The Roman period differs from all others in Britain’s ancient past in the sheer quantity of goods, structures and written evidence. Material with a religious association monopolizes many parts of the record. More temples and shrines are referred to on inscriptions from Britain than any other class of building, and altars and tombstones account for the vast majority of inscribed stones found in the province. Some shrine sites that have been explored, such as the spring at Bath and Coventina’s Well at Carrawburgh, on Hadrian’s Wall, have produced abundant quantities of votive finds [ 219], including large numbers of coins and the so-called ‘curse’ tablets.
219. Carrawburgh (Northumberland).
This vessel, possibly a clay incense burner, is inscribed Covetina [sic] Augusta Votu(m) Manibus Suis Saturninus fecit Gabinius, ‘Saturnines Gabinius made this for Cove(n)tina Augusta with his own hands’.
Romano-British culture was a unique conflation of Roman and provincial customs, tastes and characteristics. This reaches its most idiosyncratic and conspicuous height in the cults, for which prolific evidence has been found. Although some purely classical cults were worshipped, most cults in Britain were either Celtic in origin, or were adapted by conflating Celtic and Roman archetypes that were perceived as equivalent or complementary, such as Mars and Cocidius, and Sulis and Minerva. The adoption of Roman-type representations and attributes of deities mirrored how the Romano-British had accepted Roman patronage and symbols of status in other parts of their lives. The gods of Britain had
Taken their own places in a Romanized hierarchy.
Normally we only know about ancient gods, however obscure or localized, because their names are recorded in Latinized form on inscriptions and dedications. The Roman need to visualize these gods in a familiar form meant they were routinely presented in the guise of classical deities. And, as is so often the case with Roman Britain, the context in which those written and visual forms of the names, powers and attributes of various gods have come down to us is often a military or urban one.
From the beginning, Britain was also home to imported gods, such as the German goddess, Garmangabis, who was transplanted to the fort at Lanchester (Durham) by the garrison. Others, such as Isis and Mithras, were the consequence not only of a sophisticated and cosmopolitan world, but also of a continual interest in exploring new spiritual directions. Of these, Christianity would emerge as the most decisive religious innovation of antiquity.
Religion was an intensely personal experience for the devotee, as it is for the archaeologists and historians who interpret it. The result is a picture of Romano-British religion that is often compelling, but equally unclear as to what is based on fact, and what is based on interpretation. There is no better example than the boar brooches worn by the Aestii tribe in Germany. Were it not for Tacitus, the probable conclusion would be that that these brooches somehow represented masculine, warlike virtues of bravery, prowess and hunting skills. But Tacitus tells us that they were worn as a symbol of the Mother Goddess.1 The connection might not seem immediately obvious to us, but the large number of teats female boars have emphasizes fertility. Having this sort of verification is extremely rare. More often than not we have no idea what the symbolism of a particular object was, though there is usually no shortage of ideas. Some scholars believe that mosaic imagery can be interpreted as evidence for the presence of Gnosticism, an interest in spiritual truths, but others are less convinced. 2 The only clear impression this ought to leave the more critically-minded reader is that religion in Roman Britain is a subject we barely understand.
This brooch would originally have had coloured enamels in the recesses. Such objects may have been souvenirs of visits to temple sites. Diameter 3.2 cm.
Carved relief of, unusually, four mother goddesses. Found reused in the fourth-century riverside wall.
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