This Mosaic is on display at Leeds City Museum depicting the She-wolf with Romulus and Remus. It's from Aldborough in North Yorkshire and dates to circa 300-400 AD
Aldborough was called Isurium Brigantiumm and was inhabited by the Brigantes. A Celtic tribe living in ancient Britain pre-Roman conquest. Aldborough had a Roman Fort and a small town. Dere Street went through Aldborough connecting Eboracum (Modern York) to the Antonine Wall in Scotland. The church stands on the site of the Roman Forum. Aldborough also had an amphitheatre which hasn't been excavated. Isurium Brigantium was possibly built circa 100AD and is right on the edge of the Roman empire being so far north.
Cartimandua was Queen of the Brigantes and ruled at the time of the Roman invasion. The Roman historian Tacitus only names Cartimandua. She appears nowhere else.
The legend is that Princess Rhea Silvia had two twin boys Romulus and Remus and fathered by Mars, the Roman god of war. The King at that time had a vision that he would be overthrown, so he had them put in a basket and put to float on the River Tiber hoping that they would die. They were discovered by the She-Wolf.
Roman Yorkshire: People, Culture and Landscape
Yorkshire was part of the Roman Empire for about 340 years and the remains of the period are all around us to this day. They range from the Roman fortress walls at York to the sites of country villas and humbler farmsteads.
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Yorkshire was part of the Roman Empire for about 340 years and the remains of the period are all around us to this day. They range from the Roman fortress walls at York to the sites of country villas and humbler farmsteads.
Get this book at https://amzn.to/2VZKs34
The fig tree as depicted on the mosaic has important significance in ancient Roman religion and mythology. The FIG tree stood by the Lupercal Cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome. This is where Romulus and Remus landed on the banks of the River Tiber in a basket. This is where they were found by a she-wolf and nurtured until discovered by Faustulus, a shepherd.
The image of the wolf on this mosaic looks wrong to me. It has the body of a horse and the head of a wolf! Was this mosaic changed whilst being made to put the She-wolf and the twins on? Or perhaps theirs another reason!
Isurium Brigantum: An Archaeological Survey of Roman Aldborough
Modern-day Aldborough, in North Yorkshire, lies on the site of Isurium Brigantum, the former administrative capital of the Brigantes, one of the largest indigenous tribes of Roman Britain. Strategically located on Dere Street, by the second century AD it had become a key Roman town.
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Modern-day Aldborough, in North Yorkshire, lies on the site of Isurium Brigantum, the former administrative capital of the Brigantes, one of the largest indigenous tribes of Roman Britain. Strategically located on Dere Street, by the second century AD it had become a key Roman town.
Get this book at https://amzn.to/38Gi9f7
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When soldiers of the Roman 9th Legion arrived in AD 70, they built a fortress and this huge military camp formed the foundation of the modern city of York. Roman legionaries were garrisoned in the city for over three centuries and a huge provincial town grew up around them. Eboracum was a city at the edge of the Empire.
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