Antiquities Exhibits

Marcus Furius Camillus (c. 446 – 365 BCE) was a Roman soldier and statesman of the patrician class. According to Livy and Plutarch, Camillus triumphed four times, was five times dictator, and was honored with the title of Second Founder of Rome.  Camillus belonged to the lineage of the Furii Camilli, whose origin had been in the Latin city of Tusculum. Although this city had been a bitter enemy of the Romans in the 490s BCE, after both the Volsci and Aequi later began to wage war against Rome, Tusculum joined Rome, unlike most Latin cities. Soon, the Furii integrated into Roman society, accumulating a long series of magistrate offices. Thus the Furii had become an important Roman family by the 450s. In 406 BCE, Rome declared war against the rival Etrurian city of Veii. The city of Veii was powerful and was located on a well-fortified and elevated site. This required the Romans to commence a siege lasting several years. In 401 BCE, as the war started to grow increasingly unpopular i...

The term barbotine refers to a ceramic technique in which decorative elements are either piped onto an object similar to decorating a cake, or molded then applied to a pottery vessel.   With Type A barbotine, the potter uses a quill, horn, or other kind of nozzle to apply a soft slip mixture to a ceramic piece. Today the technique is known as slip-trailing. The slip would normally be in a contrasting color to the rest of the vessel, and forms a pattern, or inscription, that is slightly raised above the main surface. Barbotine designs have been found on pottery from ancient Egypt, the Middle Minoan period on Crete, and embellishing Roman vessels, where the color may be the same as the rest of the vessel rather than contrasting. With type B barbotine, the sllip or barbotine is cast in molds to form three-dimensional decorative sections which, when dried out, are added to the main vessel. Typically, these might be flowers, fruit, or animals. Type B barbotine was particularly popu...

The Vermand Treasure was discovered in the last quarter of the nineteenth century by Benoni Lelaurain.  It was recovered from a cemetery near the modern village of Vermand, which is located beside the Celtic oppidum of Viromandui.  In the 3rd century CE, Vermand served as a castra hiberna within the network of provincial Roman border defenses. It was also a thriving glass production center and home to a large number of refugees following the destruction of Augusta Viromanduorum in the late 3rd century by barabarian invaders. The treasure was found in one of the few military burials in the cemetery.  However, grave robbers had previously plundered the burial, cracked the stone sarcophagus and scattered the contents. Perhaps they had been interrupted in their violation of the grave as six objects including this gilt silver spear shaft mount were left behind.  Others, documented in the excavation report, remained as well but it is thought the excavator's workmen pilf...

Ancient artifacts recovered around the Mediterranean at the Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology in Marseille, France. Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology in Marseille houses the most important ensemble of Egyptian art in France after the Louvre.  Their Egyptian collections offer a thematic presentation of daily life, cults and funerary rites from prehistory to the second century CE. The classical collections offer a geographical and chronological discovery of the Middle East, with Assyrian coins and objects from Nineveh, Greece, Rome, Cyprus, Etruria and Gaul, from the fourth millennium to the third century CE including  Cycladic vases, a remarkable Minoan oenochoe (fifteenth century BCE), Corinthian perfume vases decorated with animal or floral prints, ceramics, a black figure vessel with a red face , a kouros, and Etruscan and Roman bucchero ware, bronze objects, children's toys, a Venus marble, and glassware. Image: Doll in a sitting position, articulated arms. Fema...

Archaeological finds of ancient Gaul at the National Archaeological Museum of France in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. This museum houses about 3 million archaeological objects, of which about 30,000 are on exhibit, representing life from prehistoric times to the Merovingian period, making it one of the richest collections in Europe. The finds are presented chronologically in themed galleries grouped by the Paleolithic, Neolith ic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman period (Roman Gaul) and the early Middle Ages (Merovingian Gaul). Objects include jewelry, armor, weapons, ceramics, religious artifacts, and funerary art. Image: God of Etang-sur-Arroux, possible depiction of Cernunnos wearing a torc at the neck and on the chest with two snakes with ram heads encircling him at the waist. Two cavities at the top of his head are probably designed to receive deer horns. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor PHGCOM.

Reimagine the battle of Alesia at the Alesia Archaeological Park near Alise-Sainte-Reine, France.  Exhibits include weapons, films, maps and scale models displayed in a round interpretive center recalling the original fortified oppidum. Visitors can experience the various stages of the battle through augmented reality. Binoculars pointed at important battle sites near the oppidum enable visitors to get a close-up of the landscape that springs to life with animations depicting the unfolding siege and the battle.  Visitors can also explore a section of the reconstructed dual walls  with wooden parapets that Julius Caesar constructed to contain the Gauls in the hill fort and protect the Roman from Gallic relief forces numbering an estimated 250,000 men in total.  Historical reenactors also present demonstrations of life in 1st century BCE Gaul. Reconstructions of Julius Caesar's reconstruction at the site of the battle of Alesia

Prehistoric and Gallo-Roman artifacts at the Pierre Martel Museum in Vachères, France. This small but interesting museum features exhibits of fossils from the Oligocene period (30 million years ago) as well as artifacts from its Gallo-Roman past including funerary monuments and a statue known as the Vachères warrior, a Roman auxiliary wearing a chain mail shirt and carrying a Roman shield and weapons but wearing a Gallic torcque around his neck. The village also has a number of medieval structures dating back to the 13th century to explore as well. Image: A young Gallo-Roman warrior dressed in mail and wearing a Gallic torque. Image courtesy of the Pierre Martel Museum.

Roman antiquities. Ongoing at the Musée Départemental de l'Arles Antique in Arles, France. Exhibited in a 2,800 square-meter / 30,000 square-foot permanent exhibition space, the vast collection of the Archeological museum of Arles comprises, along with scale models and reconstructions, artifacts dating from Prehistory to the late Roman Empire, including vases, mosaics, sarcophagi, sculptures, and a series of remarkable marble bu sts including a head thought to be a middle-aged Julius Caesar dredged from the nearby Rhone River. bronze sculpture of a captive Gaul, last quater of the 1st century BCE dredged from the Rhone River. photographed by Carole Raddato in 2014 and provided by Wikimedia Commons with a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license. Head of a middle-aged Roman thought to be possibly Gaius Julius Caesar  photographed by Mary Harrsch in 2013.