Tag: Mythology
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A Sunken Shield
The River Tyne was an important access point for Roman ships, bringing supplies and soldiers for the forts along Hadrian’s Wall. We’ve already seen some of the intriguing objects pulled from its watery depths, like the altars to Neptune and Oceanus. But what else has been discovered lurking beneath the surface? Our object today is…
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Bathing Venus
Now that the days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer, we’re seeing more people out at the coast braving the North Sea for a swim – and it reminded us of one of our favourite objects in the Great North Museum: Bathing Venus! This stone may not have an inscription, but it’s…
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Mysterious Mithras
The many ancient gods and goddesses are one of the most interesting parts of Roman life! We’ve already seen examples of the Romans bringing their own gods to Britannia (Neptune and Oceanus), as well as what happens when the Romans decide to adopt a local British god like Brigantia, or Antenociticus. But do they ever…
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Ancient Stories: Aurelia Aureliana
It’s about time we met another woman from the furthest edges of the Roman Empire – and as we saw already with Regina, the key type of evidence we have for women in Roman Britain is their tombstones. Cheery! This time we’ve chosen one of our favourite tombstones on display at the Great North Museum…
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Ancient Stories: Regina
Ancient monuments with inscriptions weren’t just for celebrating big historic events, important dates, or honouring the gods. There’s also a whole category of inscriptions that can tell us lost of details about peoples’ lives. We can find out names, ages, accomplishments – even sometimes information on what they were like as a person. And these…
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Fortune on the Frontier
It wasn’t just the Olympian gods who came along when the Romans arrived in Britannia! The Romans had lots of gods and goddesses – and they were each in charge of different things. We’ve met Oceanus and Neptune already, useful gods to have on your side as you make dangerous journeys by sea and build…
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Ancient Stories: Brigantia
Let’s take a closer look at the message left for Brigantia, our Romano-British goddess in the North! In our last entry we gave you another challenge: transcribing the message left on an altar from Arbeia. Did you identify all the letters? Recording the inscription is an important step before translating it – it helps us…
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Ancient Stories: Brigantia
Did you know the Romans liked to borrow gods and goddesses from other cultures? This week, we’re looking at some Romano-British gods and goddesses. These interesting figures were a blend of Roman mythology and Celtic mythology, resulting in new and unique deities at the northernmost point of the Roman Empire. This process of blending two…
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Ancient Stories: Oceanus Answer Key
Salve! (Hello!) In our last post, we set you a challenge – decoding the message on the second Roman altar which was fished out of the River Tyne. Let’s see how you have fared with your first foray into reading Latin inscriptions! This short video looks at who this altar was for, and why it…
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Ancient Stories: Neptune & Oceanus
For our first week celebrating the North East Festival of Languages, we are exploring the gods and goddesses brought to Britannia (Britain) by the Romans. Over 100 years ago when the Victorians were building a new bridge across the River Tyne, they found a very watery Roman surprise: two altars. An altar is a special…
Romans on the Tyne 