Grave-mounds and Their Contents: A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon PeriodsJewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
History
Grave-mounds and Their Contents: A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon Periods
Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
Great Britain -- Antiquities; Megalithic monuments -- Great Britain; Mounds -- Great Britain
The ornamentation is as varied as the form. Sometimes they are chased
or engraved in minute patterns of rows of dots, scales, etc.; at
others, enamelled or inlaid; and at others, again, raised ornaments are
riveted upon their surface. Instances of S-shaped fibulæ also occur, as
do many other grotesque forms.
[Illustration: Fig. 319.]
[Illustration: Fig. 320.]
Circular fibulæ are occasionally met with, and these, like the bowed
forms, vary very considerably in design. Sometimes they are flat on
the face, and enamelled or inlaid in different colours. One of the most
curious, but elegant, modifications of the circular form is fig. 320,
where the ends, which are serpents’ heads, are turned back to the sides
of the body.
ARMILLÆ, or bracelets, are found both in bronze, in silver, and in
gold. They vary very considerably in form. Of these, one example (fig.
321) will be sufficient. The pair here represented are of base silver,
and bear evidence of having been much worn. Examples of analogous type
have been found at Castleford and other places. Other armlets partake
more of the character of torques, torquis, or collar; and others,
again, are simply bars of metal, twisted in one or more coils, like a
spiral spring, around the wrist.
[Illustration: Fig. 321.]
While speaking of armlets and torques, it may not be out of place, as
I purposely omitted them in the Celtic division of this work, to say
a few words about the latter. There can be no doubt that the torque
was worn both by the ancient Briton and by his Roman conqueror, and
therefore it is perhaps best, as it is at present not easy to say which
of the known examples are to be attributed to the earlier and which to
the later of these periods, to speak of them generally under this head.
The torque, or torquis, is said, by ancient writers, to have been first
used by the Persians and by the nations of Northern and Western Europe.
Virgil describes it as worn by the Trojans when they came to colonize
Italy:--
“Omnibus in morem tonsa coma pressa corona,
Cornea bina ferunt præfixo hastilia ferro;
Pars leves humero pharetras; it pectore summo
Flexilis obtorti per collum circulus auri.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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