Lanx

Last updated
The Corbridge Lanx (British Museum) Corbridge lanx.jpg
The Corbridge Lanx (British Museum)

A lanx (Latin for dish) was a large ancient Roman serving platter. [2] Particularly ornamented ones were used to make offerings or sacrifices. [3] Indeed, the silver Corbridge Lanx, [4] the second discovered in Britain, has depicted on it a lanx itself, set beside various gods and goddesses: Minerva, Diana, Juno, Vesta and Apollo. [5]

Positioned atop an altar, "of a globular form". Fruit as well as sheep parts and "other small victims" were likely used. However, the exact meaning in this representation has not been determined. [6] [7] The inscription on the now lost Risley Park Lanx, which was the first lanx discovered in Britain indicated that it was "church plate." [8]

Notes

  1. British Museum Highlights
  2. Lysons, Daniel & Lysons, Samuel. "Antiquities: British and Roman", Magna Britannia vol 5, 1817, pp. CCIII-CCXVIII. Accessed November 26, 2007.
  3. Dunlop, John Colin. History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Periods to the Augustan Age' Eve Littel, New York: 1827, p233.
  4. Discovered in 1735 the Corbridge Lanx was owned by the Duke of Northumberland, and purchased by the British Museumin 1993. . Multiple images here eight and here twelve.
  5. Note divinities otherwise characterised as the Greek equivalents, see: Nicholson, Oliver. "The Corbridge Lanx and the Emperor Julian", Britannia, Vol. 26, 1995, p312
  6. Hodgson cited in Bruce, John Collingwood. The Roman wall: a historical, topographical and descriptive account of the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus extending from the Tyne to the Solway., London: John Russell Smith, 1851: p335-7; plate p335.
  7. Nicholson,Oliver. "The Corbridge Lanx and the Emperor Julian", Britannia, Vol. 26, 1995, p312
  8. Johns, Catherine & Painter, Kenneth. "The Risley Park Lanx 'rediscovered'(abstract)", Minerva 2(6) 1991, 6–13.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Britain</span> Britain under Roman rule (43 AD - c.410 AD)

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman Province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minerva</span> Roman goddess of wisdom

Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena. Minerva is one of the three Roman deities in the Capitoline Triad, along with Jupiter and Juno.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantius Chlorus</span> Roman emperor from 293 to 306

Flavius Valerius Constantius "Chlorus", also called Constantius I, was Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 to 305 and then ruling as augustus until his death. Constantius was also father of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. The nickname Chlorus was first popularized by Byzantine-era historians and not used during the emperor's lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gratian</span> Roman emperor from 367 to 383

Gratian was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and was raised to the rank of Augustus in 367. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian took over government of the west while his half-brother Valentinian II was also acclaimed emperor in Pannonia. Gratian governed the western provinces of the empire, while his uncle Valens was already the emperor over the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Britannia</span> National personification of the United Kingdom

Britannia is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin Britannia was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great Britain, and the Roman province of Britain during the Roman Empire. Typically depicted reclining or seated with spear and shield since appearing thus on Roman coins of the 2nd century AD, the classical national allegory was revived in the early modern period. On coins of the pound sterling issued by Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Britannia appears with her shield bearing the Union Flag. To symbolise the Royal Navy's victories, Britannia's spear became the characteristic trident in 1797, and a helmet was added to the coinage in 1825.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Londinium</span> Settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 43–50

Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the Claudian invasion of Britain, on the current site of the City of London around AD 47–50, but some defend an older view that the city originated in a defensive enclosure constructed during the Claudian invasion in AD 43. Its earliest securely-dated structure is a timber drain of 47 CE. It sat at a key ford at the River Thames which turned the city into a road nexus and major port, serving as a major commercial centre in Roman Britain until its abandonment during the 5th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman roads in Britannia</span> Roads in the Province of Britannia, 43–410

Roman roads in Britannia were initially designed for military use, created by the Roman army during the nearly four centuries (AD 43–410) that Britannia was a province of the Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Baths (Bath)</span> Roman site in the city of Bath, England

The Roman Baths are well-preserved thermae in the city of Bath, Somerset, England. A temple was constructed on the site between 60 and 70 AD in the first few decades of Roman Britain. Its presence led to the development of the small Roman urban settlement known as Aquae Sulis around the site. The Roman baths—designed for public bathing—were used until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th century AD. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the original Roman baths were in ruins a century later. The area around the natural springs was redeveloped several times during the Early and Late Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sulis</span> Celtic water deity

In the localised Celtic polytheism practised in Great Britain, Sulis was a deity worshiped at the thermal spring of Bath. She was worshiped by the Romano-British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived of both as a nourishing, life-giving mother goddess and as an effective agent of curses wished by her votaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quintus Lollius Urbicus</span> 2nd century senator, military commander and governor

Quintus Lollius Urbicus was a Numidian Berber governor of Roman Britain between the years 139 and 142, during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. He is named in the Historia Augusta, although it is not entirely historical, and his name appears on five Roman inscriptions from Britain; his career is set out in detail on a pair of inscriptions set up in his native Tiddis near Cirta, Numidia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnis (Carvoran)</span> Roman fort in Northumberland, England

Magnis or Magna was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain. Its ruins are now known as Carvoran Roman Fort and are located near Carvoran, Northumberland, in northern England. It is thought to have been sited with reference to the Stanegate Roman road, before the building of Hadrian's Wall, to which it is not physically attached. In fact the Vallum ditch unusually goes north of the fort, separating it from the Wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corbridge Hoard</span>

The Corbridge Hoard is a hoard of mostly iron artefacts that was excavated in 1964 within the Roman site of Coria, next to what is now Corbridge, Northumberland, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Risley Hall, Derbyshire</span> Building in Derbyshire, England

Risley Hall is a country house, now a hotel set in 17 acres (69,000 m2) of private landscaped grounds in the Derbyshire countryside, near the village of Risley, and close to Junction 25 of the M1. It comprises 35 bedrooms and several function rooms. The building's main function is as a hotel and spa, but it also caters for weddings, which take place in the 16th-century Great Hall, with open-beamed ceilings and mullion windows. The Spa Closed down in 2016 as is yet to be reopened.

Shaun Greenhalgh is a British artist and former art forger. Over a seventeen-year period, between 1989 and 2006, he produced a large number of forgeries. With the assistance of his brother and elderly parents, who fronted the sales side of the operation, he successfully sold his fakes internationally to museums, auction houses, and private buyers, accruing nearly £1 million.

The Risley Park Lanx is a large Roman silver dish that was discovered in 1729 in Risley Park, Derbyshire, and was later lost from view. In Roman times, a lanx was generally a large serving platter, about 15 by 20 inches in size. Particularly ornamented ones were used to make offerings or sacrifices. The inscription on the Risley Park Lanx suggests it was used as "church plate".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vindomora</span> Roman auxiliary fort in County Durham, England

Vindomora was an auxiliary fort on Dere Street, in the province of Lower Britain. Its ruins, now known as Ebchester Roman Fort, are situated at Ebchester in the English county of Durham, to the north of Consett and 12 miles (19 km) west-south-west from Newcastle upon Tyne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blacas Cameo</span> Large Ancient Roman cameo

The Blacas Cameo is an unusually large Ancient Roman cameo, 12.8 cm (5.0 in) high, carved from a piece of sardonyx with four alternating layers of white and brown. It shows the profile head of the Roman emperor Augustus and probably dates from shortly after his death in AD 14, perhaps from AD 20–50. It has been in the British Museum since 1867, when the museum acquired the famous collection of antiquities that Louis, Duke of Blacas had inherited from his father, also including the Esquiline Treasure. Normally it is on display in Room 70.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esquiline Treasure</span> Roman silver hoard

The Esquiline Treasure is an ancient Roman silver treasure that was found in 1793 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The hoard is considered an important example of late antique silver work from the 4th century AD, probably about 380 for the major pieces. Since 1866, 57 objects, representing the great majority of the treasure, have been in the British Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corbridge Lanx</span> Roman silver dish

The Corbridge Lanx is the name of a Roman silver dish found near Corbridge, Northern England in 1735. Once part of a large Roman treasure, only the silver lanx remains from the original find. The British Museum eventually purchased it in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salem, Ceredigion</span>

Salem is a small Welsh village in Ceredigion, located between the Afon Stewi and Nant Seilo rivers. The closest village is Penrhyn-coch.