LOT 0164

British Roman Bronze Votive Beneficiarius Sceptre

2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

19 1/4 in. (62 grams, 49 cm).

The upper part of a Beneficiarius dedicatory spear or sceptre, comprising a circular-section shaft with an ivy leaf finial, a crescent (lunula) below and the point with triple acorn-shaped spheres; the lower end of the shaft square-section and with a rosette for attaching it to the wooden part, engraved with X-motifs and circumferential lines.

Found Cambridgeshire, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Cf. Klein M. J., ‘Votivwaffen aus einem Mars-Heiligtum bei. Mainz’, in JRMES,10 (1999), pp. 87–94, fig.1 and 9, for similar votive spearheads; Kovács, P., ‘Beneficiarius Lances and Ring-Pommel Swords in Pannonia’, in Limes XIX, Procedings of the XIXth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Pécs, 2005, pp. 955–70, fig.5 (similar spear represented on the Altar of Müllendorf); D’Amato, R., Sumner, G., Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier: From Marius to Commodus, 112 BC-AD 192, London, 2009, fig.258, p.179, for similar specimen; Gaiu, C., ‘The Beneficiarius spearhead from Arcobadara’ in Journal of ancient Art and Archaeology, No.1.3/2014, pp.22-30.

The beneficiarii, within the Roman army, were soldiers exempted from menial duties and acting as orderlies of senior officers; they were also charged with particular duties by governors and generals. Their distinctive insignia were decorated spears, often with a point shaped like an ivy leaf. The military stela from Perinth depicting a 3rd century beneficiarius shows a very similar spear, mounted over a particular structure on the midshaft of the spear.