The Silchester 'Nymphaeum'. (5th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fulford, Michael
• Is Part Of: Britannia. Volume 49(2018)
• Page Start: 309
• Page End: 313
• Publication Date: 2018-11-05
• Subjects: Silchester, -- spring, -- nymphaeum, -- amphitheatre, -- coping stone, -- Lower Greensand, -- forum-basilica, -- Coventina's Well; Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Antiquities, Roman -- Periodicals; Romans -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 936.10305
• DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X18000235
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0068-113X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: A carved coping stone found on the site of a spring near the amphitheatre, Silchester, and first reported in 1873, was rediscovered in 2014. It does not compare in its carved detail with coping stones from the amphitheatres at Chester and London, nor with that recovered from the West Gate, Silchester, in 1890; nor does its basal width correspond with that of the arena wall of the Silchester amphitheatre. It is likely to have formed part of a monumental basin, similar to that found at Coventina's Well, Northumberland, and to have commemorated the location of a spring and its associated (unknown) deity. Similarity with the type and decoration of architectural stone used in the construction of the forum-basilica suggests a Hadrianic–Antonine date.