The Capheaton Treasure is an important
Roman silver hoard found in the village of
Capheaton in Northumberland, north-east
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Since 1824, it has been part of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
's collection.
British Museum Collection
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Discovery
The hoard was discovered in 1747 in the village of Capheaton near Kirkwhelpington in Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
. Some of the treasure was melted down soon after it was found. That which survived was bequeathed by the antiquary and philanthropist Richard Payne Knight to the British Museum in 1824.
Description
The six objects that compose the treasure date from the 2nd/3rd centuries AD and depict a range of religious and mythological subjects. They are unfortunately only fragments of highly decorated silver vessels they may have formed part of a temple treasure. Four of them are the handles of silver vessels, probably skillets, while the other two are the base and a fitting for a silver vessel. The subjects represented on the handles include the goddess Minerva
Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...
above a temple, the deity Juno, below which is a seated figure of Mercury with the flanking figures of Bacchus and Ariadne below and six of the Twelve Labours of Hercules.
See also
* Chatuzange Treasure for a similar but more intact temple treasure from the same period
Gallery
Image:Capheaton Treasure (1).JPG, Silver handle with depiction of the goddess Minerva above a temple
Image:Capheaton Treasure (3).JPG, Bust of Juno with various Roman/Greek gods below
Bibliography
*D. Strong, Greek and Roman Silver Plate (British Museum Press, 1966)
*L. Burn, The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art (British Museum Press, 1991)
*S. Walker, Roman Art (British Museum Press, 1991)
References
{{reflist
Romano-British objects in the British Museum
Treasure troves of late antiquity
Silver objects
Hoards from Roman Britain
1747 archaeological discoveries
1747 in England
2nd-century artifacts