Description

Summary: 1 silver ring with a cornelian intaglio portraying Mercury with geometric decoration on the ring's body, found at Roundway Down, Roundway, Wiltshire.

Research results

A Roman silver signet ring with a red carnelian intaglio depicting mercury, found on Roundway Down, Roundway. Although lacking an archaeological context, the ring can be dated to the third century based on its form. Mercury is one of the most commonly depicted deities on Roman intaglios, becoming particularly common in the third century. Mercury and other popular deities to be depicted on the rings are often relatively junior members of the Roman pantheon, typically associated with good luck or abundance. Higher ranking deities were perhaps seen as less approachable, although we shouldn't assume that the individual who owned the ring necessarily associated the depiction with the classical god, rather than a local deity.

This ring was examined by Marshman (2015) as part of thier PhD with the university of Leicester. This PhD undertook a survey of Roman signet rings and intaglios in Britain, criticising previous research which had discussed the objects in almost exclusively art-historical terms, in isolation of the wider archaeological evidence. They highlight that finger rings were an important part of an empire-wide metropolitan tradition due to the importance of sealing in every day tansactions and other contracts. Unlike brooches, signet rings were not a feature of Iron Age dress in Britain, and particularly in the early period appear to have been associated with the roman military and colonia, and those who wished to style themselves as 'Roman'. Wider adoption of signet rings followed in the second and third centuries, when the meaning attributed to them may have changed.