Hildesheim Treasure
large collection of Roman silver found in Hildesheim, Germany
The Hildesheim Treasure, unearthed on October 17, 1868 in Hildesheim, Germany, is the largest collection of Roman silver found outside imperial frontiers. Most of it can be dated to the 1st century AD. The trove consists of about seventy exquisitely crafted solid silver vessels for eating and drinking and is now kept in the Antikensammlung Berlin (Altes Museum). It is generally believed that the treasure was the table service of a Roman commander, perhaps Publius Quinctilius Varus, who was militarily active in Germania. However, others also suggest that the treasure may have been war spoils rather than table service.
The hoard was buried about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) below the ground on Galgenberg Hill and was found by Prussian soldiers when preparing part of the area for a shooting range. Most scholars now accept that the entire Hildesheim Treasure was produced in frontier workshops of the northwestern Roman provinces.
Notable items
The trove contains plates, tureens, cups, goblets, trays, scoops, egg-holders, saltcellars, a small folding three-legged table, a candelabrum and a three-legged pedestal. One of the finest items is the so-called Minerva Bowl (or Athena Bowl). It features a detailed image of Minerva, who sits on a rock throne and holds a cane in her right hand and a shield in her left hand. The goddess is wearing her battle headgear and flowing robe, further from Minerva's right hand is her symbol, the owl.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q221632. VIAF identifies the subject as 190607638. Authority coordinates are 52.142, 9.972. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1868.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hildesheim Treasure” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.