DISPLAY CASE 1
COINS – GLASSES -METALS
COINS
How much an ancient coin was worth for commerce came from the metal from which it was made. Along with their economic function, the inscriptions and images on the faces played a fundamental role in communicating ideological messages in Roman society. The “moneyer” (tresviri monetales) was responsible for choosing the images and inscriptions.
Given the widespread use of coins and the fact that they were closely linked to a central issuing authority, in addition to their main purpose as a medium of exchange, coins worked as propaganda. Imperial coins often bore the face of the emperor and his title. Generally, they also had a short legend and an image with symbolic meaning. The legends and images changed often. Some were obviously related to current events, and others were used to commemorate famous victories, or imperial benevolence. The coins’ propensity towards propaganda through the depiction of famous men, artistic monuments, or industrial activities from the country in question reveal much about the history of the period, but more than that, they reflect the thinking of the issuing authority.
A large number of bronze Ases and Quadrans were found in Villa Rufione. These date from between the middle of the first century BCE and the end of the first century CE., specifically, the Augustan Period. There are also Republican onces, silver Quinarii, Semis and Follis. (1, 2, 3, ….., 10)
1 DOMITIAN ASSES 81-96 CE
2 TIBERIAN ASSES in honour of Augustus 14-37 Rome Mint
3 TIBERIUS SEMISSES 14-37 Lyon Mint
4 AUGUSTAN QUINARY 23 BCE-14 CE
5 AUGUSTAN QUADRANT 23 BCE-14 CE
6 TIBERIAN ASSES 14-37 CE
7 OCTAVIAN ASSES prior to the 23rd Military Mint
8 GALBA ASSES 69 CE Rome Mint
9 NERONIAN ASSES 54-68 CE
10 AUGUSTAN ASSES 23 BCE -14 CE
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THE GLASSES
The earliest evidence of humans working with glass is found in Mesopotamia as far back as the third millennium BCE. From the first century BCE, with the invention of glassblowing, glass became a favoured material for rapidly producing objects of all shapes and sizes and offering them at competitive prices. Through glassblowing it was possible to make a glass vase starting from a sheet of glass. The more affordable prices lead to these products becoming widely used by people from all social strata. Of course, it must be assumed that low priced, mass-produced glassware would have been of rather inferior quality.
The process of mould fusion with cold finishing was also being used for the first time during the Roman Age (11). The first phase is characterized just the colours blue and green. These were used on vases with remarkable light and elegant silhouettes. At the same time, more refined objects were also produced, intended for a selected clientele.
Mosaic glass was made by taking large-diameter glass cylinders of assorted colours, which were heated and fused together and then stretched creating thinner glass rods that had all the original starting colours. Next, small roundels were cut from the rods, and these were placed on a surface, within the perimeter of a glass ring (the rim of the vase). After being heat-fused, the disc obtained was placed in the kiln and suspended on an upside-down mould. As the glass was fired, it gently moulded to the shape.
Glass of fine workmanship was found at the site including fragments from COMPOSITE MOSAIC or “MILLEFIORI” cups (12, 13). These used a process that involved the combination of assorted coloured glass rod sections that were fused on a mould followed by the finishing of the vase. The technique has Hellenistic origins, and it reached its peak in the Augustan and Early Imperial Ages. Due to the complexity of this method and the steps involved, only simple shapes could be obtained.
MOSAIC GLASS WITH RIBBONS (14, 15). This crafting skill, like that of composite mosaic, involved the placing of long portions of glass rods, arranged in parallel bands or quadrants and alternating them with sections of rods. The chromatic effect was extremely lively and varied and is characteristic of Italic glass workshops of the first half of the first century CE.
MOULD BLOWN GLASS (16) Being able to blow glass into a mould made it possible to obtain complex shaped vases. This practice was devised in the Syrian-Palestinian area, around Sidon. It later spread throughout the ancient world.
OINTMENT OR BALSAM AMPULES (17) These are small glass containers used to store balms, scented oils, ointments, flavourings, cosmetic powders, and possibly even medicines. Most often they were fashioned by hand or by blowing glass into a mould.
CARNELIANS
Carnelian is a well-known variety of a type of quartz called chalcedony. Its most common and prized colour was red-orange, due to presence of iron oxides. In the field of gem production in Ancient Rome, the profession of the craftsman (signarius or scalptor) did not always coincide with that of the seller (gemmarius). These jobs could be carried out by free men or freed slaves (liberti). The activities could be run by individuals, sometimes with the help of family members or slaves.
In our case, one carnelian has a [mythological] nike (18) and the other depicts a girl’s face turned to the side with her right shoulder in the foreground (19).
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BRONZE
Bronze can only be worked by casting it, unlike, for example, iron, which, when red-hot, be shaped using a hammer. Bronze was melted and poured into a hollow vessel, which gave it its shape. In ancient times bronze was favoured as a material that best lent itself to the art of statuary thanks to its easy fusibility, resistance as well as its warm colour.
The finger-ring is flanked by a specillum, a small instrument that ends on one side with a microscopic paddle and on the other with a wooden handle (unfortunately now lost). The handle would have been threaded and screwed on. It was used to apply women’s make-up (20). This is followed by: a fibula (decorated brooch which was used to adorn tunics) (21), a half-millimetre-thick strainer to hold botanicals during infusion(22), three twisted bands that would have been the strings of a male tunic belonging to a stucco statue (the statute would have been one of many in a colonnade), a rivet (24), part of a bucket situla (25), a door lock (26) and a bell (tintinabulum) (27).
