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Exceptional Imperial Roman Cast Bronze Military Standard

An eagle perched atop the head of a boar. In the Naturalis Historia (X.v, ff.), Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD) writes that Caius Marius made the eagle the exclusive standard of the Roman Legions during his second consulship (104 BC). Behind the eagle, an Ordo (rank) carried supplemental emblemata. The Boar was associated with Ordines in Moesia Inferior (Bulgaria), Judaea, and Britannia.

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2nd–3rd Century AD

Height: 7 cm. (2 3/4 in.)

Width: 3.5 cm. (1 3/8 in.)

6.4 cm. (2 9/16 in.)

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#5739

Ex: British private collection of I.K., by 2000.

Published: Antiquarium, Ltd.; Ancient Treasures XIX. (London, 2020) p.35

Comparanda: Brandt, E; Antike Gemmen in deutschen Sammlungen. Band 1. München. Teil 3, Gemmen und Glaspasten der Römischen Kaiserzeit sowie Nachträge (Munich, 1968-) p.196 taf. 323, no. 3413 Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg inv. no. S-288

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