Colchester Archaeological Report 2: The Roman small finds

1952 Fig 69 SF BUC 290, B502 L1. Post-Roman topsoil. Oblong
stamp 7
of green slate with handle fashioned in the form of
two lobes, measuring overall 23.0 by 16.0 by 22.0mm.
Besides the main die (a), there is a second stamp (b) on the
top of one of the lobes. The first of the stamps but not the
second has been cut retrograde: (a) PCLPR, perhaps
P(ublius) Cl(audius) Pr(imus); (b) P
1953 Fig 69 SF LWC 1529, G44 F28. Pit. Period 4. Oblong block" of
green slate, 35.0 by 9.0 by 5.0 mm. The back is rough as if it
had been detached from the face of a larger piece of stone,
perhaps originally 35.0mm square, like an oculist's stamp.
The inscription, of which three or four letters are missing at
the beginning, is somewhat crudely cut. It can be read either
forwards or retrograde: ...]lD.conceivably for LEPID, lepis,
-idos, copper scale', (= copper oxide) 9
.
There is an extensive bibliography on Roman oculists
and their stamps. Fundamental is the collection of
stamps published by E Espérandieu in CIL 13 3.2,
559-610. This includes not only stamps found in Gaul
and the Rhineland (the area covered by CIL 13) but
also those found in Britain, as well as the few
discovered elsewhere, in all about 230. Indexes of the
names of the doctors, medicines and ailments listed
on the stamps are provided. In 1927 Espérandieu
produced a supplement of seventeen new stamps
(also indexed) in Revue Archéologique, ser 5, 26
(1927), 158-69. Discoveries, about 30 so far, since
1927 are reported in L'Année Epigraphique, until
1963 published as part of Revue Archéologique and
Notes
salve" 6
; (b)
Martial(is) croc/odes), "Martialis' saffron
1 Valuable collections of surgical instruments have been
recovered from the sites of military hospitals at Baden,
Vindonissa and Inchtuthil (Milne 1970).
2 Several of these instruments could also have been used in
veterinary surgery.
3 To these three may be added two further examples found
previously, the first certainly from Colchester and the other
probably so, since, though unprovenanced, it belonged to a
Colcestrian. 1) CIL 7, no 1311 = CIL 13, no 10021.103, the
stamp of Q. Julius Murranus for impressing melinum ad
claritatem, a salve, probably made from oil made from quince
seed, for clearness of vision, and stactum opobalsamat(um) ad
cal(iginem), a salve mixed with the resinous juice of the
(opo)balsam tree (balm of Gilead) for blurred vision. 2)
Ephemeris Epigraphica 9 (1913), 670, no 1338 = CIL 13, no
10021.198, the stamp of L. Ulpius Deciminus for stamping
penicille, a variety of medicament perhaps applied with a
sponge (penicillum), and dialepidos crocod(es) ad omnia vitia, a
salve of (copper) scale (= copper oxide) and saffron for all
illnesses. For a lengthy discussion of the precise meaning of
64
Fig 69 Oculist's stamps (1:1 J
thereafter only available as a separate publication.
See the combined index produced every ten years
under section 5, cachet d'oculiste. Two important
recent discussions are Nielsen 1974 and Nutton
1972.
penicille see Nielsen 1974, 83-8, and for dialepidos and
crocodes see notes 6 and 9 below.
4 Without thin-sectioning or X-ray analysis the exact
identification and likely provenance of the slate used to make
these stamps are unknown. However, Martyn Owen of the
Institute of Geological Sciences, London, considers that a
British origin for the slate is unlikely.
5 Originally published in Britannia 7 (1976), 383, no 22.
6 For a discussion of the use of saffron as an opthalmological
agent see Nielsen 1974, 40, and compare the second stamp
mentioned in note 3 above.
7 Originally published in Britannia 8 (1977), 437, no 52. 1 can find
no parallel for the curious shape of this stamp.
8 Originally published in Britannia 8 (1977), 437, no 53.
9 The word lepis is borrowed from the Greek. See Nielsen 1974,
42-3 for the use of copper oxide as an opthalmological agent,
and for an example of dialepidos, the lotion made from it (and in
this case saffron), see the second stamp mentioned in note 3
above.