Researchers at the University of the North said that the engravings of Hercules and Dionysus on the sides suggest that the box was made in Leptis Magna, in present-day Libya. It would have belonged to a wealthy owner. They believe it dates to the reign of Septimius Severus, the first North African emperor of Rome, who ruled from York (then called Eboracum) from 209 to his death in 211 ad.
Dr Steve Smith, of the Department of Archaeology, said: “It’s a bit of a puzzle, because the box is clearly meant for use as a medicine chest. It has the symbol of Asclepius, god of medicine and doctors, engraved on the lid – two snakes coiled around a staff. However, the contents are very varied.”
The box contained a gold ring with an early Christian symbol on it, a bracelet made of jet from Whitby, and a small enamelled gold pot, which was probably intended for cosmetics. There was also some organic matter which has not yet been identified. It is thought it may have some connection with the ruins of a late second-century farm and villa some miles away, where skeletons of men, women and children from across the Roman world have been found buried.
Dr Smith commented: “Roman-era Britain was a multicultural place. The Romans traded goods from as far away as China, so it is not a surprise that objects from Leptis Magna reached Britain. We just don’t know the story behind this particular box.”
The box may have been buried for safe-keeping during the so-called Crisis of the Third Century. In 235 AD, the last emperor of the Severan dynasty, Severus Alexander, was murdered and a chaotic time followed, in which the Roman Empire split into three parts, each controlled by a different general.
Zaibun said: “I want to be a doctor, so I was really excited to find out that the box was a medicine chest. But now I think I might want to be an archaeologist instead! I would love to know who buried the box and why.”
The items will go on display at the county museum from September.
Timeline
193
AD/CE:
The Year of Five Emperors. Septimius Severus, a general in the army, comes to power. Camilla is born. A severe fire destroys much of the city of Rome.
207
AD:
Camilla’s family leave Leptis Magna for Rome.
208
AD:
Septimius Severus begins his journey to Britain.
211
AD:
Septimius Severus dies at York (Eboracum)
228
AD:
Camilla and Arcturus’s son is born.
235
AD:
The Crisis of the Third Century begins. The last Severan emperor, Severus Alexander, is murdered by his own soldiers. Different generals fight for the Empire and the Empire is eventually split into three. The Roman Empire is never the same again.
Author’s Note
When I was two years old, my family moved to Libya. I grew up in Benghazi. On weekends we sometimes went on long drives to the ruins of ancient Greek and Roman cities like Cyrene, where we played among fallen columns and picnicked with a view of temples.
I think this was where my love of history began. It was so easy to feel a connection to the ancient world when you were running around the same backyards and houses that children had run around over a thousand years ago. Of course, things had changed since the days of the Roman Empire, but some things were not so different. For example, the billboard-sized portraits of Libya’s ruler, which were everywhere, were a lot like the arch of Septimius Severus.
As a result, it wasn’t hard for me to imagine myself into Camilla’s world. Nor was it hard to see that people have always travelled across the world, whether they wanted to or not, and created new homes, families and cultures wherever they went. All of these real people, for example, lived at around the same time that Empire’s End is set:
•Septimius Severus: a Libyan-born emperor who died in York (Eboracum).
•The powerful Syrian wife of Septimius who followed him across the world, taking her religion with her.
•A Syrian called Barates who freed, then married, his British slave, Regina.
•The ‘ivory bangle lady’, found buried with rich jewellery in York. She had black African heritage and may have been a Christian.
•Galen, a Greek from Turkey, who became the most famous doctor ever. He treated emperors, including Septimius Severus – and invented the ham ’n’ cheese treatment. (Yes, it’s real. No, it doesn’t work.)
Together, this group makes up a picture of a Roman world that was full of many different cultures, religions and ethnicities.
The Roman Empire, of course, was not paradise. It was a bloody, violent place, based on slave labour, where murder was entertainment and most women had little control over their lives. As soon as I introduced the fact that Camilla’s family owned slaves (as they would have done in real life), I found I had to explore that in some way. I didn’t feel comfortable ignoring the injustice of slavery, but nor did I feel comfortable pretending Camilla would have had the attitudes of a twenty-first-century person. I wanted Camilla to seem like a real girl, but a real Roman girl. As a result, slavery ended up being a bigger part of the book than I had first intended it to be.
In 235 AD, the year in which Camilla buries her treasure, the Roman Empire began to fall apart. When it was finally united again, it was as a Christian empire – a huge change from Camilla’s world. Constantinople (today’s Istanbul, in Turkey) became the centre of a new Holy Roman Empire. The city of Rome itself was overrun by invaders, and so were its provinces, including Britain. A world that people had thought would last forever had lasted just a few hundred years.
In the final chapter, Camilla is history and mystery for someone who will never know her story. The most interesting thing about history, I think, is that one day we will be history for someone
