Ralph Jackson – författare

For nearly four centuries Britain was a province on the outer edge of the Roman Empire and developed a distinctively Romano-British culture and way of life. Using the archaeological evidence, ancient written sources and the latest research on surviving artefacts – from a child’s leather shoe to fascinating letters, from the monumental bronze head of the emperor Hadrian to hoards of stunning gold and silver – a picture of Roman Britain is brought vividly to life. Whether for a Roman soldier on the northern frontier or a native British farmer; for a pagan British king or a Christian Roman lady living in a villa, the diversity of lifestyles, experiences and cultures is revealed. Native British traditions of trade and craftsmanship merged with the imported Roman styles and practices to create a unique cultural synthesis, the legacy of which is still visible today in British landscapes, architecture, art and society. The authors Ralph Jackson and Richard Hobbs are curators of Romano-British antiquities in the British Museum. Ralph Jackson is also author of British Museum Research Publication 181: Cosmetic Sets of Late Iron Age and Roman Britain, which published in 2010.

Cosmetic sets are small two-piece bronze toilet implements for the preparation of mineral powders, probably colourings for the eyelids and face. Found almost exclusively in Britain, they range in date from the Late Iron Age to the 4th century. An association with fertility is indicated by the crescent shape, by overtly phallic imagery and by the twinning of male and female animal heads. Ralph Jackson's research led to proper recognition of the type, and subsequently the British Museum has built up the largest single collection (160 examples). This catalogue includes not only the British Museum examples but also those in other museums and private collections throughout Britain. It focuses on typology and function but also considers manufacture, including the results of scientific analysis, followed by full discussions of decoration, context, distribution and dating.

Strategies for the preservation of health and for the prevention and treatment of illness and disease have been discerned in the surviving written records and material remains of most societies since earliest times. Compared to the prehistoric past the evidence for the ancient Greek and Roman periods is comparatively full, though still sparse or lacking in some key areas. Most accounts of the history of Greek and Roman medicine are based on ancient medical texts. As a study of the subject through its material remains, this book will be a unique and major contribution to the understanding of ancient medical implements and surgical instruments, of surgery, and of the history of medicine. In addition to medical instruments, the British Museum collection also includes an important range of objects which help to illustrate the multi-faceted approach to healing in antiquity. They include one of the largest holdings of collyrium-stamps − small inscribed stone tablets which were used to mark sticks of eye medicine; Greek inscriptions honouring public physicians; stone statues, bronze figurines and engraved gemstones depicting the principal healer deities; and marble and terracotta models of body parts (‘anatomical votives’) dedicated to the healer deities by those seeking divine cures. Together with the instrumentation, the publication will show how they encompass most aspects of ancient medicine and represent starting points from which to develop discussions of strategies for health and healing.