identity Archives - Corinium Museum

Coins as Great Storytellers – Part 2

An emperor pairing himself with a god on a coin (as mentioned in the first part of this blog) is not unusual, however, we find many examples of this – Gordian, again from the third century, puts himself at the feet of Jupiter on the reverse of one of his coins to show his piety towards the king of gods and reverence for religion, perhaps in hope that it would help him ride through the many civil wars of that century; Domitian from the late first century AD, portrays the goddess Fortune with a cornucopia on the reverse of one of his coins, perhaps to show the success of one of the many military campaigns during his reign and to show the prosperity of the empire (as demonstrated by the cornucopia).

The Ides of March

Two thousand and sixty-six years ago, in 44 BC, on the 15th day of March, the life of Julius Caesar, immortalised in literature and popular culture from his own time to ours, was brought to an end.

Coins As Great Storytellers by Oliver Turney

I will not pretend that everybody loves coins. It’s true – not everyone will spend the majority of their visit to a museum peering through the glass at some tiny circular discs of copper, silver or gold, whose miniscule inscriptions are barely visible to the human eye from close up, let alone from behind the glass! However, don’t be too quick to dismiss these coins: in bypassing them on your trip around the museum, you may be missing out on a truly fascinating story.

Hares in Roman Art by Isobel Wilkes

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Hare Mosaic, summer intern, Isobel Wilkes, looks at the significance of the hare as a mythological figure and artistic motif in Roman art.

Matres and Genii Cucullati

Blog post written by Fiona Beeston, a student at King's College, London, studying Classical Studies with English. Read on to discover more about the Matres and the Genii Cucullati and their roles and symbolism in Roman Britain.

Modern Britons are boning up on barrows and mounds

Apparently, modern-day Britons are turning to their prehistoric ancestors when looking for a more sustainable burial. Read our latest blog post by Samantha Fryer Ward.

A Woman of Importance – The Tombstone of Julia Casta

This blog post by Lorna Heatherington looks at the tombstone of Julia Casta, discovered at the site of The Querns, a Roman burial area within the immediate environs of Cirencester in or before 1721.

Roman British Decapitation Burials

Shaheen Christie is studying for a PhD at the University of Wisconsin focussing on Roman British decapitation burials. She visited the museum to study the remains of Roman decapitations from Cirencester and the Cotswolds. In this blog entry Shaheen discusses her research.

Funerary helmet from the Strange tomb at All Saints Church, Somerford Keynes.

Funeral Helms

This guest blog is written by Mary Oliver. Mary visited the Corinium Museum Collection as a researcher and has kindly written this post about Funeral Helms from the Cotswold area.