The East Midlands includes material from Derbyshire, Leicestershire, part of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.
One of the most striking objects from this region in the Ashmolean's collections is the bronze head of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (ruled AD 161-180) found near Brackley in Northamptonshire. The bearded subject closely resembles some of the portraits of the emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius. However, despite the confident association of this portrait with images of the emperor made in or clearly influenced by Rome, this head has features which strongly suggest that it was made in Britain or northern Gaul. The archaeological context of the head of Marcus Aurelius has not yet been explored. It was ploughed up in the 1970s in a field on the south-western slope of a well-watered valley running south-east from Banbury to Brackley.
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Bronze head of Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180 (AN2011.46)
Other examples of objects from the east midlands in the Ashmolean's collections include:
Find out more about:
- British Roman Collections at the Ashmolean Museum
- British Collections Online - searchable database of the collection
January 2012
