A ROMAN MAIDEN'S STORY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 34, 29 May 1891, Page 15

A ROMAN MAIDEN'S STORY.

Dtjbing some recent excavations in Borne, writes the Pall Mall Gazette, in the ancient gardens of Domitian, a coffin was discovered, which from its contents has proved one of the most interesting ever brought to light. It contains the remains of a young girl — Crepereia Tryphaena by name, according to the insciiption — and a bas relief on the coffin represents ber sleeping upon a bier with her head inclined to the left shoulder. An elder woman is represented Bitting at the foot of the bier, while at the bead stands a young man in an attitude of mourning. By a fortunate incident, the coffin seems to have been filled with water from an indefinite period, which has aided greatly to the preser vation of the remains. The head is still covered with long, fine hair, which has perfectly resisted decay. This resistance of hair to decay is very characteristic, and in a museum at York England, there is a mass of human hair still coiled in a classical knot, and held in place by pins of jet from the neighbouring deposits at Whitby, all the rest ofjthe body of the ancient Boman woman having crumbled to dust' York was an important Britieh-Boman settlement, and this interesting relic is doubtless of approximately the same age as that of the Boman maiden described above. It is evident from the contents of the coffin of Crepereia Tryphaena that she was betrothed, probably to the youth represented in the bas-relief. A crown of myrtle, leaves sacred to Venus, was found at her head, fastened by a silver clasp, very much oxidised from which fact we may assume that the metal was an impure alloy. Several g,old rings were also found, oce set with a piece of dark coloured glasß, another with an onyx engraved in relief with the word " Filelus " probably the name of her lover. Another very interesting ring contained a piece of red jasper engraved in intaglio with two clasped hands ho'ding in their fingers some stalks of ripened wheat. This was doubtless the engagement ring of tha Boman maideD, the wheat being an allusion to the ancient rite of marruge by conf arreatio . Two other rings — or bangles, as w« should call them — were found in the coffin, to one of which was attached a miniature key, while the other was composed of two circles joined together into a single ring. The brooch is ornamented with an amethyst engraved with a classical group referring to Apollo and Diana. Two fine chains depend from the brooch, to the ends of which are attached two miniature ivy leaves. Other ornaments found were an amber hair pin, two small combs, two ear-rings, a necklace, and two metallic mirrors —these laet being objects of value ia \ho c ancient days.

Perhaps the most remarkable object of all wu the wooden doll, whioh bad evidently been laid in the coffin as a souvenir of the childhood of the maiden. It ia about a foot in height, carved with considers ble artistic skill, and, very curiously the joints are articulated, jnst as miy be seen in certain dolls of the present day. The hair ia represented as arranged in a classical knot, and the features are said to resemb'e those of the Empress Faustina. Such a discovery as this renders the life of the Romans much more real to us than all the ruins or Btatuea or records of battles they have left. The Boman hiatory, as we read it, is a sad record of war, bloodshed and crince, but the great mass of people must have lived out their lives a 9 at present, with little reference to the quarrels of emperors, generals and politicians; and when Crepereia Tryphaena passed away the brightness went out of the world of her Boman lover, as it has in the succeeding centuries, and doubtless will for ages to come. It seems almost a sacrilege to display the ornaments and treasures of this poor girl to public view, bot those who are interested will find them in the Capitoline Museum at Borne, together with many other relics of that wonderful ancient civilisation.