NOTES 177

6. Spade-iron (fig. 3). The best-preserved example known to me in Britain. The half-oval
wooden blade to which it was originally attached was only 6£ in. wide at the top and probably
not more than 7 in. long. No nails or rivets had been used to attach the iron sheath, but the sides
of this are grooved to enclose both edges of the blade for a length of some 5 in. At the point
where these grooves end the sheath widens outwards and downwards to a width of 7 in. to form
a curved cutting-edge. Contrary to the usual practice, there
is no groove in the sheath to receive the lower edge of the J | i
wooden blade.
T h e closest parallel known to me for this form of spade-
iron is the long-bladed shovel from Braughing in the Letch-
worth Museum,1 which employs exactly the same method of
attachment and has a curved cutting-edge wider than the
blade. T h e tiny spade from Runcton Holme2 is of the same
general form, but is more rounded, while the odd spade from
Tiddington in New Place Museum, Stratford-on-Avon,3
while it employs the same method of enclosing the edges of
the blade in grooves along the side of the sheath, has a much
shallower cutting-edge and is roughly rectangular in shape.
7. Impressions of textile. Due east of the North-east Gate
of the fort, and beyond the second great ditch, one of our
trial trenches cut into the edge of one of the extra-mural
cemeteries, close to the cutting of the Thirsk—Malton Rail-
way.4 At a depth of 5 ft. a perfect extended skeleton of a
woman, about 35 years of age, was found with head lying FIG. 3. Roman spade-iron from
north-north-west. Some nails, gypsum, and traces of wood Malton. (J)
indicated that burial had been in a coffin. A coin of Constans
{Cohen 176) (A.D. 337—40) was found 9 in. above the skeleton, the only other object associated
with the burial being a plain ring of shale behind the skull, which had no doubt served to confine
the hair.
Among the gypsum fragments beneath the bones were several that bore traces of the material
resembling a linen fabric in which the body had been wrapped (pl.xxvi g, h). The filling of coffins
with liquefied gypsum was commonly practised in the third- and fourth-century inhumations
in York.s T h e resulting moulds in gypsum of five bodies are preserved in the Yorkshire
Museum, and in several instances the impression of the fabric of which the shroud was formed
has also survived. One of these is said to be of a texture like velvet or plush,6 another being
linen resembling our Malton fabric.7 It is interesting to be able to record that a similar burial
custom was practised at Malton.

A Mithraic Brooch in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.—Mr. M. J. Vermaseren contributes

the following note:—During a recent visit of mine to the Department of Antiquities in the
Ashmolean Museum the Keeper kindly drew my attention to an engraved circular bronze
brooch (pi. XXVII a), diameter 0-07 m., bearing a Mithraic representation, which is of interest not
only in itself but also because it is the first such representation known on a brooch. T h e brooch is
also of some importance from the technical point of view, in that the engraver's work upon it would
1
Arch. Journ. c, 227,fig.2, 7. recorded the fact that supplies of this mineral are
2
Ibid.,fig.2, 6; P.P.S.E.A. vii, 258, fig. 52. available at Hillam, near Fryston {Arch. Journ.
3
Arch. Journ. c, fig. 2, 8. ciii, 79), which is only 20 miles from York.
4 6
Malton, 26. Handbook to York Museum, 1891, n o .
5 7
Dr. Richmond, in discussing this, has recently Ibid., p. 64, no. 65.
i78 THE ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL
seem to be unfinished: most of the figure of Mithras and the animals in the field are all properly
chased, whereas the bull, and Mithras' face, nimbus, and sword are only sketchily incised. Mr. H.
Maryon of the British Museum laboratory, who has kindly examined the brooch, confirms this.
T h e brooch is a thin, slightly convex disc of bronze, and the reverse is plain, except for a
hinged pin and catch-plate. It was found at Ostia in 1899 and came to the Museum with the
Sir John Evans collection in 1927. No details of its finding are preserved, but the fact that it
comes from Ostia provides further testimony to the great popularity Mithras-worship enjoyed at
this Roman harbour-town.1
T h e scene is the usual one of Mithras slaying the bull, but has some unusual features. T h e
god, in oriental dress, and with a nimbus and wreath of nine rays,2 kneels in the normal manner
on the bull, which bears two bands3 round its body and has a tail ending in a single tuft.4 It is
noteworthy that the god is not represented at the moment of thrusting the dagger into the bull's
body, but with his weapon raised after the stroked T h e wound is clearly visible and the dog
stands by with open mouth to lick the blood. T h e snake creeps over the ground and the scorpion
clasps the testicles. T h e raven, at which Mithras is looking, sits on the god's billowing cloak.
T h e busts of Sol and Luna are. omitted, obviously for want of space; and, perhaps for the same
reason, two birds take the place of the two torchbearers; one, a cock, stands facing the bull's
mouth, the other, a smaller bird, perches on the victim's tail. T h e cock, which by its crowing6
chases away evil beasts7 and announces the rising of the sun,8 is often represented9 in the Mithraea,

1
No less than 14 Mithraea have been found at the bull bears one band (e.g. MMM. ii, nos. 14,
Ostia (F. Cumont, C.R.A.I. 1945, 411 ff.). For 106, 139, 158, 163, I9i-3,figs. 24, 99, 129, 143,
Mithraic monuments from the town see id., Textes 146, 166-9, e t c -)-
et monumentsfigure's relatifs aux Mysteres de Mithra 4
The bull's tail normally has 3 tufts, more rarely
(Brussels, 1896-9, cited as MMM.) and the smaller 5 or 1. For other examples of a single tuft cf.
edition of the same work with addenda, Die MMM. ii, no. 16, fig. 26; Saxl, Mithras, fig. 85,
Mysterien des Mithra (3rd ed., Leipzig, Berlin, 90; A. M . Colini in B.C.R. lix (1931), 123 ff.;
1923), of which an English translation from the 2nd A. W. Van Buren, Ancient Rome as revealed by
French edition by T . J. McCormack was published Recent Discoveries (London, 1936), p. 143 and
in 1903. For other recent finds cf. L. Paschetto, pi. 8, fig. 2; and C. Pietrangeli in B.C.R. 1940,
'Ostia Colonia Romana', Atti Ace. Pont. Arch, x 166, no. 1,fig.13.
(1912), 3845". (=Bilychnis, i (1912), 463 ff.). An 5
A Mithras group signed by the Athenian
up-to-date list is forthcoming shortly in a Corpus sculptor Kritoon (who seems to have lived in the
Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mith- first half of the 2nd cent, A.D.), found at Ostia in
riacae by M. J. Vermaseren: 1938, shows the same victorious attitude (cf. Calza,
2
Sol is often represented on monuments to Le Arti, xvii (1939), 389; B.C.R. 1938, 307; Van
Mithras and other deities with a nimbus and wreath Buren in A.J.A. 1939, 513, fig- 5; A. Becatti in
of 7 rays (e.g. Malakhbel-Cumont, Syria (1928), Rivista deW 1st. Arch. Storia dell' Arte, vii, 88,
103; hence the epithet em-aiens) but he also appears fig. 59; H . Fuhrmann in Arch. Anz. 1940, 128 ff.,
with one of 6, 9, or 12 rays (cf. MMM. i, 123, fig. 17; Cumont, C.R.A.I. 1945, 412, fig. 2).
notes 5-7 and 193, note 3). Representations of Compare also a monument from Kerch, MMM. ii,
Mithras himself with nimbus and wreath are fewer no. 5, fig. 17, the remarkable monument from
but occur with 5 rays on a gem (MMM. ii, 447, Isbarta(Cumont,C.R.A.I., 1947, 303ff.withfig. 1),
no. 1,fig.393), with 6 rays on reliefs from Pisignano and a small marble relief from the Balkans (height
(P. Ducati in Felix Ravenna, v (1912), 191 ff., 0.20 m., length 0.26 m.) formerly in the Froehner col-
pi. 15) and Macerata (C. Hulsen in Rhein. Mus. lection and since 1926 in the Cabinet des Medailles
1904, 153 and A. Greifenhagen in Arch. Anz. in Paris, but on this one the dagger remains in the
6
.1933, 443 f., fig. 24), and with 9 rays on a fresco wound. Cf. MMM. ii, no. 54,fig.51.
7
from the Casa di Tito at Rome ( G . Turnbull, Cf. Bidez-Cumont, Les Mages helUniques, ii,
8
Treatise of Ancient Painting (London, 1740), pi. 9, 75, n. 11. Pausanias, v, 25, 9.
9
and Reinach, Re"p. peint. 29, 2). Cf. MMM. i, 210; id. ii, nos. 21 b, 44, 84 d,
3
Generally, especially on the Danube reliefs, and 295 b, figs. 33, 48, and 347 at Ostia.
T H E ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL PLATE XXVII

a. Mithraic brooch from Ostia in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (j)

b. Bronze Viking drinking-horn mount from

Fetter Lane, London (\)
 NOTES 179
especially in connexion with Cautes, the torchbearer with raised torch. Moreover, in the
Mithraic cult the cock is a sacrificial animal1 and also plays a part in the initiation rites.2 If,
therefore, in this example we identify the cock as representing the rising light, we may assume
that the other bird represents the waning light, a part belonging especially to the nightingale in
antiquity. This bird, which is widespread in southern Europe, and which sings in spring during
the evening and night, is the subject of various Greek mythological stories,3 all of which have
one common factor, namely, a mother (Aedon, Procne, Philomela) who has killed her son and,
changed into a bird, voices her sorrow by plaintive songs. Besides, in classical poetry the nightin-
gale is often depicted as mourning in the darkness on a branch,4 so that it is not surprising to find
it as a symbol for waning light in contrast to the cock on this Mithraic brooch.5

A Bronze Viking Drinking-horn Mount from Fetter Lane, London.—Mr. Adrian Oswald,
F.S.A., contributes the following:—The object figured (pi. xxvn b) is described in the Guildhall
Museum Catalogue of 1908 as a spear-shaft socket or butt of the Bronze Age. It was found in
Fetter Lane in 1897. It is of bronze with a massive spherical knob at the base, to which is
attached a tapering hollow socket, with an incised groove at its upper end, where there are two
small holes for a rivet. Its overall length is 8-5 cm., diameter of knob 3-3 cm., and diameter of
mouth 17 cm. There can be little doubt that this object is a terminal mount of a Viking
drinking-horn and consequently deserves special notice among the small group of Viking anti-
quities from London. From Norway there are several close parallels: from Gjonnes, parish of
Hedrum, there is a very similar one for shape, 6-5 cm. long; from Huseby, parish of Borseskogn,
a smaller one with two rivet-holes; in all from Norway twelve, mostly from women's graves of
the ninth century.6 In the British Isles I have been able to trace two only: one of silver gilt from
a grave in Westray, ornamented, and of the characteristic shape but smaller in size,7 the other in
bronze from a grave from Ardvonrig, Barra.8

An Early Bronze Age Bracelet from Bridlington, Yorkshire.—Mr. D. M. Waterman sends the
following note:—The bronze bracelet here illustrated (pi. xxvni d and fig. 1) forms part of
the Boynton collection of antiquities now preserved in the Yorkshire Museum, York, and was
found, according to the original label attached to the object, at Bridlington Quay in 1891. T h e
bracelet is formed of a penannular strip of bronze 2-1 cm. wide, with a diameter of 7 cm. T h e
external circumference is ornamented with an incised metopic arrangement of ansate-ended
panels, filled with opposed oblique lines.
1
For example, in a fresco in the new Mithraeum (3rd. ed., ed. J. B. Hofmann, 1938), i, s.v.
of St. Prisca in Rome, A. Ferrua in B.C.R. 1940, 'luscinia'.
2
59 ff., fig. 9. Cf. MMM. i, 69, note 2. * Cf. Virgil, Georg. iv, 514 f.:
3
Cf. P.-W. s.vv. 'luscinia', 'Philomela'; Roscher, flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen
Myth. Lex., s.v. 'Aedon', 'Philomela'; O. Keller, integrat et maestis late loca questibus implet.
Die antike Tierwelt (Leipzig, 1913), i, 73; The same idea occurs in later poets.
5
G. Schmidt, De luscinia quae apud Homerum, On Mithras reliefs the raven also occurs in the
Sophoclem, Aristophanem est (St. Petersburg, 1904). same attitude on the bull's tail (e.g. MMM. ii,
The nightingale's sleeplessness is also attributed to no. 79, fig. 67); and another small bird (perhaps a
her sadness (cf. Hesychius, s.v. arjSoveios and nightingale) on a relief from Rome (Mus. Torlonia;
Aelian, Varia Hist, xii, 20). This explains the MMM. ii, no. 8, fig. 20).
6
reason for Varro's etymology (De Lingua Latina, v, H. Shetelig, Viking Antiquities in Gt. Britain
76) 'lusciniola, quod luctuose canere existimatur', and Ireland, pt. v, pp. 169-72, fig. 136 b and
though some modern scholars prefer to derive it p. 11.
7
from lusci-cinia, 'singing during the twilight', cf. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot, x, p. 573, figs. 1 and 2.
8
A. Walde, Lateinisches etymologisckes Wb'rterbuch H. Shetelig, op. cit., pt. ii, p. 72 f.