Romano-British Period--Pottery--Samian Ware--Potters’
Stamps--Varieties of Ornamentation--Glass Vessels--Sepulchral
Vases, etc.--Lachrymatories--Bowls--Beads--Coins found with
Interments.
In the preceding chapters I have purposely avoided including vessels of
Samian ware. As these are frequently found with sepulchral deposits, I
now proceed to speak of this peculiar and beautiful ware.
[Illustration: Fig. 269.]
_Samian ware_ is that peculiarly fine, close-textured, and
richly-coloured red-ware, which is so frequently found, and is so well
known to antiquaries. The body of this ware is of a fine red colour,
but its surface is of a deeper and richer tone, much like the best
red sealing-wax. It is extremely hard and brittle, and is sonorous in
sound when struck. The vessels of this ware consist for the most part
of bowls, cups, and pateræ or dishes, in each of which divisions are
found an almost endless variety of forms, and while some are perfectly
plain, others are more or less covered with ornaments--figures of men,
animals, foliage, borders, etc.,--in relief. These relief ornaments
were produced from moulds, and the names of the makers of the vessels
were also frequently stamped upon them. Of these ornaments and
potters’ marks, Mr. Wright says, “The potter’s name was placed in a
small rectangular label, as in the examples given on figs. 270, 271,
272, 273, and 274. The name was most commonly put in the genitive
case, combined with O or OF, abbreviations of the word _officina_,
as in the example given in our cut, where OF MODESTI stands for
_officina Modesti_, _i.e._ ‘from the workshop of Modestus;’ or with
M for _manu_, as COBNERTI M, for _Cobnerti manu_, ‘by’ or ‘from the
hand of Cobnertus.’ Sometimes the name is given in the nominative
case, followed by F or FE, for _fecit_, as COCVRO F, for _Cocuro
fecit_, ‘Cocuro made it.’ Doubled or ligulated letters are frequently
introduced into these inscriptions, an example of which is given in
the lower figure to the right, where the first letter is the ligulated
T and E, and the name is TETTVR. Sometimes we meet with an error in
the spelling of the word; and in one or two instances the person who
made the stamp inscribed the name carelessly, so that it read direct
on the stamp, and consequently it is reversed in the impression on the
pottery. An example is given in the cut, where the inscription reversed
reads PRASSO·O. The name is not always placed in a square label, though
examples to the contrary are rare. In a few instances it has been found
inscribed round a small circle. It is a peculiarity of the Arrentine
ware, described by Fabroni, that the label not unfrequently assumes
the form of the sole of a man’s foot. The stamp of this form given in
our cut occurs on a piece of the red Samian ware found at Lillebonne,
in Normandy. The inscription appears to be HIL·O·L·TITI, which may
perhaps stand for _Hilarii officina liberti Titi_, ‘from the workshop
of Hilarius, the freedman of Titus.’ The next cut (fig. 276) represents
one of the stamps used for impressing the label with the potter’s name.
It was found at Lezoux, in Auvergne and presents the name AVSTRI·OF.
‘from the workshop of Austen.’ A similar die of a potter named
Cobnertus is preserved in the museum at Sevres. Both these names occur
on specimens of Samian ware found in England. Other potters’ names are
shown on figs. 272 to 275. The first of these bears the name CELSINVS
. F .; the second, MICCIO; the third, AISTIVI.M; and the fourth is the
one referring to Aretium.”
[Illustration: Figs. 270 and 271.]
[Illustration: Fig. 272.]
[Illustration: Fig. 273.]
[Illustration: Fig. 274.]
[Illustration: Fig. 275.]
[Illustration: Fig. 276.]
Similar dies for stamping the ornaments and figures have also been
found in France. In the latter, each die contained a single figure, or,
at all events, a single group, and this explains why the same figures
are so frequently found on the pottery in different combinations. One
of these dies contains a single festoon and tassel of the well-known
festoon ornament, so common on this pottery.
[Illustration: Fig. 277.]
The ornamental borders which are most commonly met with on Samian
ware are elegant festoon-and-tassel borders, and the egg-and-tongue
ornament, both of which, as well as a border consisting of a range of
figures representing the Medicean Venus, are shown on the accompanying
engraving (fig. 277) of a fine bowl found in London. Wavy lines
and lines of circles are also common, and we frequently meet with
scroll-work of very elegant design, commonly formed of leaves, flowers,
and fruit. Examples, selected from a numerous variety, are given on
engravings (figs. 278 to 282). These scrolls are generally used to
form a border round the upper part of the bowl, as shown on figs. 280
and 281. The foliage most in favour for these scrolls was that of
the vine, and the ivy (fig. 282), and also that of the strawberry;
the former of which especially shows that this pottery was, as Pliny
says of the Samian ware, particularly intended for the service of the
table. The ivy-leaf, indeed, is almost the only ornament of the plainer
description of this red ware. Sometimes the leaves of the vine are
gracefully intermingled with the clusters of the fruit, and with little
birds which are feeding upon the latter, as in the fragment represented
in our cut (fig. 283).
[Illustration: Fig. 278.]
[Illustration: Fig. 279.]
[Illustration: Fig. 280.]
[Illustration: Fig. 281.]
[Illustration: Fig. 282.]
[Illustration: Fig. 283.]
Animals of all kinds are found in abundance among the ornaments of the
Samian ware. Among these the boar was a great favourite. For instance,
a cup will be divided into compartments, in which figure alternately
two boars, and a man confronting them with a spear. In a similar
compartment under arches, in another, we have two heads of lions above,
and below, a rabbit and a dog. Another, again, is ornamented with
fishes, separated by squares filled with a singular ornament, which is
perhaps intended to represent water. Sometimes the whole outside of a
bowl is covered with birds, beasts, and fishes mixed together in the
utmost confusion.
[Illustration: Fig. 284.]
[Illustration: Fig. 285.]
The subjects in which human figures are introduced present still
greater variety, and it need hardly be added that they are much more
interesting. Subjects from the classical mythology are very common, and
among the figures of the deities we recognize some, such as the Venus
de Medici (fig. 277), which were copied from well-known models of art.
Combats of pygmies and cranes appear as favourite subjects, as in the
paintings, etc., in Pompeii. Sacrifices and religious ceremonies are
not uncommon; and especially bacchanalian processions, and dances of
bacchantes and satyrs--another proof that this ware was used for the
festive board. The spirited manner in which figure subjects are often
treated, will be seen by the engravings we have given, and by examples
to be found in most collections. One vessel represents a bacchanalian
scene, in which Silenus figures among satyrs and fauns. A faun is
drinking from a horn supplied from a wine skin which he holds in his
left hand, while Silenus attempts to snatch it from his hands. Genii,
one of whom appears with wings on another fragment of the same vessel,
appear to be directing or presiding over the scene. Among other very
favourite subjects are hunting scenes, gladiatorial combats, and the
sports of the amphitheatre. Others represent sacrifices and religious
offerings. Musicians performing on various instruments are also common;
and domestic scenes are depicted in great variety. Many of these are
of a character not to be described, but sufficiently characteristic
of the degraded state of morality under the Roman empire. The bowls
here engraved (figs. 285 and 286) are good examples of these kinds
of decoration. Another is ornamented with a series of figures, which
appear to have no connection one with another. In the middle is a
bacchanal with his thirsus; to the right of him a figure playing on a
double pipe; on both sides a group of bears; and to the extreme right a
charioteer, followed by a bear “rampant.”
[Illustration: Fig. 286.]
[Illustration: Fig. 287.]
The great quantity of this Samian ware which is found on Roman sites
admits of easy explanation, from the circumstance that it was held in
great favour, and that the manufactories on the Continent continued to
work with activity in producing it during the whole Roman period. The
number of names of potters, collected from fragments found in England
alone, amounts to more than two thousand, and we must suppose them to
have been spread over a long period.
[Illustration: Fig. 288.]
[Illustration: Fig. 289.]
[Illustration: Fig. 290.]
[Illustration: Fig. 291.]
Other examples of the common forms of Samian-ware vessels are given
on figs. 288 to 291, and a clay mould for forming heads on pottery,
discovered by myself at Headington, is shown on fig. 287.
_Glass_ was very successfully and beautifully worked by the Romans,
not only abroad, but in Britain, and vessels of this material are
frequently found with sepulchral deposits. They are of great variety,
and evidently made for many different uses. Those found in the graves
are usually those made for holding the burnt bones of the dead; small
vessels, commonly called lachrymatories, although their use was most
probably that of holding the unguents and aromatics usually buried with
the dead; small bowls, cups, or drinking vessels; and beads.
[Illustration: Fig. 292.]
Of the sepulchral vessels of glass the one here engraved (fig. 292),
from Bartlow Hills, will show the general form. They are of somewhat
thick green glass, with neck and handle, and are literally bottles.
The one from Bartlow Hills is of square form, and is six inches in
height and four inches square on the bottom. Others are round in
form. They contained the calcined bones of the dead. Of the forms of
the small vessels known as lachrymatories, to which I have alluded,
the examples in pottery on figs. 259 to 263 will convey a tolerably
correct idea. They are usually from three to five inches in height. One
found at Mount Bures, Colchester, is a remarkable example, being made
of beautifully variegated glass. Cups or bowls, or, as they may not
inaptly be called, basins, are of the common basin form, or jar shaped.
They are usually of green glass, and of elegant workmanship. Beads
are, perhaps, the most frequently found of any remains of Roman glass;
this being of course owing to their more solid and, consequently, less
perishable nature. They are of various kinds and sizes, and are more
or less ornamented. The accompanying examples (figs. 294, 295, 296,
and 297), will be sufficient to direct attention to these interesting
relics. A number of beads, said to have been found with undoubted
Roman remains, are shown on fig. 298.
[Illustration: Fig. 293.]
[Illustration: Fig. 294.]
[Illustration: Fig. 295.]
[Illustration: Fig. 296.]
[Illustration: Fig. 297.]
[Illustration: Fig. 298.]
The COINS found along with Romano-British interments are, of course,
of various emperors and of various periods. They are only occasionally
found, and, when discovered, cannot, it must be remembered, be
taken as any criterion as to date of deposit, or, indeed, cannot be
considered alone as evidence of the barrow or interment belonging to
the Romano-British period. The Romans seem to have sowed their coins
broadcast over the whole length and breadth of the land, to have
thrown them about as they would useless chaff, to have buried them in
urns in every conceivable place, and to have deposited them, either
singly or otherwise, in the barrows of their predecessors. It is
unnecessary to speak, then, of the varieties of coins which are from
time to time turned up by the antiquary in his researches into the
early grave-mounds. They form but a thousandth part of the coins which
are found away from interments.
It may, however, be well, as showing the relative proportions of
the coins of different emperors found in this country, to give the
following analysis, by Mr. Roach Smith, of more than eleven hundred
coins picked up at different times in one locality--Richborough in Kent.
Augustus 7
Agrippa 1
Tiberius 2
Antonia, wife of Drusus, sen. 1
Caligula 2
Claudius 15
Nero 11
Vespasian 13
Titus 1
Domitian 10
Nerva 1
Trajan 7
Hadrian 5
Sabina 5
Ællius Cæsar 1
Antoninus Pius 5
Faustina 3
Marc Aurelius 4
Faustina 5
Lucius Verus 2
Lucilla 1
Commodus 2
Severus 5
Julia Domna 3
Caracalla 3
Julia Maesa 1
Severus Alexander 7
Gordianus 6
Philippus 4
Valerianus 3
Valerianus, junior 1
Galliense 19
Salonina 4
Postumus 10
Victorinus 14
Marius 1
Tetricus 13
Claudius Gothicus 15
Luntillus 2
Aurelianus 4
Tacitus 5
Florianus 1
Probus 7
Garinus 1
Numerainus 2
Diocletianus 8
Maximianus 16
Caräusius 94
Allectus 45
Constantius 4
Helena 8
Theodora 13
Galerius Maximianus 1
Maxentius 2
Romulus 1
Licinius 12
Licinius, junior 1
Constantine the Great 149
Fausta 2
Crispus 18
Delmatius 1
Constantine II. 98
Constans 77
Constantius II. 42
Urbs Roma 52
Constantinoplis 60
Magnentius 21
Decentius 4
Julianus II. 7
Helena 1
Jovianus 1
Valentinianus 22
Valens 39
Gratianus 49
Theodosius 14
Magnus Maximus 6
Victor 3
Eugenius 1
Arcadius 27
Honorius 8
Constantine III. 1
----
Total 1144
Of these coins, fifty-six only were of silver, six of gold, fifteen of
billon, or base silver, and the remainder were of brass, the greater
portion being, naturally, what are denominated “third brass.”