Roman cup discovered

[Danie]

Guys
We announced the discovery of a unique Roman cup, which has links to Hadrian's wall yesterday, at the British Museum.
If you would like to read more about, or see the database record, then please follow the links:
website:
http://www.finds.org.uk/news/newsarticle.asp?id=155
database entry:
http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/...finds&id=50159

[Aaron H]

Cool.
Makes you wonder about who owned that cup. Did they loose it, and worry about finding it again? Or was it left behind in the rush to get out of the area? Who owned it? What did they look like?

(This is why I love archaeology!)

[hffan2000]

wow i am definitely gonna check this out. i love this kind of stuff. this could even inspire an indiana jones fan fiction story. what a great find.

[Danie]

Thanks for looking guys!
It is likely to have belonged to a Roman Soldier of Mediterranean extraction. Probably he was posted to Hadrian's Wall and served at the forts mentioned on the cup. On retirement, perhaps he was presented this gift and it ended up on the free holding that was granted in Staffordshire after his active duty finished. It is a lovely piece and really vivid colours. It even has some really rare purple enamel remaining on it.
I'll keep you guys posted on what we're finding at the British Museum.

[westford]

Wow, those colours are really bright! Archaeological finds can seem so grey and brown sometimes...

I had some uni lectures about Hadrian's Wall a couple of years ago. Wasn't there a sort of plaque commemorating the building of one section by a Greek garrison? Hmmm, they were 9am lectures, and I slept through most of them - can you tell? The lectures were about Scottish archaeology though, so were focused more on those nasty northern tribes who halted the Roman advance.

One more thing - could the name AELIUS inscribed on the cup have anything to do with Newcastle? It was known as Pons Aelius, right?

[Edited by westford on 10-02-2003 at 01:17 pm]