Before terminating these notes I ought perhaps to mention some very rude iron objects which in two cases at least have been found in England in company with swords of this kind and which may not improbably be bars of iron roughly prepared to be afterwards forged into sword-blades.

These rude objects are flat bars pinched up at one end so as to form a kind of handle.

Numerous specimens have been found in England. At Hod Hill and Spettisbury, Dorset," they have been discovered on the same spots as the swords described above. They have also been found by themselves at Winchester, five of which are in the British Museum; at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, where 147 were found; at a camp at Meon Hill in the same county no less than 394 in number; and on the Malvern Hills, between Great Malvern and the Wyche, where 150 were brought to light."

с

b

At Tiefenau, near Berne, with the remarkable assemblage of antiquities already noticed, were discovered some thick pieces of iron like ingots, but with tangs at one end, which may have served the same purpose.*

In the above observations I have attempted to bring together what materials I have been able to discover for the study of this curious class of swords, which we find as far west as Ireland, and as far east as Hungary; as far north as Scotland, and as far south as the Apennines. In all these countries the swords exhibit great points of family resemblance, but a certain amount of individual character.

The length of the whole weapon varies from 3 ft. 6 in. to 1 ft. 8 in. The ends are fairly sharp, scarcely so pointed as the bronze swords that preceded them, and not so rounded as the Teutonic swords that followed them. The tangs of tolerable length, so as to give a good grip; the handles, rarely preserved, formed in a very few instances of bronze either wholly or in part, but more generally the tangs only remain, the rest of the handles having been made of some material that has perished, probably wood. The sheaths often made of bronze in England, rarely of iron; often of iron on the continent, and rarely of bronze. The loops for suspension in one variety very prominent and half way down the sheath, but more generally less prominent and at the upper end. The tops of the sheaths a Proceedings, iv. 188; Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, vi. pl. ii. figs. 2, 3. Proceedings, 2nd S. i. 234.

Skelton's Armoury at Goodrich Court, i. pl. xlv. fig. 3.

d Catalogue of the Museum of the Archeological Institute at Worcester (1852), p. 13.

e Bonstetten, Notice sur des Armes et Chariots de Guerre découverts à Tiefenau, pl. ii.-iv.

frequently straight, though more generally ogee-shaped, and fitting into a corresponding curved bar in the handles. The iron often covered with minute patterns like shagreen, and the blades sometimes stamped with makers' marks, but not with names like the Roman swords found in Denmark and Germany.

The geographical distribution of these swords, or their sheaths, in the British Islands (as far as my knowledge extends) is as follows:-Bed of the Thames, 8; Yorkshire, 5; Lincolnshire, 4; Dorsetshire, 2, besides fragments; Hertfordshire, Cumberland, and Lancashire, 1 each; in Scotland, 2; in Ireland, 2 and some fragments.

Of the three classes into which I have divided these weapons, the first, characterised by bronze sheaths with bifurcate ends and very large loops half way down the backs, seem to have been found only in Britain—that is, England and Scotland-and may be presumed, therefore, to be peculiar to this country. The second class, with broad rounded ends to the sheaths, and the loop towards the upper part, occur both in England and abroad. The third type, more pointed at the end of the scabbard, which is strengthened with a peculiar heart-shaped termination, occurs in Ireland and England, but is more common on the Continent. Whether these varieties of form depend on their being of different ages, or their belonging to different tribes, can only be determined by further research.

Of one thing, however, I feel quite persuaded, which is that they are not Greek, Etruscan, or Roman. They are found associated with other antiquities of a peculiar character, and exhibit ornaments (when sufficiently well preserved) such as occur on numerous other objects to which I have ventured to give the term Late Celtic. I have long had this opinion, and I stated it in 1858 before this Society," and I have since seen no reason to alter it, though it has been combated by Dr. Lindenschmit and others. The term Late Celtic is better suited to this country than to France, where the word Celtic has been much abused. There the corresponding term would be Gaulish, an origin now adopted by most French archæologists for relics of this character.

As to age it is difficult to give a decided opinion; the discovery of a Greek painted vase at Somme-Bionne, Marne, where the warrior was buried with a chariot, carries us back to nearly three centuries before Christ; and interments in chariots, evidently of the same description, are not unknown in our own country, showing (what is evident from other sources) that the same or cognate tribes occupied the British islands.

a Proc. iv. 158.

It appears to me that we may safely place the date of these weapons between B.C. 300 and A.D. 100. Abroad commencing perhaps earlier than the date mentioned, but also terminating earlier, they being put out of use by the shorter and more effective Roman sword. In England commencing not later than the introduction of coins, referred by Mr. Evans to B.C. 200-150, and lasting to the time of Claudius or a little later. It is possible that their introduction may be in some measure due to the Belgic invasion, but on the other hand they are more often found beyond the boundaries of the Belge than within them.

a

I have mentioned the contrary views entertained by my good friend Dr. Lindenschmit, whose great services to archæology no one is more ready to admit than myself. It is to him that we owe the creation of the admirable collection of casts and originals that have been brought together in the Museum of Mayence. We owe also to him the publication of the Alterthümer unserer heidnischen Vorzeit, often quoted in this notice.

In the "Beilage" to that work, vol. iii. part i. he has published a treatise on the origin of objects of the early iron age, in which he gives his opinion that most of these objects were imported into the countries where they are found; and at p. 28 he speaks of "the national conceit which claims all the antiquities that do not bear the easily recognised stamp of the Imperial Roman period as evidences of an imaginary ancient British art."

I feel sure that if the learned doctor were better acquainted with our antiquities he would change his opinion. No modern antiquary would suggest an Etruscan origin for the antiquities of this country, and especially of Ireland, notwithstanding the nonsense written by Sir William Betham."

I am quite prepared to admit an Etruscan influence, and that it was from the Etruscans that any elements of classical design that are to be found in these antiquities were derived. This was, however, the result of a long series of modifications. The Gaulish inhabitants of the north of Italy would acquire by peaceful intercourse, or during their warlike raids, many Etruscan objects. These they would probably imitate as well as they could. Their next neighbours of cognate races would repeat the operation, each time with a greater divergence from the originals, till at length the strange trumpet pattern of the British bronze-work would come into existence, derived, perhaps, from the well-known wave pattern of the Greeks. Such designs continued down to a late date in Ireland, as shown by illuminated manuscripts; and the agency of those remarkable missionaries, the Scotie or Irish monks, influenced medieval art both in England and abroad. Etruria Celtica, Dublin, 1842.

a

Evans, Coins of the Ancient Britons, p. 26.

The history of Celtic art is, in fact, of the same kind as the history of Celtic coinage, now generally admitted by numismatists. The golden philippi, or staters of Philip of Macedon, were copied with some success by the neighbouring barbarians. The type was gradually adopted by other Celtic races, departing further and further from the original, till the wreath of Apollo became an ear of barley, or a cruciform ornament, and the chariot of Victory was reduced to a single horse.

On the other hand, it may be of interest to cite the opinion of our learned Fellow Dr. Thurnam, who has noticed the swords in question in the following passage of his valuable introduction to the Crania Britannia :

Certain curious swords of iron, with hilts and sheaths of bronze, of superior but evidently barbaric workmanship, which probably belong to the transition period to which we refer, can only be regarded as the swords of native Britons. Such have been found in the bed of the Thames; in three instances in that of the Witham below Lincoln; at Flasby and Stanwick, Yorkshire ; under a stone-heap at Worton, Lancashire; at Embleton, Cumberland; and, lastly, at the foot of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh. In two instances these swords were accompanied by others of bronze," showing the contemporary use which would occur in a transition period, such as that to which they are to be attributed. There is a similar variety in their length to that in the bronze swords. One found in the Thames measures fully 3 feet; that in the Witham, in 1787, nearly as much; that from Embleton, 26 inches; and those from Stanwick and the Pentlands, about 2 feet. Some are ornamented in a grotesque though bold style, with figures of animal heads; others with coloured enamel, in a manner, however, quite distinct from the Roman or Anglo-Saxon metal-work, but corresponding with that of horse-trappings and other objects from Polden Hill, Stanwick (where one of the swords was found), Annandale, and other places, the manufacture of which is, with much probability, assigned to Central Gaul. On the backs of the scabbards are loops of bronze, generally near the middle, but in two of the largest size at the top, by means of which they could be attached to the girdle, or to brazen or iron chains, such as Diodorus says the Gauls used for this purpose. In two instances the small size of the weapon shows that they are more properly to be regarded as daggers than swords. One of these is from the bed of the Thames, the other from that of the Witham. Both are from localities near which remarkable examples of British bronze shields have been discovered; so that the contemporary character of the two can hardly be doubted, were it not even proved by the similarity of the peculiar ornamentation, especially in the dagger, sword, and shield from the Witham. The hilt of this dagger terminates in a little imp-like figure, the eyes of which, as well as certain ornamental studs which were gilt, had probably been filled in with enamel.-Davis and Thurnam, Crania Brit. p. 91.

a These were found in the beds of rivers, the Thames and Witham, and therefore cannot be trusted to prove a contemporary existence of swords of the two metals, especially when they are dredged up and found by workmen without any archæological superintendence.-A. W. F.

↳ This is, I think, an error; such heads were found at Stanwick, but there is no evidence that they formed part of sword-sheaths.-A. W. F.

By

X.-On Wall Decorations in Sectile Work as used by the Romans, with special reference to the Decorations of the Palace of the Bassi at Rome. ALEXANDER NESBITT, Esq., F.S.A.

Read November 24th, 1870.

It is proposed in the following memoir to do two things: one, to give some account of that species of mosaic decoration which by the Romans was distinguished as opus sectile," particularly as applied on walls; the other, to describe the very remarkable building which has afforded by far the most important examples of work of that character of which we have any knowledge, viz., the church of San Andrea in Catabarbara, which was probably originally the great hall or basilica of the palace of the Bassi on the Esquiline hill in Rome.

Those collocations of pieces of stone, glass, or baked clay which we are accustomed to call mosaics may be divided into three classes; first, that in which fragments of stone or glass without any definite shape are fixed in cement and polished down to a smooth surface; second, that in which the pieces are all small cubes; and third, that in which the materials employed are in slices, and are so cut into shapes, geometrical or other, that when put together they form a pattern.

The first kind is still in use in Italy, where it is known as "alla Veneziana.” A good ancient example exists in the "House of the Faun" at Pompeii; this contains many pieces of transparent amethystine and opaque crimson glass. The second kind, called "tessellatum," as being composed of tessellæ, is too well known to need any description. The third is that which is the subject of this memoir. It was known as "sectile," for Vitruvius (book vii. c. 1) speaks of sectile pavements as containing "scutulæ" (probably circles), "trigones," "quadrati," or "favi" (hexagons), and very many ancient examples of such remain. Several may be seen in the museum at Naples, but perhaps the most striking existing is that of the Pantheon at Rome. Whether any distinctive name was given to that description of sectile work in which the patterns were not geometrical, does not appear. Examples of this last variety, either in