Roman Romance

What did the Romans know about love?

Venus took pride of place as the goddess of love, fertility, and marriage. One of her festivals, Veneralia, was held on April 1st and encouraged couples to respect ‘traditional’ values of romance. It was also a chance for people to ask for her help in granting love-related favours!

Denarius of Julia Domna depicting Venus on the reverse

Cupid is the next divine figure best linked with love in the Roman world. Cupid is likely the Romanised version of Eros, a key figure of Greek mythology. The fable of Cupid and Psyche is laced with the bizarre and fantastical; including Psyche receiving assistance from some ants that help her sort grain into piles during Venus’s trials to regain Cupid’s love. It shows no matter how weird, even amongst the gods love is never far from the Roman imagination.

Roman intaglio depicting Cupid, discovered at the Roman Baths

What did the real people of Rome say about love in their lives? 

The ‘ideal’ marriage occupied the hearts and minds of Romans in everyday life. Marriages were generally arranged by the paterfamilias (Father of the household). In upper-class society, marriage was commonly focused on alliance-forging, dowry exchange, or property gain, and romance is presented as an afterthought. It is easy to look at Roman marriages as cold, political, and calculated. Which, in fairness, is not wrong in some cases.

How reflective of wider Roman society is this? 

Whether it is the controversial Ovid, the amorous Catullus or the elusive Gallus, love poetry is a valuable insight into a far more general perspective of romance. Read them with a large pinch of salt because little is without agenda or exaggeration in Rome. These poems show love in all its colours, the good, the bad, and the peculiar. It is endearing to see that even two thousand years ago, love was still everything it is to us today.

Finlay
Placement student

Words on Wednesdays: Beauty

‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’

John Keats

Health and beauty were considered important for Romans. They wanted to make themselves look as good as they could. From bathing in the public bathhouse to wearing glamorous jewellery, they put a lot of effort into maintaining their health and beauty.  I chose some interesting objects that are in the Roman Baths collection on the subject of hygiene and jewellery and set up a handling table for visitors by the Great Bath.

Handling Roman objects by the Great Bath

First of all, hygiene. The most popular object I had on the table was the pocket toilet set including ear-scoop, nail-cleaner and tweezers. Romans carried this toilet set on their belt or in a little bag to the bathhouse.

Left to Right: Tweezers, nail cleaner and ear scoop

We can’t talk about Roman beauty without mentioning hairstyles. Roman women had elaborate hairstyles. They copied complicated hairstyles from coins or statues of the empress or important people. Many hairstyles required some hair pins made of bone or metal to keep the hair in place. Some even added hair pieces, and others wore wigs made from real hair. Slaves had to curl and pin the hair of their mistress. On the handling table, there was a bone hair pin and a beautifully preserved wooden comb on our handling table. Visitors loved the 2000 years old comb which was found in the Sacred Spring on our site.

Left to right: bone hair pin and wooden comb

Last but not least is Roman jewellery. Finger-rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces were the most common items which completed their outfit. Brooches had a utilitarian function as clothes fasteners, however, we can assume that they also a decoration by looking at various designs of brooches. On our handling table, I had a copper alloy bow-brooch and its replica which helped to imagine what it might have looked like back in Roman times. Children enjoyed bow-brooch making activity using metallic card paper.

Left to right: Bow brooch and replica

Bow brooch craft activity

Although it was a replica, one of my favourite objects was a little ring-key. This key shaped ring was an actual key to lock caskets or strong boxes. Visitors were amazed by this clever solution for security.

Replica ring-key

There are more objects on display at the Roman Baths which I strongly recommend you come to see. I wonder if you can spot the little display of an intricate penannular brooch (circle shaped brooch) near the King’s Bath on your visit.

Seohee
Placement Student

수요일의 한 줄: 로마시대의 아름다움

‘아름다움은 영원한 기쁨이다’-존 키츠의 시 엔디미온(Endymion) 중

건강과 아름다움을 유지하는 것은 로마인들에게 매우 중요했답니다. 그들은 할 수 있는 한 아름답게 자기자신을 가꾸려고 했어요. 대중 목욕탕에서 목욕을 하는 것부터 화려한 장신구를 착용하는 것까지 많은 노력을 기울였어요. 저는 로만 바스 박물관 컬렉션에서 로마시대의 아름다움과 관련된 유물들을 골라 수요일 저녁 Great Bath옆에 방문객들이 직접 만져볼 수 있는 핸들링 테이블을 마련했답니다. 물론 금속으로 된 것들이라 작은 상자 안에 각각 넣어두긴 했지만요.

핸들링 테이블

먼저, 위생과 관련된 유물. 가장 인기가 많았던 유물은 귀이개, 손톱 클리너, 족집게였어요. 로마인들은 이것들을 고리에 연결하여 밸트에 달거나 작은 가방에 넣어 목욕탕에 가곤 했대요.

왼쪽부터 족집게, 손톱 클리너, 귀이개

로마시대의 아름다움에 대해 이야기할 때 빼놓을 수 없는 것이 헤어스타일이예요. 로마시대 여성들은 굉장히 정교한 헤어스타일을 갖고 있었는데요, 동전이나 조각상에서 여제나 귀족 여성들의 헤어스타일이 유행을 선도했다고 해요. 복잡하게 땋고 틀어 올린 헤어스타일을 유지하기 위해서는 많은 헤어핀이 필요했는데, 헤어핀들은 주로 동물의 뼈나 금속으로 만들어졌어요. 아름다운 헤어스타일을 완성하기 위해서 어떤 사람들은 헤어 피스를 붙이기도 했고 가발을 착용하기도 했다고 해요. 부잣집 여주인들은 하녀들에게 자신의 머리카락을 곱슬곱슬하게 만들고 헤어핀을 이용해 스타일을 만들도록 했어요. 수요일의 핸들링 테이블에 우리는 뼈로 만들어진 헤어핀, 그리고 아름답게 보존된 나무 빗을 전시했어요. 방문객들은 여기 로만 바스의 Sacred Spring에서 발견된 2000년된 빗을 굉장히 좋아했답니다.

외쪽부터 뼈 헤어핀, 나무 빗

마지막으로는 로마인들이 사랑했던 장신구입니다. 반지, 팔찌, 귀걸이 그리고 목걸이는 그 시대 사람들의 패션을 완성시켜주었던 가장 흔한 장신구예요. 브로치는 굉장히 느슨한 옷을 입었던 로마인들의 옷을 고정시켜주는 실용적인 기능을 갖고 있었지만, 화려하고 다양한 디자인의 브로치가 있었던 것을 보면 장식적인 역할도 했음을 짐작할 수 있어요. 우리의 핸들링 테이블에는 구리 합금으로 된 활모양의 브로치가 있었어요. 오랜 시간이 지난 금속 브로치라 변색이 되었지만, 우리가 갖고 있는 복제품은 당시에 얼마나 아름답고 반짝이는 브로치였는지 상상할 수 있게 해주었답니다. 어린이 방문객들은 우리가 준비한 활 모양 브로치 만들기 활동을 하며 즐거워했어요.

활 모양 브로치와 복제품

활 모양 브로치 만들기 활동

복제품이기는 하지만, 제가 가장 좋아했던 유물은 열쇠 반지였어요. 열쇠 모양으로 된 이 작은 반지는 실제로 로마인들이 작은 장식함이나 금고를 잠그는 열쇠로 쓰였다고 해요. 우리 테이블을 찾아준 많은 방문객들이 로마인들이 보안을 위해 만든 이 영리한 열쇠 반지를 보고 놀라워했답니다.

열쇠 반지 (복제품)

로만 바스 박물관에는 로마시대의 화려한 문화 유산을 느껴볼 수 있는 많은 유물들이 전시되어 있어요. 바스에 오실 일이 있다면 꼭 한 번 방문하길 추천합니다. 로만 바스에 오시면 King’s Bath 근처 작은 디스플레이 케이스에 아주 정교하고 아름다운 원형의 브로치가 있는데요, 한 번 찾아보시는 건 어떨까요?

Tuesday Times Tables: The Curses and the Sacred Spring

One of my favourite jobs during my internship at the The Roman Baths has been working on my Tuesday Times Table. I chose to show to the visitors the curse tablets and the other objects thrown into the Sacred Spring by the Romans. The curses are tablets made of lead and pewter, inscribed by hand and dedicated by people to the goddess Sulis Minerva (as well as Mars and Mercury), asking for revenge and justice for missing objects, probably stolen. Some of them were folded or rolled. Most of the curses are written in colloquial Latin, specifically the Vulgar Latin of the Romano-British population. The tablets contain religious prayers and Roman and Celtic names. Some of them are written in capital letters, others using the old or new Roman cursive and others are illiterate. In the Sacred Spring were found many other objects like coins, jewellery, vessels and wood and stone objects. They were all offerings to the goddess.

During my display by the Great Bath many people seemed to be interested in my project. I had a table on which I could show the objects, in particular the curses with a display board with some further details. People were invited to handle every object (well in their boxes!) and this is the very good thing about the Tuesday Times Tables, because usually people can’t handle objects in museums, but thanks to this project they could personally discover the finds, and they were very surprised by this, and sometimes hesitant!

My handling table by the Great Bath

At my table there was an activity for children too. They could try to write their names using the ancient cursive Roman alphabet. This activity became very popular with adults too, many people tried to write their names or other words with the alphabet and they realised that it is very different from the English alphabet and that there are missing letters!

Stefania Ballocco

Universita’ degli studi di Cagliari (Italy)

Erasmus intern with the Collections team

Le maledizioni e la fonte sacra

Uno degli incarichi svolti durante il mio tirocinio al Roman Bath Museum e’ stato lavorare al Tuesaday Time Table, un progetto che prevede l’esposizione al pubblico di oggetti normalmente non visibili. Ho scelto di mostrare ai visitatori le tavolette delle maledizioni e gli altri oggetti che venivano riposti nella fonte sacra dai Romani.

Le maledizioni sono tavolette di piombo o peltro, incise a mano e dedicate alla dea Sulis Minerva. I dedicatari chidevano giustizia e vendetta per oggetti persi, probabilmente rubati. Alcune di queste sono state ritrovate nella fonte piegate o arrotolate. La maggior parte sono scritte in latino colloquilale, in particolare e’ stato usato il latino volgare della popolazioni Romano –britanniche. Le tavolette contengono preghiere alla dea e sono una fonte per lo studio e la conoscenza dell’onomastica romana e celtica. Alcune sono state scritte in stampatello, altre utilizzando il corsivo, altre ancora sono incomprensibili o illegibili. Nella fonte sacra sono stati ritrovati molti altri oggetti, quali monete, vasi, gioielli,  e oggetti in osso e in pietra. Erano tutte offerte per la dea.

Durante l’esposizione nel Great Bath i visitatori del museo si sono mostrati interessati al mio progetto.  Ho esposto le maledizioni e gli altri oggetti in un tavolo, nel quale si trovava anche un pannello con informazioni aggiuntive. Le persone erano invitate a toccare con mano ogni oggetto (posto ovviamente all’interno della sua scatola!), e questa e’ la vera cosa interessante del Tuesday Time Table, in quanto di solito i visitatori nei musei non possono toccare gli oggetti, ma grazie a questo progetto possono scoprirli personalmente, e molti di loro sono sorpresi da questo, alcuni addirittura esitanti.

La mia esposizione nel Great Bath

Nel mio tavolo c’era anche un attivita’ dedicata ai bambini, i quali potevano provare a scrivere il loro nome usando l’antico alfabeto latino corsivo. Questa attivita’ e’ diventata molto popolare anche tra gli adulti, che si sono cimentati nel provare a scrivere i loro nomi e altre parole, scoprendo che l’antico alfabeto latino e’ completamente diverso da quello inglese e che molte lettere sono assenti!

Stefania Ballocco

Universita’ degli studi di Cagliari 

Tuesday Times Tables: Art and Design in Roman Britain

Choosing the theme of ‘Art and Design in Roman Britain’ was easy for my handling table, due to the wealth of art within the collections in the Roman Baths. I focused on pottery, glass, wall painting, mosaics and jewellery as they were perfect examples of art in Britain, and within Bath as all my objects were local finds. Having only ever studied Roman art within Rome and the surrounding empire, it was a challenge learning new things about art within Roman Britain, especially the cultural overlapping with the Celtic tribes within Britain at the time of the Roman conquest.

Overlap between the Celtic and Roman styles was mainly seen within the jewellery on my handling table. The brooches and bracelets were perfect examples of a Celtic influence, due to the swirling designs which are identifiable as Celtic. I had beautiful twisted bronze and copper bracelets, with a tiny child’s bracelet which was a personal favourite. I also had a number of replica brooches, pins and torcs on display as examples of how varied and colourful Roman jewellery was and how the styles had changed.

Child's Copper Alloy Bracelet

Mosaics are always important examples of art within the Roman world, let alone in Roman Britain where fewer have survived. I used tesserae (the square stones in a mosaic) as an example of the scale on which each tiny tessera was placed, and was amazed how durable they are considering their age. Accompanying my tesserae was a piece of mosaic from Weymouth House School in Bath, found in 1897.  The mosaic was popular with those who had never seen or had contact with a Roman mosaic before.

Mosaic piece from Weymouth House School

Using Samian pottery as examples was perfect due to its vibrant ochre colouring and beautiful designs of birds, and a sun among other motifs on the sherds of the pottery, I also had a replica Samian bowl with a Barbotine design around the top to show how Samian ware might have looked when complete.

Samian Bowl Sherd

The most popular and impressive item was a small bronze eagle, which was an ornamental fitting for an object. I was amazed how well preserved the eagle was with the perfect incision of feathers on the wings outstretched, and on the face of the beak. Although small it made a big impact on my handling table due its beauty, and for its symbolism of the Ancient Roman world and its presence which is still here today.

Roman Bronze Eagle Figurine

Megan 

Roman Society Intern

Let's 'Brooch' the Subject!

Everyone likes a bit of sparkle and the Romans were no exception! This week I had my Jewellery Handling table at the Roman Baths. I displayed some pieces from the Roman Baths collection and replicas along side them to show what the jewellery would have looked like originally. If you came along, I hope you liked it!

I also included a few images of the Fayum death portraits (Fayum is an area in Egypt!). These are likenesses of the deceased when they were young, that were painted onto the linen wrappings of mummies and date back to the period when Romans occupied Egypt.

My favourite Fayum death portrait

Here’s my favourite one of the death portraits because she’s modelling the fashionable mono-brow of the time, where ladies actually filled in their eyebrows to create a mono-brow for the sake of beauty. How times change!

The subjects of the Fayum death portraits, all seem to be dripping in gold. However, Jewellery wasn’t just for the mega rich. Not only gold and silver were used but also bronze, iron, bone, glass (for beads), enamel and much more! 

Snake bangle on display at The Roman Baths

Snakes were a very popular image to have on jewellery and were worn as arm bands, bracelets, necklaces and rings. It was only when Christianity came in when snakes were connected with evil (in the Bible when the devil tempted Eve, in the form of a snake, in the garden of Eden). Before then snakes were thought highly of in the Roman Empire, being thought have healing powers. Snakes were also associated with several gods and goddesses in the Roman Religion, with some deities even depicted in snake form.

Me choosing pieces from The Roman Baths collection

Looking at the pieces I picked from the collection, the replicas and the fayum death portraits it really shows that jewellery really hasn't changed that much! If you look for it, Roman-style jewellery can be found everywhere on the high street. Shopping time!
 

Look out for the next handling table! It's free and there's no need to book, not to mention it's an opportunity to see objects from The Roman Baths collection that aren't normally displayed to the public! See you there!
Emma

If you liked it, then you should have put a posy ring on it!

This week’s blog is about an amazing artefact that I had to put on the museum's database. It’s a gold Posy ring! I’ll explain more in a second but first, just look how pretty it is! 

Posy rings are gold bands with an inscription on the inside. Our posy ring’s inscription says “A friends gift”… well actually ‘friends’ has been spelt ‘frends’ and there’s a little tear in the band over the ‘f’ of ‘gift’ so (if we’re going to be literal!) it says “A frends gif”.  

Close-up of the inside inscription

Our ring was found in a field in Keynsham, by a metal decectorist! I wonder why it was there? We can only speculate! It just shows you what treasures you can find in the most random places. The size of the ring isn't represented well in the photo on. It's actually very tiny! I doubt even my little finger could accommodate it! Possibly it was meant for a child!

‘Posy’ comes from the old French word ‘poséy', meaning a form of poetry. Our little ring isn't poetic, but some posy rings were just a simple statement. One of my favourite, more poetic, posy rings (that I came across on the British Museum website) has the inscription “many are the stars I see but in my eye no star like thee” how lovely is that?! Link here.

Posy rings weren't just for betrothals and love tokens but also exchanged in friendship and sometimes given out in remembrance of a death. Unfortunately, our ring's inscription means that it was probably a gift of friendship, which undoes all of the romantic back stories that another collections team member and I were making up. Oh well!

Not the Disney-style back story I'd hoped for!

The peak of their popularity was from the 15^th-17^th century. Our ring has been dated to the 1600s! It’s amazing that I’m holding something so familiar, as a gold ring, in my hand that’s around 400 years old!!

Emma

Roman Jewellery

Ever wonder how many interesting stories and facts are hidden within jewellery from the past?

The idea of putting together a handling table last Wednesday was supposed to bring objects out of the stores and to give a closer look at Roman jewellery, and the purposes they served during these times.

Roman jewellery was quite simply designed. Wealthier people preferred jewellery made of gold but the most common jewellery in this period was made of cheaper metals such as bronze, iron or animal bone. Precious stones, enamel and glass usually decorated them.

The objects I chose were mostly copper alloyed jewellery such as brooches, bracelets, some rings and interesting beads, which were widely used as attachments to jewellery.

Among them I decided to use some replicas of Roman brooches found in Britain since they could represent better the real colours, the techniques and the shapes of the brooches used during the Roman period and can be handled.

Brooches are one of the most common discoveries at Roman sites in Britain. The Latin word for a brooch is fibula and this is a common term used in archaeology. Unlike most modern brooches, fibulae were not only decorative; they originally served a practical function: to fasten clothing, such as cloaks. They come in many different types, shapes and decoration. Roman brooches were mostly made in animal, trumpet, and pennanular shapes.

Rings were worn by men and women from all levels of the society. For men they were regarded as a privilege and awarded as a military distinction. Apart from ornamental rings some rings were engraved and used as seals to sign important documents while some others had keys attached for important boxes such as strongboxes.

Roman gemstones were used in all sorts of jewellery and some of them were thought to have medical properties. Among the most common semi-precious stones during Roman times were jet and carnelian. The Romans also wore other jet jewellery such as hair pins, and pendants. Carnelian beads were commonly attached by wires to jewellery while they were also widely used for making engraved gems for signet or seal rings.

Even though the exhibits did not have the shine of precious metals and stones people seemed to enjoy this time travel to Roman times through jewellery, and showed special interest in hearing additional information concerning ancient metallurgy and the functional use of jewellery.

Antri, Leicester University MA placement

Roman Bracelets

Snakes, spinning and stone: what do they have in common? Roman bracelet designs!



One of the curatorial tasks at the Roman Baths Museum is to update the collection records. This involves checking that each object has been photographed, described and researched and preparing needed information for entry to the collection management database.

Earlier this year, a collection of eleven Roman bracelets needed to be catalogued so they were tekan off display and brought to the office where the curatorial staff and volunteers had the opportunity to look at each one closely and admire their detail and workmanship while they were being documented.

A favourite bracelet looks like a snake chasing its tail, but is not connected. The snake has an oval body, shaped mouth and ear-lugs, impressed eyes and ear-holes with evidence of scales on the tail.



Our beautiful spiral snake bracelet.

Research has revealed that its single-headed spiral form and naturalistic style mean it is possibly an early example of popular Roman spiral snake jewellery. To the Romans, the snake was a symbol of healing, regeneration and rebirth. A similar bracelet is part of the Llandovery Hoard.
Roman women and girls adorned themselves with jewellery of many different materials and designs. Most of the examples in this group are made from a flat ribbon of metal with incised, punched or notched decoration but there are also three bracelets made from wire.

Another is made of three wire strands spun together with a single strand extending at one end to form a loop. When examined closely, we noticed that one of the three strands has corroded differently and is green for its full length.

Three-tone twisted-wire bracelet.

The bracelet appears to be made from wires of different alloys and may have been three different colours when new.

Most of the bracelets are made from copper alloyed with other metals in various proportions. The different bracelet is carved from shale, a layered sedimentary rock. Although there is only a segment left, this piece shows it was originally quite large and slightly conical in shape.



Remaining segment of the shale bracelet

 It is possible this bracelet was shaped to fit the upper arm above the bicep muscle, perhaps made for a man.

All eleven bracelets are on display in the Aquae Sulis gallery of the museum so everybody can have a close look and share our admiration at their workmanship.


Nicola Pullan is a foreign correspondent from the University of Sydney.


Refs: Brailsford, Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain
Davenport, Archaeology in Bath, Excavations 1984-1989
Johns, The Jewellery of Roman Britain

Roman Jewellery

Roman women were extremely over the top with their jewellery; so much so that a law was passed limiting the amount of gold one person could wear, as it was deemed ‘tacky’!

Earring

Compared to the Mayan civilisation for example, the Romans were not the flashiest of societies, preferring pearls to diamonds for their natural colouring – colour was a key element in Roman fashions, not how shiny or elaborate something was. Gem stones were often left in their natural state and were not polished or cut to catch the light.

Rings and bracelets were integral parts of accessorising in the Roman Empire; as well as wearing them as we do today, bracelets were pushed up to the upper arm and rings worn on the lower finger joint – hence their tiny sizes.

Small twisted finger ring

If a man was seen wearing any other form of jewellery that was not a signet ring, he would have been considered effeminate. The rings were used to determine the wearer’s status, position and as a means of sealing letters or identifying personal objects. The gemstone on the top was carved with the owner’s personal emblem, but often cheaper copies were made out of glass displaying cruder images of goddesses or emporers. Another type of ring that is frequently found is that of the betrothal band; these were placed on the ring finger (modern wedding ring finger) as Romans believed that this was directly connected to the heart via the nervous system.

Necklaces were most commonly worn short, similarly to modern day chokers, sitting just below the neckline. Materials varied from glass beads, metals and precious stones. One of the most common variations of necklace was the torc, believed to have originated from the Celtic inhabitants of Britain and Gaul as the symbol of the warrior. The Romans wore these to represent their status, and they were most commonly made from gold, although other materials, such as copper-alloy, were also used.

Contrary to popular belief, brooches were not primarily decorative items; they were mainly functional, working to hold Romans’ clothes together. There are many designs when it comes to brooches, from simple fibulas to more elaborate disc shaped ones. These variations suggest the status or wealth of the owner and let us know that everybody in society was wearing them.

Brooches from the Sacred Spring

Hair pins, as brooches, were practical items that held up a lady’s elaborate hair style, but they also added grandeur to her look. The longer pins were worn in larger, more complicated styles, whereas the shorter pins would have been used for simpler, lighter dos. Many were extremely detailed with carved goddesses and scenes at the tops, jewels were inlayed and the pins themselves made from silver or ivory. More commonly, the pin would have been made from wood or bone.

To have a look at some of the amazing, more elaborate pieces check out this website: http://www.allaboutgemstones.com/jewelry_history_ancient_roman.html

Fi

Creating a Tuesday Times Table

My fellow interns and I were set the task of creating a themed table for the Roman Baths’ Tuesday Times Tables. We were given free range on everything from choosing the theme, picking out objects for handling and designing the information leaflets and posters.

I was first to pioneer the Times Tables and chose the theme of Roman jewellery.

Sophia at her Tuesday Timetable

Behinds the scenes, I spent a lot of my time researching pretty much everything I could find that related to Roman jewellery, and preparing myself for tricky questions that would be asked by the public. Books such as Roman Clothing and Fashion by A. T. Croom really gave me an idea of what to include on my table.

Fortunately our Learning Officer, Lindsey, who is in charge of all the educational events that take place at the Baths, already had a box of handling items that were perfect for my table – this saved me a lot of time looking through the archives for complete objects that would have been safe to be touched by the public. The box contained an original and a replica brooch, a replica chatelaine (toilet) set, original bracelets and rings, and a model necklace. One of the rings included was a signet ring with its gem stone missing (signet rings would have had a carved gemstone on the top to show the owner’s seal and status). In order to show what the gem would have looked like, I created some colouring sheets with a variety of engravings on, that children - or adults! - could take away with them. There were also photos of original gems and other pieces of jewellery.

When the table was set up, I was visited by numerous members of the public who were fascinated by the size of the rings – tiny! – or the detail on the bracelets.
Fi

All that Glitters may not be Gold but........

33 carved gemstones (intaglios) were found on site in 1878. Discovered as a group, they were found in the Great Drain, just after the outflow from the Great Bath.

All the intaglios date to the latter half of the first century; most likely the Flavian period. It is unclear if the group was casually lost or given as a votive offering to the goddess Sulis Minerva. The position of discovery means that they could have been lost in the Great Bath or given as an offering into the Scared Spring (both of which expel water into the Great Drain).

The gemstones were probably cut by a continental gem cutter or gemmarius. The Romans wore these cut gemstones set into signet rings. By pressing the image into wax, it created a personal and individual seal for letters. These signet rings would have also been a desirable and fashionable item of jewellery.

Below are four of these beautiful gemstones with accompanying descriptions:

Image depicting a Roman maenad cut into blue surfaced nicolo (quartz). 10.5mm in length.

Roman maenad

Maenads were the female worshippers of the god Bacchus (the god of wine and festivity).This maenad has long hair and a hair band. If you look closely you will see she has animal skin pulled tightly over her left shoulder. This is one of fifteen intaglios found in the collection that come under the subject heading of 'deities and personifications'.


Image depicting a leaping lion cut into a pale yellow cornelian (quartz). 12.5mm in length. 

Leaping lion

This lion engraved intaglio is one of three depicting wild beasts in the collection. During the Roman period images of wild beasts represented the power of natural forces.


Image depicting a discus thrower cut into a deep orange cornelian (quartz). 12mm in length.

Discus thrower

The man cut into this intaglio is a discus thrower on tiptoe with a discus in his left hand and an outstretched right arm. In front of him is a vase containing a palm; this represents the health and success of athletes. This is one of five intaglios found in the collection that come under the subject heading of ‘amusement’.


Image depicting cattle under a tree cut into a dull green/grey chalcedony (quartz). 11mm in length.

Cattle under a tree

Portrayed in profile, these three cows are all facing a tree. Two are standing and one is lying down. Cattle were a popular theme; set to remind people of the peace and tranquillity of the countryside. This is one of six intaglios found in the collection that come under the subject heading of 'countryside'.

For more information and direct references for each stone (as well as a description for the others we hold in the collection) please follow the web link below:

http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/collections.aspx

For a general reference please use the book listed below:

Barry Cunliffe (editor), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, Volume 2: The Finds from the Sacred Spring (1988), pages 31 to 52.

Helen Harman - Collections Assistant