Category: Roman Britain
On the Feast of Saturnalia, my master gave to me…
A Roman Slave’s Carol As the shortest day of the year drew near, the Romans crossed their fingers for a kind winter and people from all walks of life made a break in their usual routine to honour the harvest…
Getting rid of Geta – a scruffy inscription concealing a dark deed
How Roman Britons kept on the good side of a bad emperor In 1672, a Roman altar was found on the south bank of the River Tyne at South Shields. Measuring over a meter in height, it had images of…
The Roman soldier who went to Newcastle and punched Hercules
Test your decipherment skills on a bronze plaque from Roman Britain On a shelf in the Ashmolean’s Rome Gallery, eagle-eyed visitors might spot a tiny bronze plaque, with a rectangular body and triangular handles (a shape called a tabula ansata).…
Now you see it, now you don’t: a disappearing text from Roman Chester
Ashmolean ANChandler3.1. Red Sandstone Altar from Chester (H. 0.97, W. 0.45, D. 0.43). AD 154. Looking Blank On display in the Ashmolean’s Ark to Ashmolean gallery stands a red sandstone altar. On three of its sides there are relief…