Trimalchio's reminder of mortality

The Romans frequently linked images of banqueting and death in both literature and the visual arts. In Petronius' satirical novel, the Satyricon (60s CE), Trimalchio, the crass, nouveau-riche host of a dinner party, brings out a small silver skeleton between courses. The skeleton has flexible joints, and after posing it on the table in various ways, Trimalchio recites a poem to the effect that life is short and should be enjoyed before becoming a skeleton like the one he displays. He declares: “Alas for us poor mortals. Thus we shall all be, after Hades takes us away. Therefore, let us live while it goes well with us.” This bronze skeleton may have been used in the same manner. Although now missing several limbs, it too is jointed in a way that allows it to be posed or shaken so that it jumps and dances. Several similar skeletons are known, including one in silver found at Pompeii. - J. Paul Getty Museum

This remembrance of mortality actually spawned an art movement in the 17th century known as "vanitas"  where artists emphasized the emptiness and futility of earthly items by using still-life arrangements for moral instruction.  These arrangements included skulls, candles, hourglasses, watches, rotting fruit, wilting flowers, and fraying books to remind viewers just how precious and fleeting life is.

Image: Miniature bronze skeleton, 2 5/8 inches tall, Roman, 25 BCE - 100 CE, at the J. Paul Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. Made of bronze, this miniature skeleton features round eye sockets and a wide, grinning mouth with large upper teeth. Pin holes in the clavicle bone show that the arms were separately attached and moveable. The same is true of the pelvis bone where the left femur is still attached. The other end of the femur also has a pin hole for the attachment of the tibia. Only the pin remains of the right leg. The neck and head are also attached by pins. Most of the right-side ribs and both arms of the skeleton are missing 

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Isotope Analysis and the Case of the Headless Romans

Today, in my Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology class, we studied the use of isotope analysis as a method to identify geographic origins and dietary patterns in archaeologically recovered human remains. I read, with particular interest, the isotope analysis report of the "Headless Romans" found in the cemetery just outside of York. I assumed before reading the report that the exclusively male burials with almost 50% decapitated individuals and many remains displaying antemortem trauma, would have been consistent with a military group burial. This was considered plausible by researchers. But, the burials were not separated by time period and they were found to be not due to a single incident, so no conclusions about a particular engagement or period of unrest could really be drawn from the group of remains as a whole. I actually expected the study's outliers to be non-Briton individuals and this was confirmed. These individuals would have probably been officers, usually from Roman aristocratic families, that were fulfilling the military service required by the Cursus Honorum. But I was a bit disappointed that more understanding could not be shed on the high percentage of decapitations. Researchers pointed out that if the decapitations were a result of improper actions, they should have constituted less than 10% of the group, not almost 50%. Early conclusions pointed to a “mass execution” of members of the Imperial Court in the turbulent aftermath of Septimius Severus’ death in 211 CE (as explored in the video below). But that would not account for the wide spread of time between deaths. It is my understanding that the taking of heads as battle trophies was a Celtic tradition. So, the group burials, (some grave pits contained up to four bodies each) may have been the aftermath of a punitive operation against local war bands where heads that had been taken were repatriated then buried with their respective torsos. But that would have also probably required most of the individuals to have been interred during roughly the same period. Instead, the 80 bodies represented burials across two to three centuries. Another theory proposed they were gladiator burials based on possible similarities in trauma patterns with known gladiators and especially the toothmarks of a large carnivore, possibly a bear, lion or tiger, found on one of the skeletons. But, researchers pointed out that there appears to be no evidence that decapitations were part of the ritual used for dispatching defeated gladiators. More studies of the remains are ongoing so maybe there will be better clarification later.

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Human skeleton unearthed in newly discovered Gloucestershire Roman villa

Remains of a bath complex at Lullingstone Villa.
Photo by Mary Harrsch

I noticed this news release today so I'm assuming this dig is centered on a newly discovered villa not the well known Chedworth site near Cheltenham.

A 2,000-year-old human skeleton has been discovered alongside Iron Age artefacts near Tewkesbury.  The experts do not know yet whether the skeleton is of a male or female but believe it is at least 2,000 years old.

Stuart Foreman of Oxford Archaeology said thousands of pieces of masonry, nails, tiles, pottery and clothing would be unearthed by the time the project is complete.

He said: "Fragments of stone peg-tiles from the roof and sections of painted wall plaster indicate a building of high quality and status. The footings survive to a height of nearly 1m cut into the hillside." - Sify News

 Actually, a number of villas have been discovered in Gloucestershire over the years.  I found this extensive list published by George Witts in an Archaeological Handbook in 1883.  Unfortunately I have not yet visited any of these sites but I have toured Lullingstone Villa, Veralamium and Fishbourne Roman Palace.  The remains of the bath complex at Lullingstone is probably quite similar to the remains of baths found in several of the Gloucestershire villas.

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Forensic pathologists claim Arsinoe's skeleton found in Ephesus

I was browsing my news alerts this morning after being gone for a couple of weeks in Rome and came across this fascinating piece of news:

"ARCHEOLOGISTS and forensic experts believe they have identified the skeleton of Cleopatra’s younger sister, murdered more than 2,000 years ago on the orders of the Egyptian queen.

The remains of Princess Arsinöe, put to death in 41BC on the orders of Cleopatra and her Roman lover Mark Antony to eliminate her as a rival, are the first relics of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be identified.

The breakthrough, by an Austrian team, has provided pointers to Cleopatra’s true ethnicity. Scholars have long debated whether she was Greek or Macedonian like her ancestor the original Ptolemy, a Macedonian general who was made ruler of Egypt by Alexander the Great, or whether she was north African.

Evidence obtained by studying the dimensions of Arsinöe’s skull shows she had some of the characteristics of white Europeans, ancient Egyptians and black Africans, indicating that Cleopatra was probably of mixed race, too. They were daughters of Ptolemy XII by different wives..."

"...The distinctive tomb was first opened in 1926 by archeologists who found a sarcophagus inside containing a skeleton. They removed the skull, which was examined and measured; but it was lost in the upheaval of the second world war.

In the early 1990s Hilke Thür of the Austrian Academy of Sciences reentered the tomb and found the headless skeleton, which she believed to be of a young woman. Clues, such as the unusual octagonal shape of the tomb, which echoed that of the lighthouse of Alexandria with which Arsinöe was associated, convinced Thür the body was that of Cleopatra’s sister..." - much more: Times Online.

I must admit I am still a little skeptical as the skeleton's age was estimated at 15 - 18 years of age - seemingly too young for Arsinoe. As the article points out, Arsinoe was younger than Cleopatra, who was about 27 at the time she ordered her sister's execution. But, such a young age would mean she was little more than a child when she assumed control of the Egyptian army during the Alexandrian Wars with Caesar and ordered the execution of Egyptian commanding general Achillas, replacing him with her tutor Ganymede. Although she may have been as precocious as her older sister, this level of political acumen would seem to be a bit of a stretch unless she was being used as merely a figure head for an ambitious Ganymede. If this were so, however, why would Cleopatra be so nervous about her potential to cause political problems in the future? If the ancient sources were more precise about her age or birthdate it would be a tremendous help but the struggle for control of the throne of Egypt during this period has left a number of conflicting documents with various dating methods to confuse the issue.

However, one cannot dismiss the implications of the age, shape, and decor of the tomb in which the skeleton was found or the DNA analysis that indicates the skeleton had a combination of European, ancient Egyptian and North African traits. If the remains are, indeed, that of Arsinoe, I cannot help but feel excited to have, at last, some physical biological remnant of a member of the Ptolemy royal house available for future study. I also found the computer reconstruction of Arsinoe interesting. Although she had a different mother than Cleopatra, surely some of her appearance could have been shared by her more famous older sister. If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

Naples Archaeological Museum Exhibit to Feature Ancient Roman Fabrics

Some of the greatest discoveries pulled from the ruins of the ancient Vesuvian town of Herculaneum have been reunited under one roof for the first time for a major new exhibition that opens here today.

Statues, skeletons, artefacts and textiles go on show from the small seaside town south of Naples, which was destroyed in the same eruption that buried Pompeii on August 24, 79 AD.

''It's an extraordinary collection of 150 works that restores to the world the richest existing testimony of the classical age,'' said Campania President Antonio Bassolino at the show's inauguration.

While Pompeii was covered by hot ash and lava, its less famous neighbour disappeared under an avalanche of molten rock, which mingled with mud and earth and solidified, allowing fragile organic matter like wood, fabrics, wax tablets and papyrus rolls to survive.

Archaeologists began digging at the site at the beginning of the 1700s and continue to make discoveries today. Among the highlights of the show are sacks, little bags, and pieces of material thought to have belonged to tunics and cloaks that were dug from the town and which form part of the museum's little-known collection of 180 ancient Roman fabrics - the largest in the world.

On display for the first time ever is fabric from a mass of organic material discovered in July 2007 on what was once the terrace of a large thermal bath complex. A fragment of cloth made from hemp was among the material, discovered alongside a leather bag, carbonised wood belonging to a boat and a fishing net with lead weights. - ansa.it

The biggest crowd-puller is likely to be the skeletons of ancient Romans in the act of fleeing the town - one of the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries of the last few decades.

Men, women and children were fleeing to the ancient beach when the first volcanic surge hit.

While at Pompeii bodies decomposed in the ash (allowing archaeologists to make plaster casts of the spaces left by the bodies), Herculaneum's solidified mud preserved the skeletons intact, providing a rare treat for researchers because of how frequently ancient Romans cremated their dead.

The exhibition is divided into three sections, focusing first on the magnificent statues of gods, heroes and emperors found among the ruins.

The second section is dedicated to the noble Herculaneum families such as that of the proconsul Marcus Nonius Balbus, one of the town's main benefactors, and showcases many statues found at the Villa of the Papyri.

The villa, the largest and most sumptuous found outside Rome, is thought to have belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso, father of Calpurnia, Julius Caesar's wife.

Only partially excavated, the villa has so far yielded 1,800 papyri, half of which have been deciphered to reveal Epicurean philosophy, and some experts say there may still be lost literary treasures of antiquity hidden in the ruins.

In the third section, the skeletons of fleeing townspeople are on show with other objects putting the daily life of the common people under the microscope, while fabrics go on display in the final section.

Herculaneum: Three Centuries of Discoveries runs at the Naples Archaeological Museum until April 2009.Technorati Tags: Herculaneum, archaeology, fabric, ancient, Villa of the Papyri, exhibit, Naples Archaeological Museum, skeleton, eruption, Vesuvius

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Christian Martyrs or the Roman Emperor's Imperial Guard?

"When a sinkhole opened up after a pipe broke underneath the convent and school of the Instituto Sacra Famiglia on Rome's Via Casilina, the sisters there received a surprise--about 1,200 surprises, in fact. The partial collapse of the building's foundation revealed five large chambers in which the remains of more than a thousand individuals had been interred almost simultaneously sometime at the beginning of the third century A.D.

t is not even certain that the newly discovered remains are of Christians, despite the fact that they are firmly ensconced within one of the most important Christian catacomb sites of ancient Rome. According to Giuliani, "there is at the moment no conclusive proof that can exclude the possibility that these may in fact be pagan burials." Which begs the question: What would pagan burials be doing in the middle of a Christian catacomb?

The answer may lie with the history of the land in which the catacombs are located. The property was originally the site of the barracks and training grounds of the equites singulares Augusti, a private corps of mounted Imperial bodyguards thought to have been formed by the emperor Trajan at the end of the first century A.D. At the beginning of the fourth century, they found themselves on the losing side of the war between Constantine and Maxentius, and were subsequently disbanded by the victorious Constantine after the battle of the Milvian Bridge in A.D. 312. At this point, the land--already in use by them underground--was turned over to the Christians. It was considered so sacred to the Christian community that the mausoleum of Constantine's mother, St. Helena, was constructed there.

During the period of use by the equites, however, this site was also used as a cemetery for the soldiers who served here. So the presence of pagan burials would not be as surprising as one might think. But more than a thousand of them interred almost at the same time? Giuliani explains that "it is very possible that what we are seeing here is the occurrence of some sort of plague or epidemic, perhaps a recurrence of the famous Antonine plague that took almost 1,200 lives a day during the reign of Antoninus Pius [A.D. 138-161]. The bodies are layered very carefully, one on top of the other, without lavish ceremony but nevertheless with great care. It seems as if these individuals were all interred within a short period--perhaps a few months at the most. Initially there was a great deal of excitement that these could perhaps represent martyrdoms [Christians executed for adhering to their faith], but this now appears unlikely as the Carbon 14 evidence and coins found among the remains date the burials to a period of relative peace between the Christian community and the Imperial government."

Further evidence that these may in fact be soldier burials is found in a close examination of the remains. Between the shrouds, a layer of gesso (a type of chalky plaster) covers each body. "This is a rather inexpensive and simple way to attempt to conserve the body, like a crude sort of mummification. We see this in soldier burials of the Roman period at times, particularly up in the northern parts of the Empire," says Giuliani, "and yet while we have found bits of amber and a limited amount of jewelry buried with the remains, we do not as yet have any conclusive proof one way or another as to whether or not these were Christian or pagan individuals. The fact that there are many women and several children present within these chambers does not necessarily preclude the fact that that these are the remains of the soldier of the equites it's possible and even probable that the soldiers would have had their families with them here on this property."

To date, approximately 100 skeletons have been excavated by a team of anthropologists from the University of Bordeaux whose specialty is the study of epidemic burials. They are currently studying the osteological remains for indications of trauma, which would perhaps point to a mass persecution rather than disease, but have found no such evidence. "So far,' explains Giuliani, "it would seem as if we are not dealing with victims of a persecution, but rather of a plague or epidemic of some sort. " If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!