The value of finding Roman seal stamps in archaeological excavations
Yesterday when I was translating the excavations records for the House of Sallust, I read about one of the finds there, a stamp with ring on the back. The stamp found had a vase inscribed on the bevel portion of the ring and the words A • COSS•LBAN probably the last owner of the house or one of the guests staying at the hospitium (the House of Sallust was converted into a hospitium (a Roman hotel) during the last decades before the eruption of Vesuvius). This morning while I was searching the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I found just such a stamp from the Villa at Boscoreale. Its ring is inscribed with a winged caduceus, the staff of Mercury, god of commerce. Its letter inscription, L*HER*FLO, signifies Lucius Herennius Florus, the name of the owner of the villa at Boscoreale from which the Museum's Second Style frescoes come. Of course, this is a little confusing since the frescoes are labeled as coming from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor. ...