The containers in the Pharma section

[-JKP-]

I thought forumites might be interested in some additional information on one of the images Diane posted on her blog Oct. 30th (you should probably look at the montage before reading this), which is a collection of mostly eastern container-shapes similar to the containers in the VMS. This is specifically about the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..



In Diane's montage, you'll see a small image of a coin next to a container from the VMS small-plants section. SantaColoma has also included some comparisons of this style of container to reading tubes, Ellie has posted some interesting images of early cannons that are similar to containers a little more ornate than this basic tube, and there are dozens of look-alikes to all the containers posted on this thread, so obviously there isn't consensus on what kind of container/implement the VMS container in the montage might be.

It's clear from these differing opinions, and from the many examples on this forum thread, that similarly shaped objects were used for many different purposes.


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Since I encountered the same coin shown in Diane's montage a few years ago, I have some information on it in my files that I'll combine with more recent image links (many of my old image links have expired).

There are various strikings of this coin, some with the S C initials on the two sides, and some without:

 
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The inscription on these coins/medallions refers to the Secular Games held in the middle of the 3rd century CE. The coins were issued by Roman Emperor Marcus Julius Philippus (Philip I), were minted in Rome, and were intended to commemorate Rome's new millenium.

On the surface, they look very much like some of the more basic VMS containers, which is why they initially caught my attention, but if you dig deeper, you find the similarity is probably coincidental...

As examples...

The following earlier coin (below left), from the 1st century CE, also commemorates the Secular Games using the same theme, but is drawn and minted in a way that reveals the "container" shape to be a monument or monumental column rather than a container. Another of the later coins minted by Emperor Philip I (below right) includes full columns on the front of a building (possibly the Temple of Jupiter or one of the other temples built on the Sacra Via for the worship of Pagan deities):

       
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In fact, it's possible the monument that resembles a container may have been a sacrificial altar, as illustrated by the Denarius issued by Plotina in Rome, in 112 AD (below left), or one the Secular Games coins issued by Emperor Domitian (the same emperor who issued the coin above left), or the below right lighted altar coin (also by Domitian). These altars come in a number of shapes and sizes (most of them simple, but some quite ornate). Many were shaped like the base of a stone column:

            
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The Secular Games descended from Pagan traditions, and included sacrifices and theatrical performances. The tradition may date back as far as the 6th century BCE. Roman adaptations of this tradition began around 249 BCE. The games of 17 BCE included sacrifices on two of the seven famous hills of Rome.


I don't know whether Diane included the image on the coin purely due to its visual similarity to VMS containers, or because Philip I was known as "the Arab". Philip I was born in what is now Syria, in the Roman province that included Arabia Petraea, but the coin is issued in Rome, based on Roman-Pagan themes that are architectural in origin. As far as I'm aware, it has no connection to containers, nor any specific connections to the eastern world. Later Christian emperors discontinued the Secular Games tradition.

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Might the VMS containers relate to Pagan altars? I don't know. The last two coins illustrated are lighted altars, and some of the VMS containers resemble candlesticks, but the scale of the VMS containers appears much smaller than most altars and most of the VMS containers are more ornate than typical altars, so probably not.