall forts. Together the three list seven forts, but the Staffordshire patera is the first to include Drumburgh. Important differences 'The bowl confirms the ancient names of four forts in sequence from the western end of the Wall', says Tomlin, 'and for the first time suggests what is likely to be the correct ancient form for the name for Drumburgh. There are further important differences from the other examples: it incorporates the name of an individual, AELlUS DRACO and a further place-name, RI GOREV ALl which may refer to the place in which Aelius Draco had the pan made.' Aelius Draco was perhaps a wall garrison veteran who had the vessel made on his retirement. 'Draco' is Greek, pointing to an origin in the eastern Roman Empire. Aelius' is Hadrian's family name, adopted by tradition by anyone obtaining Roman citizenship under his rule. So the bowl's probable owner, or a near male ancestor, had been born in Greece, become a Roman citizen during the time of emperor Hadrian, and Aelius himself had served on Hadrian's Wall in the north of Brita in. To add to this multicultural story, the bowl combines Roman and native design. It is the patera's decoration that sets it apart from its companions, the 'Rudge cup', found in Wiltshire in 1725, and the ~miens patera', in France in 1949. The three are remarkably alike in shape and size, about 45 mm high and 9° mm in diameter. Rudge and Amiens are both inscribed with the names of five forts: Bowness, Burgh by Sands,Stanwix, Castle steads and Birdoswald; Amiens also has Great Chesters. Unlike the Staffordshire pan, however, these two carry a stylised representation of the wall itself, with crenellated stone turrets. They were enamelled in three colours, blue, green and red, Martin Henig, a specialist in Roman art at Oxford University, believes these cups were made near the wall, by craftsmen working for a largely military clientele. The decoration on the Rudge and Amiens vessels exhibits a move away from realistic Roman convention. The Staffordshire Moorlands patera, however, takes this much further, with its exuberant, multicoloured swirls that draw directly on long-established British traditions.Shift in valuesIn the past, some archaeologists saw this 'Celticisation' of Roman art as a dilution of classic style. However Henig argues it reflects an empire-wide shift in taste to abstraction and texture that made use of a living native art. Soldiers were becoming part of local society and adopting local tastes. 'Art', he says, 'is a most valuable indicator of this shift in values'. Their rarity, and the quality of workmanship (imagine them new; the shining gold-coloured bronze setting off the bright enamelledcolours, and the rim inscriptions inviting you to pick them up and read), suggest these pans were no mere roadside souvenirs churned out in cheap factories. One, secondarily inscribed to Sulis Minerva but with no original lettering, was cast into the sacred spring in Bath; wall turrets are recognisable in its meandering decoration. Another was valued enough to reach France. There may even be one, the final specimen in this little collection of northern British art and craft, from Spain. Known as the 'Hildburgh fragment', a small piece of bowl was bought in Barcelona by a Dr W L Hildburgh from an itinerant collector, who assured him it had been found between Leon and Zamora in north east Spain. The design is difficult to interpret, but there is a hint of a wall turret and some freehand lettering.Lindsay Allason-Jones, Director of Archaeological Museums at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, is intrigued by these inscriptions. She notes that on the Rudge cup, theletters are in reserved metal against a background of enamel; on the Amiens cup, each of the forts (the letters always run without break) is backed by a different colour, blue or green. These letters were cast into the The Staffordshire pan, however was cast uninscribed, being later incised and then enamelled, apparently at the same time as the rest of the bowl, the lettering containing the same turquoise as parts of the abstract swirls. The suggestion is that in this case the inscription was dictated by the buyer: which provided the opportunity, here taken up by one Aelius Draco, for some impressive personalisation.
The Roman Baths at Bath: The Excavations 1969-75Author(s): Barry CunliffeSource: Britannia, Vol. 7 (1976), pp. 1-32
Men and women generally bathed separately, and a typical visit to the bath might involve the following routine. The visitor would first enter the palaestra (exercise courtyard) where sport or exercise would take place. Having changed their clothes in the apodyterium (changing room) they would make their way through a series of progressively hotter rooms. This began with a plunge in the frigidarium (cold bath), followed by the tepidarium (warm or tepid room), and then the caldarium (hot room). The bather used olive oil instead of soap to cleanse the skin and then scraped themselves down with a hook shaped instrument, known as a strigil. Another cold plunge and a massage might complete the day's bathing.
Iron LondonLength: 213 millimetresExcavated/Findspot Sutton Wick (Europe,UnitedKingdom,England,Oxfordshire,Sutton Wick)Period/CultureRomano-British DescriptionCopper alloy strigil.DimensionsLength: 168 millimetresAcquisition date1854Acquisition nameDonated by Rev Greville John Chester
The Roman Great BathThe Great Bath was the centrepiece of the Roman bathing establishment. It was fed with hot water directly from the Sacred Spring and provided an opportunity to enjoy a luxurious warm swim. The bath is lined with 45 thick sheets of lead and is 1.6 metres deep. Access is by four steep steps that entirely surround the bath. On the centre of the north side there was originally a fountain feature fed by its own lead pipe from the Sacred Spring. At some point this was replaced with a smaller fountain which is which is what we see today. A large flat slab of stone is set across the point where hot water flows into the bath. It is known today as the diving stone.The bath was originally roofed with a pitched timber construction, but this was replaced in the second century with a much heavier ceramic vault that required strengthened pillars to support it. The result was that the original slender pillars were thickened and projected into the bath itself.
Apulia: "There is a stone tank around the Spring. It’s sealed with lead to stop the water from leaking away. It can only go two ways: to the baths or through a big drain out to the river." "The roof over the Spring was added later. Statues of gods and goddesses stand in the water. Plants grow on the walls and sometimes birds fly through the windows. It seems more like a pool in a wood than a water tank in the centre of a town"
The Spring Overflow is the point at which hot water that was not required for use in the bathing establishment flowed from the Spring into the great Roman drain. From there it was carried to the River Avon a few hundred metres away. The water flows through a sluice that could be regulated to completely drain the Sacred Spring and give access to the reservoir chamber for maintenance. The same system devised by Roman engineers continues in use today, nearly two thousand years after it was first built
End of 2nd century or later when spring was enclosed with a dome.
Roman Minerva's headBronze, gilded head of the goddess Sulis Minerva whom the Romans worshipped in AquaeSulis (Bath).The head is slightly larger than life size. It would once have had a separate helmet attached to it. The head was cast in bronze and then gilded with layers of gold leaf. It looks as if it were chopped off the body.Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and military success. When the Romans came to Bath they found the native Celts worshipped a god of the spring who had similar powers. They combined the two into Sulis Minerva who could then be worshipped by both Celt and Roman at the Spring.It is thought the head comes from the statue that stood in the Temple of Sulis Minerva. It was probably broken off when the Temple was ransacked perhaps by Christians in the sixth century.It was found by chance in 1727, by workmen in a trench in Stall Street, Bath near to the site of the Temple.Height: 247.5 mmBarry Cunliffe, Roman Bath (1969), page 34, plate II
Roman cornerstone of great altarThis is one of three surviving cornerstones from the great altar that stood in the centre of the Temple courtyard, in front of the Temple of Sulis Minerva. It is probably where animal sacrifices to Sulis Minerva were made.It is made of local Bath stone. It would have been carved in the later first century A.D.On the front of the stone is Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. He holds a thyrsus (a stick with a fir cone on the top) in his left hand and pours an offering of wine from a cup to a panther by his side. On the other side is a female figure also pouring an offering.The stone was found during excavations under the Pump Room in 1965. It is now displayed where it originally stood in the Temple courtyard.The other cornerstones of the altar are object numbers BATRM 1983.1.28 and BATRM 1983.1.29.Height: 1270 mmBarry Cunliffe, Roman Bath (1969), page 185, number 1.27, plate XXXVIBarry Cunliffe and Peter Davenport, The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 1(I): The Site (1985), page 118, number 2A.1, figure 66, plate XLVIII
Roman Minerva reliefA small relief carving showing the Roman goddess Minerva who was responsible for the Spring. She wears a helmet and holds a spear in her right hand and a shield in her left. These represent her military powers. The owl sitting on her shield represents her wisdom. The mask in front of her stomach shows a gorgon's head with snakes instead of hair. This refers to the Greek myth in which Minerva's Greek equivalent, Athene, helped Perseus to kill the gorgon, Medusa, and was rewarded with her head.This was found during the excavations of the Great Bath in 1882.Height: 690 mm; Width: 460 mm; Depth: 150 mmBarry Cunliffe, Roman Bath (1969), page 194, number 2.5, plate LVbB.W. Cunliffe and M.G. Fulford, Corpus of Sculpture of the Roman World, Volume 1, Fascicule 2: Bath and the Rest of Wessex (1982), page 9, number 25, plate 7Number: batrm 1983.2.5Material(s): oolite (bath stone)
Although they could work perfectly well separately it is clear that the Baths and Temple were intended to function together. Pilgrims seeking a cure might first petition the deity for help at the Sacred Spring, perhaps by throwing offerings into the water. These included coins, jewellery or other valuable or symbolic items, and messages to the goddess scratched on pewter tablets seeking help or retribution on others, often for trivial offences. They might also attend ceremonies in the 'Temple precinct before turning to the Baths to seek their cure in the healing waters. The case for the importance of healing is supported by a medicine stamp found in or near the Temple precinct and Aesculapian images of dogs and snakes both on a carved stone block from the Cross Bath Spring and on smaller objects found close by.The characters include Peregrinus, a traveller from Trier in the Rhineland. He is here on pilgrimage to the great shrine of Sulis Minerva, but is also interested in developing trading opportunities. Sulinus, a local sculptor and his stonemason father Brucetus who are working on an extension to the Roman Baths. You can listen to them discussing building techniques, see their tools and hear their thoughts on some of the newer ideas brought in by the Roman architects. Flavia, and her servant Apulia, who are on a visit to the baths where they are spending a pleasurable afternoon and enjoying some of the latest treatments on offer at the Roman spa. Gaius CalpurniusReceptus who is a priest of the goddess Sulis Minerva. He offers a prayer to the goddess and can give you advice on the most auspicious times and offerings to make to the deity. And finally, Antigonus, a retired legionary, who comes originally from Nicopolis in what is now Greece. Now living out his life in AquaeSulis (Roman Bath) you can hear him reminisce about his campaigns and the involvement of the military in the building of the temple and spa here.
Some with DSM.
Roman Methe gemstoneA green plasma (quartz) stone cut with the figure of Methe, personifying drunkenness.Methe has a cloak over her shoulder. She holds a cup to her lips. In front of her is a vase in which is a palm tree. Methe was a popular subject and was even said to have been on a seal of the famous queen of Egypt, Cleopatra.The type of carving and shape of the stone help us to date it to the second half of the first century A.D. It was probably cut by a continental gem cutter.These carved gems (intaglios) were set into signet rings. They were pressed into wax to make a personal seal for letters.Found in the main Roman drain at the Roman Baths in 1878 with a group of 33 other gems.Length: 10 mmBarry Cunliffe (editor), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2: The Finds from the Sacred Spring (1988), pages 31 and 52, number 13, plate XIXRoman two-horse chariot gemstoneA purple amethyst stone cut with a two-horse chariot and rider.The chariot is a type called a biga. The charioteer holds a whip. This would have been a popular image, reminding the wearer of going to the circus to watch horse racing.The type of carving and shape of the stone help us to date it to the second half of the first century A.D. It was probably cut by a continental gem cutter.These carved gems (intaglios) were set into signet rings. They were pressed into wax to make a personal seal for letters.Found in the main Roman drain at the Roman Baths in 1878 with a group of 33 other gems.Length: 11 mmBarry Cunliffe (editor), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2: The Finds from the Sacred Spring (1988), pages 32 and 52, number 18, plate XIXRoman gryphon gemstoneA green jasper (quartz) cut with a figure of a gryphon, a mythological creature with a lion's body and an eagle's head and wings.The gryphon represented strength and was associated with Nemesis, the goddess of retribution.The type of carving and shape of the stone have been used to date it to the second century A.D. It was probably cut by a continental gem cutter.These carved gems (intaglios) were set into signet rings. They were pressed into wax to make a personal seal for letters.Found in the main Roman drain at the Roman Baths in 1878 with a group of 33 other gems.Length: 11.5 mmBarry Cunliffe (editor), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2: The Finds from the Sacred Spring (1988), pages 33 and 53, number 29, plate XXRoman satyr gemstoneAn orange cornelian (quartz) stone cut with the figure of a satyr which was a half human/half goat mythological creature. The satyr holds a dish of fruit in his left hand and a curved stick in his right.The type of carving and shape of the stone help us to date it to the second half of the first century A.D. It was probably cut by a continental gem cutter.These carved gems (intaglios) were set into signet rings. They were pressed into wax to make a personal seal for letters.Found in the main Roman drain at the Roman Baths in 1878 with a group of 33 other gems.Length: 10.5 mmBarry Cunliffe (editor), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2: The Finds from the Sacred Spring (1988), pages 31 and 51, number 12, plate XVIIIRoman discus-thrower gemstoneA deep orange cornelian (quartz) stone cut with the figure of a discus thrower.The man is on tiptoe holding a discus in his left hand and he stretches out his right hand. In front of him is a vase with a palm in it. This represents the health and success of athletes.The type of carving and shape of the stone help us to date it to the second half of the first century A.D. It was probably cut by a continental gem cutter.These carved gems (intaglios) were set into signet rings. They were pressed into wax to make a personal seal for letters.Found in the main Roman drain at the Roman Baths in 1878 with a group of 33 other gems.Length: 12 mmBarry Cunliffe (editor), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2: The Finds from the Sacred Spring (1988), pages 31 and 52, number 16, plate XIX
Roman dedication stoneThis reads Son of Novantius, set this up for himself and his family as the result of a vision."This is the bottom part of an inscription.In some Roman religious sites people spent a night in an 'abaton'. This was a special sleeping house where they would dream dreams that would be interpreted as messages from the gods. It could be that the word 'vision' in this inscription refers to one of these experiences. Other sites that are thought to have had these sleeping rooms include Lydney in Gloucestershire.Found on the site of the old Royal United Hospital in Beau Street in central Bath in 1825, near the 'Hot Bath Spring' where other Roman bathing facilities are thought to have existed.Height: 480 mm; Length: 480 mmR.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, Volume I: Inscriptions on Stone (1965), page 49, number 153Barry Cunliffe, Roman Bath (1969), page 198, number 4.3, plate LXV
After a sacrifice, the temple augurer removed the organs from the animal's body and studied them to predict the future.
Artemis who was not getting along with her brother’s pregnantmortal wife, Coronis, shot her with an arrow but allowed her son to live. He was given to the centaur Chiron to raise.
‘Curse tablets’ are small sheets of lead, inscribed with messages from individuals seeking to make gods and spirits act on their behalf and influence the behaviour of others against their will. The motives are usually malign and their expression violent, for example to wreck an opponent’s chariot in the circus, to compel a person to submit to sex or to take revenge on a thief. Letters and lines written back to front, magical ‘gibberish’ and arcane words and symbols often lend the texts additional power to persuade. In places where supernatural agents could be contacted, thrown into sacred pools at temples, interred with the dead or hidden by the turning post at the circus, these tablets have survived to be found by archaeologists.Our written evidence for the Greek and Roman world mostly derives from literary texts written by and for small aristocratic groups, but in curse tablets we hear different voices, of provincials and non-citizens on the edge of empire, women and slaves. With the growing number of discoveries, scholars have become more familiar with the scripts and are reading texts with greater confidence. Since the major discoveries of curses at Bath and at Uley Roman Britain has been at the centre of the study of curse tablets, since the province is currently the principal source for new discoveries of curses in Latin.The following pages introduce curse tablets in the ancient world at large and in Britain in particular. They outline the preparation of curses, from making the tablet through writing the text to dispatching the curse to the gods. They examine the languages and scripts in which they were written, the cursers, the scribes and those who were cursed. Motives for cursing and the supernatural powers engaged to put curses into effect are investigated. We explore too where tablets are found and how they are preserved and interpreted by archaeologists and historians.Throughout this introduction cross-references are made to the tablets and to the archaeological sites presented elsewhere in this website. Evidence from other curse tablets in Britain, especially Bath, and across the ancient world is also used.
The very writing of curses was manipulated for magical effect. Letters could be written in mirror-image form or the order of letters in a word, of words in a line, or of lines in a text might be reversed. The writer might also change the direction in which words or letters were written in alternating lines (‘boustrophedon’ a Greek term named after the movement of an ox-team ploughing a field). Some of the texts excavated from the spring at Bath have been so treated. On some tablets from other provinces the god and / or the victim, sometimes in bound position, were also drawn. Tablets are also found with ‘pseudo-inscriptions’, scratches made to imitate writing, or sometimes with no trace of writing at all. Perhaps for the illiterate, mimicry of the text or the act of writing, accompanied by a spoken prayer or spell and deposition in an appropriate place was judged to be equally powerful.
Hollow silver figurine of a standing woman dressed in a full-length garment, her left shoulder bare and her left arm supporting a fold of drapery. The figurine is corroded, fragmentary and distorted. The woman's feet, face and arms from the elbow downwards are broken away and most of the front is also lacking - only the shoulder and the left breast remain, the latter very corroded. The back of the figurine preserves the fine modelling of the drapery and the woman's hair, which is parted on the crown and formed into a bun on the nape of the neck. Dimensions Height: 147,7 millimetres Weight: 108,4 grammes
Description Tiny triangular gold votive plaque, with leaf-marked decoration and a basal tab. Dimensions Height: 62,6 millimetresPlace (findspot) Excavated/FindspotBaldock, Ashwell (Near) (all objects) (Europe,United Kingdom,England,Hertfordshire,Baldock) Period/Culture Roman (scope note | all objects)Description Gold votive plaque, with four-tiered finial and basal tab Dimensions Height: 152,5 millimetres Associated names Associated with Senua(?)Acquisition date 2003
Description Gold votive plaque with an embossed scene showing a figure holding a spear and shield standing in a gabled shrine. Above is a two-tiered leaf-marked final; below a basal tab. Dimensions Height: 148,5 millimetresDescription Slender gold votive plaque, now detached from its uppermost position on the stack of six gold plaques. Embossed in the centre is a schematically-rendered slender gabled shrine, with a volute-ornament at the apex of the gable. In the shrine stands Minerva, slightly turned to her left, holding a spear in her right hand and a shield in the left, and wearing a crested helmet. Above the shrine is a simple leaf-marked finial. Beneath is a punctim inscription in a tiny ansate panel. The basal tab has been squashed back against itself. Together with a little damage, this has obscured part of the inscription, which indicates that a person named Cariatus (or Cariatia, or similar) dedicated the plaque in fulfilment of a vow. Inscriptions Inscription Type: inscription Inscription Language: Latin Inscription Content: CARIATIA RESSA VSL Inscription Transliteration: Cariatia / Ressa v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) Inscription Translation: CariatiaRessa has paid her vow willingly. Dimensions Height: 139 millimetres (approximate) Weight: 5,7 grammes
Cast silver female fore-arm and hand, holding a pair of corn ears. The modelling is very accomplished. The ears of corn are gilded and detailed with incised lines, and there is an incised curvilinear design on the arm. The arm has a core of tin-lead alloy. Dimensions Length: 56,6 millimetres Weight: 28,4 grammes Curator's comments In size and weight, and, in particular, in their mode of manufacture, nos. 2 and 3 do not appear to be part of the figurine no. 1, and there is no physical evidence that they were attached to it.Description Cast silver female fore-arm and hand, holding a phiale, in the form of a plano-convex disc, the convex side quartered with a central dimple. The phiale is gilded: the modelling of the hand is extremely fine: the arm has a core of tin-lead alloy Dimensions Length: 39,6 millimetres Weight: 29,5 grammes
The votive deposits associated with the pre-Roman sanctuary give some clue to the character of the pre-Roman deity. The presence of weapons suggests a martial aspect. In the Roman period the identity of this local god, possibly to be read on an as yet unpublished curse tablet, seems to have been assimilated with the Roman deity Mercury. Mercury is named on curses, stone altars and metal plaques and represented in statues and figurines. The major cult statue probably stood within the cella (see Uley : temple). The god was nude and slightly larger than life-size, accompanied by a ram and cockerel at his feet. The sculptor used local Cotswold stone but the accomplishment of the figure shows a close familiarity with the Greco-Roman tradition of representing the god. Its style dates it to the mid-second century AD, although the surviving fragments were found in deposits of the post Roman period. Better preserved representations of the god suggest that Mercury carried a caduceus (his staff entwined with snakes) in his left hand and a money bag in his right. Among the votive objects were also miniature silver and iron caducei and copper alloy models of the god's cult animals, the cock and goat. The animal bones also show how classical forms influenced the worship of the god (see Uley : cult practice). Some curse tablets also appealed to Mars and Silvanus as well as to Mercury. Representations of Sol and Bacchus were also discovered at the temple. This may mean that more than one god resided at Uley, or perhaps that these are alternative translations of the local deity into the gods of the Roman pantheon. The discovery from a fourth century context of a decorated copper alloy sheet, bearing scenes from the New and Old Testaments suggests the possible presence of Christianity among the cults of late Roman Uley. The building constructed over the temple ruins in the fifth century AD has been identified as a church, suggesting the existence of a Christian community at or near Uley
A memorandum to the god...Mercury (over Mars Silvanus) from Saturnina a woman, concerning the linen cloth which she has lost. (She asks) that he who has stolen it should not have rest before/unless/until he brings the aforesaid property to the aforesaid temple, whether man or woman, whether slave or free. She gives a third part to the aforesaid god on condition that he exact this property which has been written above. A third part...what she has lost is given to the god Silvanus on condition that he exact it, whether man or woman, whether slave or free...
