The Mildenhall Treasure is a huge hoard of 34 pieces of Roman silver cutlery from the 4th century, and by far the most valuable artistic and golden objects of Britain in Britain. It was found in West Row, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, in 1942. It consists of over thirty items and includes Great Dish weighing just over 8kg only.
The collection is on display at the British Museum because it is very important and valuable, and a replica is on display at the local museum in Mildenhall.
Video Mildenhall Treasure
History of discovery
The pile was found while plowing in January 1942 by Gordon Butcher, who moved him off the ground with help from Sydney Ford, for whom he worked at the time. Many of the details of the discovery are still uncertain, at least because they were in wartime. Apparently they initially did not recognize objects as they were, though Ford collected ancient objects. Ford cleans up pieces and puts them in his home, using some of them as everyday tools and some, like the Great Dish, on special occasions with family. Ford declared hoarding to authorities in 1946 after a knowledgeable friend had seen them at his home. Investigations were held in the summer of that year, when the findings were legally declared "treasures" and obtained by the British Museum in London. The academic view at the time was generally reluctant to believe that such high-quality Roman silver might be used in Roman Britain, so there were many imaginative rumors and even doubts that this was a genuine English invention altogether. Many well-documented inventions of high-quality Roman material in recent decades, including Hoxne Hoard, have arranged all the doubts to rest.
Recently, Richard Hobbs drew the academic world's attention to Roald Dahl's part-fictional account importance, and has addressed the issues surrounding his true findings. In the event version of Dahl, which was later confirmed by Ford's grandson, Ford was fully aware of the importance of the discovery, but could not part with the treasure. She keeps it and returns it secretly, but the two scoops left on the screen are seen by an unexpected visitor, Dr. Hugh Fawcett.
Ford and Butcher were awarded £ 1,000 each as searchers, though not necessarily full prizes for the former gratia because the findings have not been properly reported.
Maps Mildenhall Treasure
History of views and publications
Mildenhall's findings are shown in its entirety at the British Museum as soon as registration and necessary conservation work has been completed after the acquisition in 1946, and has remained a permanent feature of the Romano-British museum gallery ever since, with sometimes multiple lending pieces for special exhibits both inside museum or elsewhere.
John W. Brailsford soon published the catalog of the first summary of the invention, and the revised edition of this edition was published in 1955 and 1964. A rather fuller, though still short, study by Kenneth S. Painter came out in 1977. (Note that the catalog number in Painter 1977, quoted in the descriptions below, in accordance with the order of the registration number of the Museum, 1946.10-1.1-34, set forth in the original curatorial list of objects). The most striking object in the treasure, the Great Dish (see below) has been illustrated and mentioned in countless publications, including the main papers on the final "Roman plates".
A detailed study of the treasure was recently published by the British Museum.
The contents of the heap
This treasure consists of silver cutting equipment of the current type in the 4th century, and may have been hidden at some time in that century. Most of them are relatively large, and they are all very high-quality workmanship.
The heap consists of two large serving plates, two small serving plates decorated, deep fluted bowls, a set of four large decorated bowls, two small decorated bowls, two small plates, deep bowls with deep dome covers, five small round spoons with dolphin-shaped handlebars, and eight long-handled spoons ( cochlearia )
Plates and plates
The Great Dish (also known as Oceanus Dish or as Dish Neptune, from the face of the god of the sea at its center), which measures 605 mm in diameter and weighs 8256 g, is a remarkable piece. The ornaments, which are done by chasing from the front, are in three concentric zones. In the middle, the head of the sea god, perhaps Oceanus, the personification of the ocean, is shown with a full face, with a beard made of seaweed and dolphins emerging from his hair. The portrait is surrounded by a narrow inner decoration of the décor inhabited by nereids (sea nymphs), tritons and other mythical and natural marine creatures, while the deepest outermost zone carries the image of Bacchic thiasos , dancing, making music and drinking revels of the god Bacchus. More specifically, Bacchus's victory over Hercules is described. Hercules displayed a surprising drunkenness and was supported by two helpful satyrs. Bacchus itself appears with panther and Silenus in the '12 hour 'position of the circle in relation to the orientation of the Oceanus head, so that in most food illustrations, it is visible upside down at the top of the image. Dewa Pan also appears in the composition, dancing and swinging his pan-pipe, as do some Maenads dancing, Bacchus female devotees, and satyrs. The whole design is traditionally idolatrous, and executed in an extraordinary way.
Two small slabs (each with a diameter of 188 and 185 mm, 539 and 613 g.) Decorated in exactly the same style as the Big Plate: one shows the God of Pan, plays the pipes, and the play plays double flutes, and the other shows satyr dancing with dancing maenad. Both of these small plates have scraped graffiti in Greek at the bottom: eutheriou , meaning '(belonging) Eutherios'. Both also have thick beaded edges, as does the Great Dish itself and some other items in the collection.
Other large flat dishes are almost as large as Great Dish, 556 mm in diameter, but decorated in a very different and more controlled style, consisting of a linear geometric decoration decorated with niello black contrast (silver sulphide) to form wide border edges and panels central circular.
Bowl
A deep fluted bowl with two small swing grips (released at the time of discovery, since the solder tends to loose during burial) is a type found in some of the late Roman silver treasures, such as those in the Esquiline Treasure of Rome, and from the Traprain Law in Scotland. This species is thought to have been developed from a shell shell previously, and has been used to hold water at the dining table, intended to rinse the hands of the visitors. The geometric design pursued in the middle of the fluted bowl of Mildenhall depicts a six-pointed star, a device that has no special symbolic significance in the Roman period, but is just one of many popular geometric figures.
The closed bowl is a very interesting container. This was the earliest object in the heap, and the only area of ​​its general making in the Roman Empire is known for certain. It belongs to a kind known to have been produced in Gaul in the 3rd century. It has a narrow horizontal flange arranged under an upright edge and decorated with an ornamental scroll pattern in niello, and a small nielloed rosette inside the center base. It has a high vaulted cap that fits neatly over a vertical edge and has been decorated in a very different style, with two low-relief decorations. The upper zone consists of conventional foliate ornaments, while the lower is a centaur scene against various wild animals, separated by the Bacchic mask. A small rim lifted at the top of the lid will be enough to handle it, but set inside it is the 'button' in the form of a young silver-gold statue, sitting triton blowing snail shells. This figure may be a secondary addition to the lid; and its cover, in the style of the 4th century, is certainly a secondary addition to the bowl.
A set of four bowls with wide and horizontal rims represents the development of the next flanged bowl shape. The rims, or flanges, are edged with large beads, and have a low relief decoration that once again follows a traditional pagan theme, Bacchic, with pastoral scenes, many animals, natural masks and myths, and Bacchic. They also have a circular figural decorating medal in a bowl. One (no.5) has a scene that shows a hunter attacking a bear. This bowl, with a diameter of 300 mm, is slightly larger than the other three, all of which have a diameter of 268 mm and a medallion that depicts a single head in profile: a young woman, a veiled ward, and a helmet head. This identification is still uncertain.
There are matching pairs of small flanged bowls (168 mm in diameter): they are elaborately decorated with beads, foliate rolls and small birds and rabbits on the edges, and have a decoration in the center. The main body of this small bowl has a smooth fluted internal pattern.
Supported Plate
Two paired plates also form a pair. They were originally thought to have originated cups with broad, flat grounds, somewhat like modern wine glasses in form, but the foliate patterns on 'bases' and relatively unfinished interiors of 'trophies' indicate that they are used in other ways, as small flat plates (diameter 115mm) on the stem with a bowl-shaped base. Ships of the same shape occurred in the treasure Traprain Law, which was discovered in 1919.
Spoon
The remaining items in the Mildenhall collection are all small utensils; five spoonfuls of spoon or spoon, and eight long spoons of the Roman cochlear cochlea type. 'Ladel' round has a zoomor lever that is cast in the form of a dolphin. There is a comparable part in Traprain's treasures, and there are two sets of each of these ten spoons, though not with a zoomorphic handle, at Hoxne hoards. Only four handles survive from the Mildenhall barn, and one of them is broken and incomplete. Because the hoists and bowls were soldered together in ancient times and separated during burials, it was not known which grips included which bowls. In theory, if each bowl and grip component each comes from a different device, there may be as many as 9 teaspoons of the original. In practice, it seems more likely that the grips and bowls present all the common property, and the group has been reconstructed as five ladles, incorporating existing grips and bowls.
8 cochlearia belonging to three groups or sets. Three have a pear-shaped bowl with decorative decorations in it. No. 29-31 are all written in a bowl with the only explicit Christian reference in the group, the standard Chi-rho standard monogram, flanked by eyebrow latters and omega. Two other spoons, nos. 27 and 28, has a bowl inscription with a personal name: PASCENTIAVIVAS and PAPITTEDOVIVAS. Although the inscription is not open or exclusively Christian, this inscription is quite common in the context of Christianity, so these spoons may also offend Christian beliefs.
Inscription
In addition to three Christian symbols and two Christian inscriptions on the spoon, and Eutherios possessing graffiti on two small Bacchic platters, several pieces of Mildenhall, together with many Roman silver tableware items from other findings, bear the weight inscription. These are scratched in inconspicuous places, such as bases, and can be very difficult to read and interpret, since they do not always record the weight of the object itself, but sometimes from a set in which the object forms a part. Although domestic silver is used for social display, so the artistic quality is important to the owner, the true value of the precious metal bars is part of his wealth, and should be recorded and recorded.
Importance
Mildenhall's treasure contains pieces that no doubt belonged to the first rank of Roman art and skill in the scale of international excellence. Although discovered at some time, and in a way, leaving many unanswered questions about the reason and date of concealment, the entire date of the fourth century is certain, and the decor, with its traditional pagan theme just touched by the influence of new faith, Christianity, in some small pieces, are characteristic of the period of change in the Roman Empire. We can not yet say where objects like the Great Dish were produced, but it seems safe to suspect that it must be somewhere in the general Mediterranean region.
The degree of discovery of metal hoarding of all periods has accelerated in England since the mid-20th century, due to a combination of circumstances that include changes in agricultural practice, the emergence of metal detection as a hobby, and a better public understanding of archeology.. The Mildenhall group was exceptional by any standard, but in 1946, it seemed a quality too big to be a British invention.
Older inventions, such as the treasures of Traprain Law and Esquiline Hill in Rome, and newer ones, such as the Kaiseraugst treasures of Augusta Raurica in Switzerland and Hoxne, can now place Mildenhall's treasures in an international context and Romano-English which makes it clear that the goods - very high quality personal items were used in the frontier provinces of England in the 4th century. In this context, Mildenhall material remains prominent as a set of silverware in that period.
The hoards are number 7 in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for the documentary of BBC Television 2003 Our Top Ten Treasures presented by Adam Hart-Davis.
Controversy
While the majority of scholars support the identification and dating of objects, and their relationship with the Mildenhall site, some experts, sometimes, argue that the Mildenhall Treasure may be wrong, or may not actually belong to the Mildenhall site. They argue that the pieces do not resemble the style and quality of work expected to be found in the Roman province of Britain, and since there are no pieces showing damage as "discovered" with plows or shovels, it is likely that it was not actually buried in Mildenhall for centuries -this century, and somewhat coming from somewhere else. Some have suggested the pieces were looted from sites in Italy during World War II, brought back to England and buried again for the "discovery phase," although most scholars gave little credit for the theory, it was hidden by the escaping Romans who intended to return to it later and never did.
See also
- Berthouville Treasure
- Sevso Treasure
- Esquiline's Treasure
- List of storks in the UK
References
Further reading
- Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality: antique and early Christian art, the third to seventh centuries, no. 120, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780870991790; full text available online from the Metropolitan Museum Art Museum
- R. Hobbs, (ed.) (2016) The Mildenhall Treasure: The Late Roman Silver Plate of East Anglia . London: The British Museum.
External links
- The Mildenhall Treasure
- David Dimbleby. "Age of Conquest". Seven Ages of Britain . 15:10 minutes entered BBC 1 . Retrieved November 21 2010 .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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