Roman Metal Work

A replica of an exceptional, cast, gun metal trulla, inlaid with several colours of enamel. The pan is missing its base and hozizontal handle.

Manufactured by the British Museum. Made for display at The Potteries Museum, whilst the original pan is on display at The British Museum or Tullie House Museum, Carlisle. The original will return to The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery sometime in 2010

This is a tiny cast copper-alloy trulla which shows exceptional craftsmanship. The base and handle are missing.

A band of Celtic-style curvilinear decoration dances around the wall of the vessel. The vibrantly coloured enamel inlay fills eight roundels and an engraved inscription:

MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMMOGIANNARIGOREVALIAELIDRACONIS

Mais Co(n)gabata Uxelodunum Cam(b)og(l)anna rigore val(l)i Aeli Draconis

Or, 'Bowness-on-Solway, Drumburgh, Stanwix, Castlesteads on the line of the Aelian (Hadrian's) Wall, (the product or property) of Draco'

The engraver may have started at 'RIGORE,'and run out of space, so squeezing in 'CAMMOGIANNA' They also misspelt two of the names of the forts on Hadrian's Wall.

No-one knows who Draco was. His name is from the Greek for 'serpent or dragon.'

Hadrian, Hadrian's Wall and the Pan

Emperor Hadrian was a Spaniard. He became leader of the Roman Empire in AD 117, after the death of his uncle, the emperor Trajan. He is best known for building the great wall from the River Tyne to the River Solway. Hadrian's Wall was intended to control movement at the northern frontier of the Empire.

Construction of Hadrian's Wall began in AD 122, although some forts were already built by that date. The inscription on the pan names four of the westernmost forts of the Wall; it is the earliest naming of the fort Congabata. Hadrian?s Wall is named for the first time here, (Aelius was Hadrian's family name) which means the pan was made after AD 122.

Draco may be the name of the man who made the pan, or the man for whom the pan was commissioned. Perhaps Draco was a soldier who served on Hadrian?s Wall. Was the pan a retirement present?

How the pan was discovered

A local man using a metal detector found the pan in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Perhaps it was an offering to the river gods, as its burial site overlooks a river valley.

This amazing find was reported immediately to the national Portable Antiquities Scheme. The pan has been jointly acquired for the nation by the British Museum, The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery and Tullie House, Carlisle.

Acquisition

Purchased from the Department of Media, Culture and Sport by The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in 2005 with financial assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund and The Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

Accession number: STKMG:2006.LH.53

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