Bronze Wine Jug

Object/Artifact

Trimontium Museum

Photo © National Museums Scotland

Name/Title

Bronze Wine Jug

Entry/Object ID

X.FRA 1193

Description

Large bronze wine jug, the handle is decorated at the rim with a lotus bud between two birds' heads and at the base with Bacchus' head, from the Roman site at Newstead (Trimontium), late 1st century AD.

Use

Wine jug

Context

Wine was a staple in the Roman diet, and a key feature in religious ceremonies and rituals. Bacchus, the god of wine and agriculture had a large cult following among the Romans. Bacchanalia was a ritual originally practiced in Greece to pay homage to the Greek god Dionysus, which would celebrate the grape harvest by having a procession of women carrying wine jugs in the streets. The Roman women would Bacchus face on the jugs, similar to this wine jug found at Trimontium.

Collection

National Museums Scotland

Made/Created

Time Period

Late 1st century

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Location

Trimontium Roman Fort Site, Newstead

Country

Scotland

* Untyped Cultural Region

United Kingdom

Culture/Tribe

Romano British

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Jug

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Vessel

Nomenclature Class

Containers

Nomenclature Category

Category 07: Distribution & Transportation Objects

Getty AAT

Concept

jugs (vessels)

Other Name

Oenochoe

Material

Bronze

Color

Green

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

James Curle

Web Links and URLs

Artefact page in the National Museums Scotland website, Reference page in J Curle "A Roman Frontier Post and Its People", Chapter 12 - Unglazed Pottery, Glass Vessels of Bronze, "A Roman Frontier Post and Its People"