Archaeologists have unearthed a bronze fragment of a Roman soldier’s forearm purse in South Moravia, Czech Republic. It dates to the 2nd century when the find site was not in Roman territory, which makes it an exceptionally rare artifact.
The fragment was found in January at a site where the 10th Legion had built a fortified camp during the Marcommanic Wars fought by the Roman Empire under Marcus Aurelius against Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. The 10th Legion occupied the camp between 172 and 180 A.D. Marcus Aurelius planned to make the camp a permanent feature in the new province he would carve out of the territories wrested from the defeated Marcomanni, but he never achieved a conclusive victory before his death in 180 A.D. His son and successor Commodus pulled the troops out of the region.
Only about 30% of the purse survives, but its distinctive shape identifies it and while there were no coins inside, large numbers were found in the same archaeological layer.
“It is more like a small money box,” explains Balázs Komoróczy from the Czech Academy of Sciences. “It was worn by sliding it onto the arm or forearm. The tension around the arm kept it closed and secure.” […]
Experts estimate the purse could have held around 50 silver denarii, a significant amount at the time, but not quite a full year’s pay for an ordinary soldier. That suggests it may have belonged to a junior officer or someone responsible for unit expenses while on the move.
It is possible the purse held both personal money and what Mr. Komoróczy calls “service cash” or coins used to cover logistical needs during military operations. Based on its design, it would have been worn on the left arm, keeping the right hand free for combat.
The fragment has gone on display at the Mušov Visitor Centre in Pasohlávky along with a reconstruction of what it would have looked like when complete and several of the coins found with it.
In 1988, a richly equipped tomb of a Germanic chieftain was found near to the hill.
Cf. ‘Mušov Couldron’.
…Ballomar led the invasion of Italy by a coalition of Celtic and Germanic tribes in 167-170 AD, which was the first time a hostile force had entered Italy since the Cimbri under Boiorix.
Apparently, it hast been argued that the couldron might have been His 🙂
“Experts estimate the purse could have”, “It is possible the purse held” These are the kind of non-facts which give historians a bad name. Stick to facts, boys and girls, or you drag down your reputations with conjecture like this.
And where do you think most facts come from? If you conjecture first, you can review whatever evidence you have now and in the future to see whether the data fits your conjecture.
What you are conjecturing here is that we understand everything already. However, if we did, there would be no need to search any further.
…It would be interesting to know, If this Thing was brocken, cut or even deliberately cut, and if a Cut would be modern or from antiquity.
Whenever there were incursions into the Empire, people took large quantities of metal objects with them back home, and the stuff offen was already cut on the run.
On the Rhine, there were deposits of Roman looted goods discovered, and e.g. plates were cut into four pieces, i.e. making the plate unusable.
If so, it was scrap metal