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12. Fall 2011 Religions in Roman Britain
- 1. 1
- 2. Religious Suppression • Druids • Isis and other foreign religions • Nero – Christians and Jews 2
- 3. Religions • Native Religion • State religion • Personal • Military imports • Christianity 3
- 4. Celtic (iron Age) Gods • Cernunnos-horned god • Coventina-water god • Antenociticus ? • Brigantia • Epona-equestrian goddess • Mother goddesses • Veteris 4
- 6. Antenociticus 6
- 8. Coventina 8
- 9. State Religion • Festivals • Imperial Cult – No evidence after Claudius – Numen Augustii – divine power of the emperor • Municipal Cults • Dedications to Roman Gods 9
- 10. Military Introductions • Dedications to Roman Gods • Dedications to Spirit of Military Unit • Dedications to Emperor • Dedications to Discipline of Emperor 10
- 11. Roman Gods Dedications Jupiter Juno Minerva Mars Mercury Diana Vulcan Neptune
- 12. Graeco-Roman Gods Dedications Aesculapius/Hygeia Apollo/Sol Hercules 12
- 13. Jupiter Altars Dedicated to Jupiter by C. Caballius Priscus, a commander of the 1st Cohort of Spaniards Old Kilpatrick, Antonine Wall 13
- 14. Sacrifice Distance marker at Bridgeness on Antonine Wall Dedication to Antoninus. Sacrifice of sheep. 14
- 15. Classical Roman Temple Sulis-Minerva Bath 15
- 16. Classical Roman Temple-Plan Verulamium-St. Albans 16
- 17. Numina Augustorum To the numina of the Augusti and the god Mars Camulus, Tiberinius Celerianus, citizen of Beauvais and shipper overseas/moritix of London wares... (set this up). 17
- 18. Mars -Votives 27 cm 18
- 19. Vulcan • Image of blacksmith • Associated with home and hearth 19
- 20. Thanks 20
- 21. Romano-Celtic • “Conflation” of Gods • Classical representation • Temples often on pre-Roman religious sites • Sanctuary and ambulatory • Floors-gravel, old tiles, cement or rarely mosaic 21
- 22. Romano-Celtic Gods • Mars ≡ Belatucadrus • Mars ≡ Lenus • Mars ≡ Cocidius • Silvanus ≡ Cocidius • Sulis ≡ Minerva 22
- 23. Celtic and Roman Mercury and Rosmerta 23
- 24. Romano-Celtic temple Pagan’s Hill 24
- 25. Romano-Celtic Priest’s Helmet Hockwold 2-4 C CE 25
- 26. Rural Altar 26
- 27. Three Horned Deity 27
- 28. Pewter Bowls • Abercynafon, S. Wales • Late 3rd – early 4th century • Pewter bowls generally found in wet places • Often have inscribed names 28
- 29. Egyptian Deities Harpocrates 29
- 30. Bacchus 30
- 31. Military Introductions • Matres • Dedications to Genius of the Place • Dedications to Genius of the military unit 31
- 32. Genius - Guardian To the Mothers of the Parade Ground, and to the Genius of the First Spanish Wing of Asturians [...] Gordians own, Terentius Agrippa, the prefect, restored this temple from the ground up 32
- 33. Military Introductions • Eastern religions – Isis – Apollo – Cybele – Mithras 33
- 35. Mogons 35
- 36. Altar to Jupiter 222-235 CE 36
- 37. Gallia The troops from Gaul dedicate this statue to the goddess Gallia, with the full support of the British-born troops 3rd Century 37
- 38. Protective Statues & Amulets Corbridge Vindolanda 2006 38
- 39. Mother Goddesses 39
- 40. Matres To the Mother-goddesses of our fatherland beyond the sea 40
- 41. Genii Cucullatti, Housteads 41
- 42. Apollo Cunomaglus 42
- 43. Apollo Cunomaglus 43
- 44. Cybele Catterick St. Albans 44
- 45. Cybele 45
- 46. Mithras 46
- 47. Mithras-London 47
- 48. Castor or Pollux- London 48
- 49. Mithraeum-London 49
- 50. Mithraeum-London 50
- 51. Littlecote 51
- 52. Orpheus 52
- 53. Christianity • Persecutions – 209 Severus –permitted strict enforcement of existing laws – 251 Decius – persecution of priests – 303 Diocletian Persecution of laity; destruction of churches • St Albans, martyr 209, 251-259, 304? – Martyrs at Caerleon • Most identified finds are post Constantine 53
- 54. Christian sites 54
- 55. Christ - Orpheus • Tamer • Shepherd 55
- 56. Christian Symbols α Ω 56
- 57. Jet ring IUSTINE.VIVAS. IN.DEO 57
- 58. Hoxne Hoard 58
- 59. Cup - Water Newton treasure 59
- 60. Cup, Silver plaque and gold disc - Water Newton 60
- 61. Silchester Church? 61
- 62. Silchester Plan 62
- 63. Icklingham Plan 63
- 64. Icklingham - Cistern 64
- 65. Walesby Lead Tank 65
- 66. Lead Tanks 66
- 67. Richborough font 67
- 68. Hinton-St Mary 68
- 69. Hinton-St Mary 69
- 70. Lullingstone-Chapel 70 British Museum
- 71. Lullingstone British Museum 71
- 72. Fate • Littlecote demolished by 400 • Lullingstone abandoned by 420 72
Editor's Notes
- This studyfinds that Roman religion had very specific characteristics and was a pillar of the Romanstate, so that when a religious group caught the attention of the Roman authorities and didnot fit the requirements of the Roman state religion, it was perceived as a threat toRome's position of power. Each group examined received different treatment from Romedepending on other stresses endangering Roman political stability and the structure andpractices of the group in question. Those that could be made into acceptable Roman cultswere permitted to exist in their new form while others were completely rejected.Allowing groups to continue in any form, though, was done so under the supervision ofthe senate or emperor which shifted power back to the Roman state and re-established itscontrol over the religious and hence political sphere. Such treatment of religious groupsshould not be called toleration and this thesis helps to correct such misjudgements whichdeny the importance that religion played in Roman political power.
- Benwell Hadrian’s WallAntenociticus appears at only one site in Britain, the fort of Condercum, on Hadrian's Wall, where three altars to the god were found within the ruins of a small temple. This god is not mentioned on any known Roman altarstones from the continent, and is therefore thought to be a native British deity. The fact that the god is revered at Benwell (1327 [et Num Aug], 1328, 1329 [c.AD175-7]) by a legionary legate, the tribune of an auxiliary infantry cohort and the prefect of an auxiliary cavalry ala, lends credence to this assumption, and perhaps proves that the god was not transferred here as the patron deity of an auxiliary regiment.
- Goddess of wells and springs. Dedications to Coventina and votive deposits were found in a walled area which had been built to contain the outflow from a spring now called "Coventina's Well". The well and the walled area surrounding it are nearby the site variously referred to as Procolita, Brocolitia, or Brocolita, once a Roman fort and settlement on Hadrian's Wall, now known as Carrawburgh.[2] The remains of a Roman Mithraeum and Nymphaeum are also found near the site.
- Capitoline Trio
- The Matres (Latin "mothers"[1]) and Matrones (Latin "matrons"[1]) were female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD. They are depicted on votive objects and altars that bear images of goddesses, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature Celtic names, and half of which feature Germanic names), that were venerated in regions ofGermania, Eastern Gaul, and upper Italy (with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth century AD
- Cloak. Hoods, eggs, and parchment scrolls The genius cucullatus takes on a general form that is modified and embellished according to localized interpretations of the deity's power. To draw up a list of features each figure displays would be short; they wear thick hooded cloaks and are found in pontentially sacred contexts. The cloaks vary in length, number of folds, extent of body coverage, and hood shape. Although no pattern has been determined among the different cloak styles, other differences between the figures are partly linked to the regions in which they were found. Most scholars agree that the genii cucullati of Britain predominantly appear in triads, are small of stature, and often carry eggs, or other fertility attributes (Heichelheim 192-3). In contrast, the cucullati of the European continent appear singularly, as giants and dwarves, and occasionally imply phallus worship(193). In both regions the deities are often found clutching parchments or scrolls, which may signify wisdom(Jenkins 88) or the secrets of healing lore (Toynbee, 1957 158).Gender Most figures are clearly male although in a few objects wear on the physiognomy has obscured the features to the extent that the gender is ambiguous. In particular, members of a genii cucullati triad discovered in Housesteads of Northumberland on Hadrian’s wall, as well as the one of the two extant figures of the Netherby triad have been labeled female (Green, 1989 185; Heichelheim 187). Taking into account the fertility attributes of many cucullati with association of some British cucullati with mother goddesses, the appearance of a female hooded deity along side the genius cucullatus does not seem implausible. Opposed to such speculation, Toynbee considers the sex of the cucullati to be invariably male (1957, 458). On the other hand, the possibility that the softer or more delicate features and body frame depicts youth instead of femininity cannot be ignored. Instead of enhancing the interest of the hooded diety in fecundity, the span of ages of the diety in one relief may refer to the different phases of life the deity watches over, such as birth, maturity, and death. In the end the gender of the figures is a matter of opinion.Proximity and association In addition to the attributes such as eggs, fruit, and scrolls that have aided the constructions of the metaphysical arena in which the hooded deity participated, the contexts of finds and other deities appearing with the genius cucullatus provide additional clues. In Celtic thought, mysterious sources of water were seen as entrances to the Otherworld or sources of healing (Stewart 23). Subsequently, it has been surmised from several cucullati finds near natural springs like Kent and Bath that the cucullatus was a god of health because these thermal baths had soothing capacities (Green 1989, 185). Similarly, one may interpret the votive tablets found in the deep well at Cirencester to link the deity to the Otherworld (187) Presentations of unknown figures with deities of well established reputations also clue us in to the realm of the unknown figure, because often deities of similar interests were presented together. As we find the cucullatus with mother goddesses in Cirencester (Corinium) and a trio near the gods Mercury and Rosmerta on a pottery shard at Colchester one infers the hooded deity may have had powers over fertility and prosperity, respectively
- Archaeologists in North Yorkshire have discovered the skeleton of a cross-dressing eunuch dating back to the 4th Century AD.The find was made during excavations of a Roman settlement in Catterick, first started in 1958.The skeleton - found dressed in women's clothes and jewellery - is believed to have once been a castrated priest who worshipped the eastern goddess Cybele.Archaeologists say it is the only example ever recovered from a late Roman cemetery in Britain.Agallus wore women's clothes and jewelleryThe young man was found buried in a grave at Bainesse, a farm near Catterick, and once an outlying settlement of the Roman town.He wore a jet necklace, a jet bracelet, a shale armlet and a bronze expanding anklet and had two stones placed in his mouth.Dr Pete Wilson, Senior Archaeologist at English Heritage who has edited a book on the subject, said the man's jewellery was significant.Jet was regarded in the ancient world as having magical powers and there is a link between the rise in popularity of jet and the increasing interest in eastern mystery religions at the time.This find demonstrates how cosmopolitan the north of England wasDr Pete Wilson, English HeritageHe said: "He is the only man wearing this array of jewellery who has ever been found from a late Roman cemetery in Britain."In life he would have been regarded as a transvestite and was probably a gallus, one of the followers of the goddess Cybele who castrated themselves in her honour."The find demonstrates how cosmopolitan the north of England was"Cybele, a goddess imported from the east in the 3rd century BC, had long been a Roman state deity and was worshipped in noisy, public festivals.Turbans and tiarasHer would-be priests, or galli, castrated themselves following the example of Cybele's lover Atys, who had made himself a eunuch in her service out of remorse for his infidelity.In the castration ceremony the galli used special ornamented clamps, one of which was found in the Thames by London Bridge and is now in the British Museum.Thereafter Cybele's priests wore jewellery, highly coloured female robes and turbans or tiaras and had female hair-styles.The priest would have worn special masksInscriptions and statues show that the cult was well established in the north of England - there is an altar dedicated to Cybele at Corbridge on Hadrian's Wall.David Miles, chief archaeologist at English Heritage told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Catterick [at the time]... had a very mixed population with people coming from all over the Roman Empire."Although this man may well have been local... the jewellery is not normal behaviour for the average Roman or average Yorkshireman of the 4th Century."Most of the finds from the excavations are held by the Yorkshire Museum.However, the greatest interest attracted an unusual, 4th centuryburial excavated at Bainesse, which evidently contained theremains of a young male wearing an assortment of jewellery: a jetnecklace and bracelet (Bell and Thompson, 2002, !g. 315 and pl.100), a shale armlet and a copper alloy anklet (Wilson, 2002, I: pp.176e178, !g. 95). In the Roman period, such ornaments are not only strongly associated with women, magical qualities were alsoattributed to jet which was possibly associated with easternmystery religions (Allason-Jones, 1996, p. 9). In combination withthe sexing of the individual as male, this evidence led Cool (2002,pp. 41e42) to suggest that the Bainesse individual may have beena gallus, or transvestite priest of Cybele, a mother goddess fromCentral Western Anatolia, whose cult spread across the RomanEmpire, presumably by agency of the Roman army (Turcan, 1996).Although worship of Cybele is attested elsewhere in the RomanNorth (see Vermaseren, 1986, pp. 170e171) it clearly represents anintrusive religious practice. The presence of a possible follower oreven priest of an exotic eastern cult at Cataractonium thereforeposes the question whether he was a local or moved to Catterickfrom elsewhere. It should be noted, however, that the sex of thisindividual as male could not be independently veri!ed as part ofthis study, as only part of the skeletonwas available for assessmentat the time of the analysis. Regardless of the gender identity of thisindividual, however, the abundance of jet jewellery points toexceptional social and/or religious status.
- Copper alloy ornamented forceps. Composed of two shanks, originally united at top by moveable joint. The shanks are serrated on the inside, except at the handle. The exterior sides are covered with busts of deities and heads of animals. The top of the right limb is surmounted by a bust of Cybele, that of the left by Juno. On the semi-circular parts are heads of horses; each of the four shanks is decorated with four busts, and the head of a bull; the handles terminate in lion heads. The deites are Saturn, Apollo, Diana, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Vesta.1926 paperThe suggestion here advanced is that this instrument is a clamp used in theoperation of castration in the male, In the case of the Cybele cult and some others the ritewas probably engrafted on the simpler worship of the Great Earth-Mother of theMediterranean basin.Many suggestions have been made to explain this widely-spread rite. It may havebeen an imitation of the act performed on Attis, or a token of humility manifested bythe created to the Creator, or a symbol of subjection, a characteristically Eastern conception, or again a votive offering of that which was held most dear-the sign ofcreative force. The priests of Cybele adopted the name of Attis; they personifiedthe Divine Consort of the Goddess. The rite may have signified the union of the deities,a perverted form of the Sacred Marriage. The periodical fertilization was consideredrnecessary in order that the Goddess of Fertility should efficiently carry out herfunctions of transmitting life to plants and animals. The severed members, cast at thefoot of the image of the goddess, were gathered up and placed in the sacred subterraneanchambers of the Sanctuary of Cybele, or buried, i.e., placed in the bosom of motherearth. The female dress was adopted afterwards. As an early operation produceda feminine type, it may have been related to the matriarchal idea, an ecstatic cravingfor assimilation to the goddess. Or it may be in origin a form of sympatheticmagic, the votary encouraging the vegetative processes by assuming the attributes ofthe great goddess of vegetation.Whatever its origin or meaning, there is no doubt that castration was consideredessential for admission into the priesthoodFound/Acquired London
- The settlement may have begun life as a small short-lived military establishment guarding a crossing of the River Kennet. This was replaced by local circular farming huts around AD 70 and a Roman-style rectangular building fifty years later. Activity involved baking ovens, malting tanks and grinding stones. After another fifty years, this was replaced by a large two-storeyed winged corridor villa with integral bath suite. This building went through a number of changes over the subsequent centuries, notably a major rebuilding around AD 270. The villa had a number ofmosaics and there were detached workshops, barns and a large gatehouse.Around AD 360, from numismatic evidence, agricultural activity seems to have ended and the complex acquired a religious use. A large barn was converted into a courtyard and a very early triconch hall was built alongside with its own bath suite. Upon its floor was laid a now famousOrpheus mosaic, first discovered in 1727 by the Steward of the Littlecote Park estate.This mosaic is usually interpreted in very complicated pagan religious terms involving not only Orpheus, but Bacchus and Apollo, the hall being seen as a cult centre for these two gods. Other buildings may have been converted to accommodate visiting pilgrims. This development has been associated with the pagan revival under Julian the Apostate (361-363).Many of the buildings were demolished or fell into decay around AD 400, shortly after the Theodosian legislation against paganism and before the Roman withdrawal from Britain.
- the developed form of the Orpheus myth was entwined with the Orphic mystery cults and, later in Rome, with the development ofMithraism and the cult of Sol Invictus.
- According to Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, I.vii and xviii, Alban was a pagan living at Verulamium (now St Albans), who converted to Christianity, and was executed by decapitation on a hill above the Roman settlement of Verulamium. St Albans Abbey was later founded near this site.Shrine of Saint Alban in St Albans CathedralThe date of Alban's execution has never been firmly established. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles lists the year 283.[5] According to theVenerable Bede: "when the cruel Emperors first published their edicts against the Christians". In other words, sometime after the publication of the edicts by Eastern Roman Emperor Diocletian in 303 and before the proclamation of the toleration Edict of Milan by co-ruling Roman Emperors Constantine I and Licinius in 313. The year 304 has been suggested.[citation needed]In 1968, English historian John Morris suggested that St Alban's martyrdom took place during the persecutions under Emperor Septimius Severus in 209. Morris bases his claims on earlier manuscript sources, unknown to Bede, especially an 8th-century copy of a 3rd century manuscript found in Turin which states, "Alban received a fugitive cleric and put on his garment and his cloak (habitu et caracalla) that he was wearing and delivered himself up to be killed instead of the priest… and was delivered immediately to the evil Caesar Severus." St Gildasknew this source, but mistranslated the name "Severus" as an adjective, and wrongly identified the emperor as Diocletian. Bede accepted this identification as fact, and dated St Alban's martyrdom to this later period. As Morris points out, Diocletian reigned only in the East, and would not have been involved in British affairs in 304; Severus, however, was in Britain from 208 to 211. Morris thus dates Alban's death to 209.[6] Subsequent scholars (W. H. C. Frend and Charles Thomas for example) have argued that such a single, localised British martyrdom in 209 would have been unusual, and have suggested the period of 251–59 (under the persecutors Decius or Valerian) as more likely.
- LincolnshirePossible baptism
- There were traces of a substantial building complex, probably including the remains of a villa. The mosaic was part of the best-preserved wing. The walls on either side had been demolished, probably in the post-Roman period.The mosaic was designed as a continuous floor in two panels for one large room divided by a pair of short cross-walls. As often happened in the Roman world, pagan imagery was juxtaposed with that of Christianity.The smaller panel contains a central roundel which shows the hero Bellerophon mounted on his winged horse, Pegasus. He is spearing the mythical three-headed monster, Chimaera, a scene perhaps intended to illustrate the triumph of good over evil. The roundel is flanked on two sides by hunting scenes showing stags pursued by hounds.The larger panel comprises a central roundel flanked by four semi-circles. Three show similar hunting scenes and one a large, spreading tree. In the corners are busts of four male figures with windswept hair. They may represent the four Evangelists, the four winds, or indeed both.In the central roundel is what is thought to be one of the earliest representations of Christ and, if so, the only such portrait on a mosaic floor from anywhere in the Roman Empire.He is portrayed as a clean-shaven man. The bust is placed before the Greek letters chi and rho, the first two letters of Christ's name. Placed together as a monogram they formed the normal symbol for Christianity at this time.If it is Christ, it stands at the very beginning of a tradition seen most strikingly on the wall and vault mosaics of Byzantine churches.
- The villa's Christian chapel contained well-preserved wall-paintings (now in the British Museum), which show six men clothed in Byzantine style vestments, five of whom are holding their hands up in prayer (orans style) whilst the other has his hand raised in benediction. David Stuttard, who co-authored AD 410: The Year That Shook Rome, says:"All [six men depicted in the paintings] are dressed in flowing robes, but it is the device shown on the robes which is so striking – the Christian cross, perhaps the earliest representation of its use on clothing anywhere." [see his article on the British Museumshop's website]Describing other important early Christian finds at Lullingstone, David Stuttard went on to say:"In the same room [the chapel] were found depictions of the early Christian ‘logo’, the Chi-Rho symbol, placed in the centre of what seems to be a garland symbolizing fertility. This symbol had been relatively recently legitimized by the emperor Constantine I (r. AD 306-337), who had his soldiers paint it on their shields before their victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge ( AD 312). He later claimed that on the day before the battle ‘when the sun had already passed its highest, he saw with his own eyes, in the sky above the sun, the sign of the cross, along with the words: “With this, be victorious”.’ (Eusebius, Life of Constantine 1.28)"It truly is amazing to think that Christians living in the ancient kingdom of Kent during the Romano-British period of our country's history were using the Chi-Rho in such a public way only a few decades after its legitimisation by Constantine the Great!David Stuttard, who is not alone in his theories, also points to the beautifully preserved mosaics found in the mid 4th century entrance area and triclinium as further evidence of the household's Christian faith. The mythic representations in the mosaics were often used by Christians who were able to use literary or pagan symbols as cover for deeper Christian messages:"Code-breakers have seen other intriguing hidden messages at Lullingstone – this time contained in the ostensibly pagan mosaics. For, above the image of Jupiter and Europa is a quotation based on a passage of Vergil’s Aeneid, in which numerologists claim to have found a cryptic suggestion that the owner is giving up the worship of Isis and embracing Christianity. Even the owner’s choice of Bellerophon and the Chimaera for the subject of the central mosaic has been seen as ambiguous – in Christian art elsewhere it commonly appears in the company of depictions of St. George and the Dragon.“Length: 4.2 metre