An ancient Roman bronze, iron, and silver suite of finely made horse bits and trappings for a two-horse carpentum (a carriage), likely part of the baggage train of a Roman legionary officer. On the roundels of the bridles and phalerae are depicted in silver relief various Dionysiac deities.
Early 1st century AD.
Height of largest element: 5 1/2 in. (14.2 cm).
Height as mounted: 55 in. (140 cm).
Extremely rare, of the finest quality, and of great historical importance.
This group is said to have been found in the area of the Teutoburg Forest where in September, 9 AD, the Roman general Varus was led into an ambush in a thickly wooded and marshy area, by the German commander Arminius, resulting in the complete annihilation of three Roman legions. This was one of Rome's greatest military defeats, effectively halting Roman expansion into Germania.
Cassius Dio relates, "the barbarians suddenly surrounded them on all sides at once... ...the Romans were not proceeding in any regular order, but were mixed in helter-skelter with the wagons and the unarmed, and so... ...they suffered greatly and could offer no resistance at all... ...afterwards they either burned or abandoned most of their wagons and everything else that was not absolutely necessary to them."*
*Confer for an ancient account of the battle: Cassius Dio, translation by Earnest Cary, Roman History book 56, chs. 18-24.
For a description of the aftermath of the battle: Tacitus, translated by Michael Grant, The Annals of Imperial Rome, (New York, 1956), ch. 3.
Formerly in the collection of Karl Slack, England, previously in a German private collection.
GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC
Roman Bronze and Silver Carpentum Trappings
Inv.#: 2653
Price on Request
HIXENBAVGH
ANCIENT ART
