The nearly 1,800-year-old silver military medal depicting the snake-encrusted head of Medusa was once unearthed on the northern outskirts of the Roman Empire. Excavators discovered the winged gorgon on June 6 at the British archaeological site of Vindoland, a Roman auxiliary fort built in the late first century AD, decades before Hadrian’s Wall was built in 122 AD to protect the empire from Picts and Scots.
The “special find” is “a silver phalera (military award) with the head of Medusa,” according to a Facebook post by the Vindolanda Trust, which led the excavation. “Palera was excavated from the floor of a barracks dating back to Hadrian’s occupation.”
Known for having snakes instead of hair and turning people into stone with a single glance, Medusa is mentioned in many Greek myths. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the most famous story is that the Greek hero Perseus decapitated Medusa while she was sleeping, and she accomplished this feat by using Athena’s polished shield to take a sideways glance at the mortal gorgon.
“Roman culture was based on Greek myths, including the story of Medusa. In Roman times, Medusa was thought to be apotropaic, meaning her image warded off evil,” said John Pollini, an art history professor at the University of Southern California specializing in Greek and Roman art and archeology. Pollini was not involved in the find at Vindoland.
“Since Greek times, it’s a powerful apotrope that protects against bad things so that bad things don’t happen to you,” said Pollini. Medusa’s head surrounded by snakes can also be seen in Roman tombs, mosaics in luxury villas, and war armor. Pollini, for example, shows Alexander with the face of Medusa in breastplate in a famous mosaic of Alexander the Great from Pompeii in the first century AD.
Medusa is also depicted in other Roman era phalars, but the details are different. For example, Vindoland’s Medusa has wings on her head. “Sometimes you see him with wings, sometimes without wings,” Pollini said. “This probably indicates that he had the ability to fly, like the Roman god Mercury, who had small wings on his helmet.”
We see 10 silver scarves in the museum. Medusa is depicted on both of them.
“Since the phalera is a prize for ‘valor in battle,’ the military wore them on their belts and at local parades,” said Pollini, noting that the discovery of the phalera was rare.
“Obviously there isn’t much because it’s a precious metal,” he said. “Eventually most of it should have melted.”
Many phalera have been found in the tombs, but the Vindoland phalera appears to have been lost. “It’s not something you throw,” Pollini said. The silver artifact is currently protected in Vindolanda’s lab. It will be part of an exhibition of finds from the site in 2024.
Source: Port Altele
