Gs4 Security: Blacksmith Tongs

Friday 11 January 2013

Blacksmith Tongs

Although Roman forts were primarily military bases, they were also home to the troops who garrisoned them, together with a retinue of dependants and camp-followers. All had to be fed and clothed, and, since the soldiers’ relatively high rates of pay gave them considerable purchasing power, provided with a wide range of goods and services.These carved jasper stones, or intaglios, were used like modern signet rings to impress the owner's mark or good-luck sign. All are from Newstead. They show, from left to right: Fortuna, with her pan and horn of plenty; Gannymede offering a cup to Jupiter's eagle; a satyr playing his pipes beneath a tree; and Bonus Eventus - the spirit of success - holding ears of corn and a bunch of grapes.All © SCRAN/National Museums of Scotland

In the early stages of occupation, when the forts were being set up, most of the troops were probably unaccompanied by families or followers, although the size of the commanding officers’ quarters suggests that they brought substantial households with them. Letters found at Vindolanda in Northumberland show that the commanding officer of the Ninth Batavian Cohort, stationed there in the 90s, was accompanied by his wife Sulpicia Lepidina.