Silver treasure from Trier
The silver treasure from Trier was an important deposit from late antiquity , which was discovered in Trier on December 4, 1628 and melted down a short time later.
Find history
On December 4, 1628, novices were busy clearing away rubble in the garden of the Jesuit novitiate in Trier. They found a stone container with numerous silver objects in the floor . These should actually have been handed over to the Trier Elector as sovereign, but this did not happen. Instead, the Jesuits secretly brought the finds to Cologne , where they were melted down by a goldsmith . The sale brought in 4093 Reichstaler , which were used for the kitchen of the monastery.
Jacob Masen and Alexander Wiltheim , who refer to an unnamed Jesuit, report on the find . Wolfgang Binsfeld was also able to publish a previously unknown two-page inventory of the hoard find from the library of the Episcopal Seminary.
Reconstruction of the found ensemble
The reports that have come down to us contain very rough descriptions of a total of 49 individual objects as well as the weight information that is important for the sale. The total weight was therefore around 114.5 kg. The deposit from Trier thus far exceeds the weight of other, previously known, late antique silver hoards from archaeological finds.
The reconstruction of the appearance and the function of the destroyed pieces is only possible with the help of the mentioned reports and a comparison with preserved finds from other late Roman silver finds due to the lack of images. Binsfeld and, more recently, Max Martin have presented reconstructions. The treasure therefore comprised two rectangular and eight round application plates. All but one were decorated (for example with animal fights, mythological representations or gladiators ). A ladle and three containers, including a bucket and a kettle, were used to store and serve drinks. Two loosely found handles belonged to a figuratively decorated vessel, it is interpreted as a cooling vessel . The inventory also includes eight larger bowls decorated on the inside and outside, eight plates decorated on the inside, and six undecorated lidded vessels. They are counted towards the dishes. A "boat" and smaller bottles probably served as accessories for the toilet. The treasure also contained a foldable frame, for which Martin is considering an interpretation as a folding chair. Two plates carried a head with a nimbus (apparently Christ ) in the middle , surrounded by the inscribed heads of the apostles Peter and Paul and the saints Justus and Hermes . These two pieces were the only ones to escape the furnace and came into the possession of an undisclosed church, but their later whereabouts are unknown.
The Trier treasure from 1628 thus consisted of parts of an extensive food and drink service, supplemented by items for personal hygiene and a piece of furniture. The application trays were suitable for serving food to several people. The sets of eight bowls and plates each may contain individual servings for a corresponding number of participants in a meal. The ensemble thus offers a clear indication that in late antique Trier it was still possible to celebrate banquets at the highest social level. The Christian decoration of two plates does not stand in the way of profane use. A decoration of objects of daily life with Christian symbols, signs or images is attested in late antiquity for other archeologically known subject groups.
Dating
The dating of the find is based on the measurements (which have been handed down in writing), since the sizes and weights of known, datable silver objects can also depend, among other things, on their time. The Trier silver treasure is therefore younger than the Mildenhall treasure and also the so-called Seuso treasure . Martin assumes it was hidden in the 2nd quarter of the 5th century.
Labels and owner
An application plate (weight 6.08 kg) carried a hunting image and an inscription from the two names AVDENTIA NICETIO on the front in the middle. The male name Nicetius is attested in the late antique imperial aristocracy of Gaul , as is the (rarer) female name Audentia. The combination of the two names is probably a wedding present. However, no connection with historically known personalities can be proven. A name is given on another plate, which is given in the handwritten inventory as BASSILIA. Possibly it is a reading error of the more well-known woman's name Bassula. Here, too, no connection to a historical person can be proven.
The original owners of the treasure must have been extremely wealthy. The presumed composition suggests that the owners still practiced traditional Roman dining customs in the early 5th century . Possibly the owner family belonged to the senatorial nobility in Gaul. The Augusta Treverorum had lost its status as capital under Honorius in 395. According to grave inscriptions, however, members of senatorial families apparently remained in Trier afterwards. The treasure was probably hidden on the occasion of an impending disaster and could not be recovered afterwards. In the early 5th century, the city was plundered several times, according to Salvian von Marseille . The fourth of these destructions is seen to be related to battles between Franks and the army master Flavius Aëtius in 428 or battles with the Burgundians in 435/436. According to the dating of the treasure, it is possible that it was hidden by Trier on the occasion of this fourth destruction.
The apostle jug from 1992
In 1992, during construction work not far from the presumed site, a 50.2 cm high late antique silver jug came to light by chance. It bears depictions of apostles and lambs with a nimbus , which are interpreted as symbolic depictions of the apostles. The piece is now in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier . It is dated to the 1st half of the 5th century. The fact that the jug belongs to the treasure of 1628, which was probably discovered nearby, is not unreasonable, as there were no serving dishes among the finds from the 17th century, but the association cannot be proven.
See also
Web links
literature
- Wolfgang Binsfeld : The silver treasure found in Trier in 1628. Trier Journal 42, 1979, pp. 113-127.
- Annemarie Kaufmann-Heinimann and Max Martin: The apostle's jug and the silverware in the hoard from 1628 . Self-published Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier 2017.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the addition of Masen in the second part of the new edition of 1670 of the Antiquitatum et annalium Trevirensium libri XXV . Two volumes. Cologne 1629 (according to ADB: 1626; incomplete due to censorship, edition largely destroyed); ed.Jacob Masen, Johannes Mathias Hovius, (Leodii) Lüttich 1670 (complete and supplemented) Digitized Vol. 1 Digitized Vol. 2
- ↑ August Neyen (Ed.): Wiltheim, Alexander: Luciliburgensia sive Luxemburgum Romanum, hoc est Arduennae veteris situs, populi, loca prisca… iam inde a Caesarum temporibus Urbis adhaec Luxemburgensis incunabula et incementum investigata atque a fabula vindicata. Kuborn, Luxembourg 1841–1842.
- ↑ See Binsfeld 1979
- ^ Based on the tabular compilation by Richard Hobbs: The Mildenhall Treasure. Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia. British Museum, London 2016, p. 260, the Trier find was about 45 kg heavier than the so-called Seuso treasure and about twice as heavy as the silver treasure from Kaiseraugst
- ↑ On the names cf. Martin 2017 pp. 270–273. Martin points out that Bassula, the mother-in-law of Sulpicius Severus , stayed in Trier around 400.
- ↑ Vg. Martin 2017 p. 282 f.
- ↑ See Kaufmann-Heinimann in Kaufmann-Heinimann and Martin 2017 pp. 45–127