A Finger-Ring from Clifton down

Abstract

Catuvellaunian woman Regina, the freedwoman and then the wife of the Palmyrene merchant Barates depicts a contemporary of the woman of the cameo, wearing her jewellery, which incidentally includes a similar necklet. 22 The face has been lost but tresses of hair suggest a rather different coiffure in this case, or perhaps on this occasion. Surely women in Antiquity, as now, changed their hairstyles from time to time? In terms of status, however, the image could not be more apt, the luxurious dress, jewel-box, and plentiful gold jewellery revealing a woman of leisure who would certainly have been of consequence in provincial society. 23 Institute of Archaeology, Oxford A Finger-ring from Clifton Down. Valerie Hutchinson Pennanen and Martin Henig write: The subject of this note, a casual find from Clifton Down near Bristol, now in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no. 1988. 395), is a copper-alloy ring (PL. IVB). It has a hoop of D-shaped section, which flattens and widens markedly to incorporate an oval bezel. The form of the ring is characteristic of the first century A.D. 24 The device on the bezel is in relief and depicts a male head in profile to the right. The subject has a fleshy face with swollen cheeks, the eye is small and deep-set. He has a long, flat nose, upturned chin, and thick neck, with a pronounced roll of flesh just below the jawline. The coiffure is represented by a double row of bead-like curls of which the lower row extends to the nape of the neck. In front of the head is a branch, evidently a palm. A beaded border frames the entire device. The palm, emblematic of victory, points to this being an Imperial portrait, and there is little doubt that the image is that of Nero with his familiar swollen facial features and coiffure 'in gradus formata' (Suetonius, Nero 51). The head is similar to his coin portraits and also brings to mind other images of this emperor such as that embellishing the front of a mirror-cover from Coddenham, Suffolk, in the British Museum or a glass cameo in Geneva. 25 Indeed, it can be regarded as similar in intent to these, a sort of badge of loyalty to the princeps. In any case it can hardly be later than Nero's death and damnatio memoriae in A.D. 68. It is worth pointing out in this connection, that the situation here was very different from the Silchester cameo published in the previous note. Apart from the difference in date and the sex of the subject, the palm is specifically imperial. Moreover, although men doubtless followed prevailing Julio-Claudian fashions with regard to personal looks, it is doubtful whether many private individuals would have specifically imitated Nero so closely either in his lifetime or after his death. Amongst contemporary metalwork related to the device, mention should be made of studs from military aprons with laureate heads and sometimes palm branches, as from the London Walbrook, doubtless meant to show emperors. In addition, we should note first-century imperial heads on the covers of seal-boxes, though there are none...

Ii. Finds Reported Under the Portable Antiquities Scheme

“…102 The other is a more miscellaneous group of imperial figures, distributed over a longer period, which show the emperor's profile image on pendants, rings and so on. 103 Examples from Britain include a ring from Clifton Down, Bristol, with a portrait of Nero as the device on the bezel 104 and a very low relief portrait of Faustina Maior set in a possible belt fitting from Colchester. 105 As for the subject, the portrait most closely resembles Augustus and Tiberius but is hard to identify with confidence.…”