BRICKSTAMP, Rome Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN1872.1490.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN1872.1490 AshLI 187 Coll. Ref: 6** Roman catalogue: 370b

A circular orbicular brickstamp (0.09), partly damaged, with a large orbiculus (0.041) extending beyond two lines into the central circle and also slightly beyond the outer edge of the stamp.

Brick: 0.13+ 0.18+ 0.036+

There are two lines of letters around the edge of the stamp, running in concentric circles, with the additional word COS stamped across the central circular section, which is otherwise blank. Only the bottom left stem is preserved of A and the top curve of the letter G in AVG; the letters AE are ligatured in Paetino.

 outer line, 0.012; inner line, 0.009-0.01; central line, 0.011. Rome AD 123 (consular date). This brickstamp was part of a collection of brickstamps from Rome, Ostia, and Portus given to the Ashmolean by J.H. Parker, Keeper of Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum (1870-84), after a visit to Rome in the winter months of 1871/2. It is currently in store. Photograph Photograph
Valeriae Nicenis ex praedis Plotinae Augustae opus doliare Paetino et Aproniano consulibus

Brick-product of Valeria Nice from the estate of Plotina Augusta. In the consulship of Paetinus and Apronianus.

During the second century AD, the clay districts in the Tiber Valley increasingly became the property of members of the imperial family, among whom was Plotina Augusta, at this time widow of the emperor Trajan. This stamp identifies Valeria Nice as production overseer (officinator) working on the imperially-owned estate. This is unlikely to mean that she actually participated in the manufacturing process, but indicates that she was its financial sponsor, as a contractor holding a lease for the business (Weaver 1998: p.246). Compare AN1872.1509 for a similar stamp and AN1872.1510 for another brickstamp of Plotina. The year AD 123 marked an exceptional and sudden upsurge in the marking of bricks with stamps bearing a consular date, with some 700 different brickstamps known for this one year alone. Quite why this was the case is still the matter for debate, but it is probable that Hadrian’s government imposed a requirement upon brick producers in this year to include a date upon their bricks (Bloch 1959: p.237).

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities MS. Accession Register 1872.1490 (6**); CIL XV.1 no.692,10 (from an impression sent by Waldstein) (Dressel 1891)

Online EDCS-32900133 [accessed 06/10/14]

Bloch H. 1959 The Serapeum of Ostia and the Brick-Stamps of 123 A.D. A New Landmark in the History of Roman Architecture American Journal of Archaeology 63.3 225-240 Weaver P. 1998 Imperial slaves and freedmen in the brick industry Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 122 238-46