The Xanten Horse-Phalerae is the name of a set of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

silvered bronze horse-trappings found in

Xanten Xanten (, Low Rhenish: ''Santen'') is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the district of Wesel. Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park, one of the largest archaeological open air museums in the wo ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The set is now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

's Greek and Roman antiquities collection. One of the decorations bears an inscription meaning "while Pliny was prefect of cavalry". This provides an important link to the famous Roman historian

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

, who later witnessed the destruction of Pompeii.

History

The horse trappings were found in the early nineteenth century at the Roman city of ''Castra Vetera'' near modern-day Xanten in the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. Castra Vera was an important Roman army camp for the Classis Germanica regiment that provided protection and security along the frontier of the Roman Empire. The heightened military presence encouraged the development of a large city nearby that became the second largest settlement in the province of

Germania Inferior Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the fourth century, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Agripp ...

Inscription to Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as

, was a Roman historian, author and army commander in the reign of the Emperors Claudius and

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...

. Famous for writing Naturalis Historia, he also witnessed the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79, eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. One of the horse-trappings bears his name and reads: PLINIO PRAEF(ECTO) EQ(UITUM) ('while Pliny was Prefect of the cavalry'). This suggests that these horse-phalerae belonged to a Roman cavalry, cavalryman under his command when Pliny was stationed in Germania Inferior in approximately 50 AD.

Description

The set of horse-trappings is made of about 60 silvered-bronze Phalera (military decoration), phalerae and forms part of a decorative Equestrianism, equestrian harness that is only partly preserved. Organic material such as leather has not survived but enough roundels have to enable a partial reconstruction of the set in the museum. One of the phalerae has the bust of a Roman Emperor, but it is difficult to determine which emperor is represented from the appearance.British Museum Collection
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Gallery

Image:Silvered-bronze horse trapping from Xanten (BM).JPG, Image of a roundel with the bust of an emperor Image:Plinio praefecto.jpg, Detail of the phalera with Latin inscription

Bibliography

*L. Burn, ''The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art'' (British Museum Press, 1991) *S. Walker, ''Roman Art'' (British Museum Press, 1991) *I.D. Jenkins, 'A group of silvered-bronze horse-trappings from Xanten (Castra Vetera)', Britannia-2, 16 (1985), pp. 141–64

References