Late Roman Treasure from Canterbury
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The late Roman treasure of Canterbury was found in 1962 by accident during construction work. It consists of about 30 silver and some gold objects. Since the find was not made during a proper excavation, the exact number of objects found is disputed. The find mainly consists of spoons, coins and silver bars.
Britain is rich in hoards from late antiquity . Roman Britain flourished in the fourth century, while many other provinces of the empire declined. This heyday came to an end in the last third of the fourth century. The inhabitants of the province struggled with the constantly attacking Anglo-Saxons . In the first half of the fifth century they were able to immigrate to the island. The Romano-Britons resisted. The rich among them buried their treasures in order to raise them again in better times, but this often did not happen, so that the island has a lot of rich late antique hoard finds.
The late Roman treasure of Canterbury consists of at least four silver bars, twelve silver spoons, an instrument of unknown function, a ring, a needle, the end of a chain and at least nine coins. The latest coins are issues of the Emperor Honorius from Milan , which date between 395 and 402.
The silver bars are stamped, two of them may have come from a workshop in Trier . They correspond to the weight of a Roman pound (approx. 300 to 340 grams). A spoon shows a mythical creature, a mixture of deer (head) and fish (rear part). A spoon shows the Rho symbol, which has the shape of a Christian cross. Another spoon is labeled VIRIBONISM. This is perhaps too viri boni s (u) m , I belong to a good man to dissolve. Two spoons only have a short S-shaped handle, while the others have a long handle and are around 20 cm long. The instrument of unknown function is decorated with the Christian Chi-Rho .
literature
- CM Johns, TW Potter: The Canterbury Late Roman Treasure . In: Antiquaries Journal 75 (1985), pp. 314-352.