Along the Border

A series of colorfully enameled metal vessels name forts along Hadrian’s Wall in Britain. They preserve creative responses to one of the empire’s most ambitious construction projects, a complex fortification system that was never represented in official art. Three well-preserved vessels have been recorded in England and northern France, and more fragmentary examples continue to be registered with England’s Portable Antiquities Scheme. The designs of this expanding corpus draw on six key elements: a vessel shape popular throughout the empire; enameling technology associated with the Celtic peoples of the empire’s northern lands; letters of the Latin alphabet; place names in the Celtic language; a fortified wall motif with precedents in Hellenistic court mosaics; and a triskel motif common in Celtic metalwork. These intricate portrayals conjure a place that was far more than a wall, while illustrating the entangled aesthetics of an evolving borderland.

Conclusion

The Conclusion reviews the role of material culture in mediating imaginations of place in the Roman empire, with reference to the Itinerary Cups describing journeys from Spain to Rome, the Spectacle Cups depicting chariot racing and gladiatorial combat, the Fort Pans documenting Hadrian’s Wall, and the Bay Bottles visualizing Baiae and Puteoli. To demonstrate the flexibility of the book’s analytical framework, two final sets of artifacts are presented. One focuses on spectacle souvenirs that were made in Roman Spain and include the date of the event and the name of its sponsor with unusual specificity. The other is an ornamental metal vessel that was excavated in a distant province, yet was created in workshops around Rome’s Circus Flaminius and bears that place name as a mark of prestigious craftmanship. Whereas the book’s introduction constructed an interdisciplinary analytical framework, the Conclusion reconsiders the place of material culture in Roman studies.

Destinations in Mind

Destinations in Mind explores how objects depicting distant places helped Romans understand their vast empire. At a time when many sites were written about but only a few were represented in art, four distinct sets of artifacts circulated new information. Engraved silver cups list all the stops from Spanish Gades to Rome, while resembling the milestones that helped travelers track their progress. Vivid glass cups represent famous charioteers and gladiators competing in circuses and amphitheaters, and offered virtual experiences of spectacles that were new to many regions. Bronze bowls commemorate forts along Hadrian’s Wall with colorful enameling typical of Celtic craftsmanship. Glass bottles display labeled cityscapes of Baiae, a notorious resort, and Puteoli, a busy port, both in the Bay of Naples. These artifacts and their journeys reveal an empire divided not into center and periphery, but connected by roads that did not all lead to Rome. They bear witness to a shared visual culture that was not divided into high and low art, but united by extraordinary craftsmanship. New aspects of globalization are apparent in the multilingual place names that the vessels bear, in the transformed places that they visualize, and in the enriched understanding of the empire’s landmarks that they impart. With in-depth case studies, the book argues that the best way to comprehend the Roman empire is to look closely at objects depicting its fascinating places.

The End of the Ninth Legion, War in Britain and the Building of Hadrian's Wall

ABSTRACT It is often stated that the Ninth Legion was transferred from Britain and continued to exist until the 130s or beyond. The evidence is reviewed, and it is concluded that: (1) no more than a detachment of the legion went abroad, and that only for the period c. 105 to c. 120; (2) there is no prosopographical or other evidence which proves that the legion existed after the early 120s. Given that war, heavy Roman losses and an interruption in the building of Hadrian's Wall are directly attested in Britain, probably occurring in 122 or shortly after, it is argued that it is most likely that the legion was defeated and disbanded in connection with those events.