 Magdalensberg general view
Dateline 27 May 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Going on a proper holiday for the first time since the Covid 19 pandemic is exhilarating. This city is beautiful, redolent of Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Early Modern, Baroque, Austro-Hungarian, Jugendstil/Art Nouveau history with remnants of Communist architecture, plus pure 21st century.
Emona (Roman precursor to Ljubljana) was an important town in the prosperous province of Noricum, but Virunum was the regional capital and the one I had to see. So we set off into the mountains over the Loibelpaß which connects Austria with Slovenia (route E652).
Today, the most difficult and highest part of the historic mountain pass has been replaced by a road tunnel and the original route has now been permanently closed to traffic. But different trails had been used since ancient times, connecting Emona and Virunum. In JULIA PRIMA, our heroine goes through what is now the modern Predil Pass, but the scenery is much the same. Was I excited? I leave you to guess!
But first stop was the Magdalensberg Archaeological Park on the site of the original pre-Roman and early Roman town built on a defensible hill above the valley where the imperial Roman town of Virunum would later be established. The Celts of Noricum had discovered around 500 BC that their local deposits of iron ore made superior steel, so they built up a major metalworking industry. Traces have been found on the Magdalensberg of a major production and trading centre where specialised blacksmiths crafted metal products, including sophisticated tools and weapons.
 Construction period plan (Apologies for the light reflection – it was a sunny day.)
By 200 BC, the tribes of Noricum had united into one kingdom, the Regnum Noricum. During their Republican period the Romans discovered the high quality of the weapons coming out of Noricum and, never ones to miss an opportunity, started negotiations with the Regnum Noricum and its craftsmen.
 Trader graffiti on the walls of the merchant shops at the forum, scratched inscriptions relating to the iron trade and various financial transactions have been preserved. Good insight into the extensive movement of goods. “Sinous from Aquileia bought 110 15 pound bowls/basins”,”560 hooks, 575 rings”,”Borrowed money from May 1st to June 19th (2 x 30 days)”
For decades afterwards, the Noricans enjoyed independence under their own local rulers while continuing to trade profitably with the Romans. The resulting trade agreements led to the kingdom becoming a key ally of Rome, benefitting from Roman military protection in exchange for the constant supply of high-quality products.
The inhabitants of the Magdalensberg took to the Roman lifestyle – temple, basilica, baths – you name it!
 Temple. Altars to the goddess Roma and to the deified Augustus have been found. There is a suggestion, Mars was also worshipped.
 Basilica, looking towards the governor’s audience room and public baths
 Public baths changing room
 New baths rebuilt after the earthquake in 9 AD
Video of Governor’s audience room:
Not the most exciting images, but they give you an idea of the taste of the time.
Wall plaques from the Noricans honouring Augustus, Livia, his daughter Julia and his granddaughter.

For practical reasons, mostly trade and administrative creep, Noricum was fully integrated into the Roman Empire during the reign of Claudius (AD 41–54) and Municipium Claudium Virunum, was founded as the capital of the province of Noricum which covered more or less today’s Austria and northern Slovenia. Apparently, the Noricans offered little resistance. Much more detail (and pictures!) here.
Trade continued as did the extraction and dispatch of gold to the emperor. Moulds with imperial inscriptions have been excavated at the foundry site. Archaeologists suggest the row of pits in the image below may well be small smelting ovens for gold.
 Small smelting ovens “viewed through a glass darkly”
And where did these important gold smelters, or more likely the official in charge of this operation, live? There are extensive living quarters to the southwest of the excavated site with their own bakery, baths and guest rooms.
In the next post, we’ll look at some of the finds, including one prominent one which has mysteriously disappeared.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.
Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 The Pride of Romulus, late 16th century mural in the Palazzo Magnani, Bologna, part of the Histories of the Foundation of Rome by the Brothers Carracci (Public domain)
According to legend, early Rome was ruled by kings (reges) from 753-509 BC. Apparently. Every country needs a foundation legend, however lost in the mists it may be.
The king was said to have possessed absolute power over the people; no one could rule over him. The senate was a weak oligarchy, capable of exercising only minor administrative powers, so that Rome’s king was effectively an absolute monarch. The senate’s main function was to carry out and administer the wishes of the king.
After Romulus, Rome’s first legendary ruler, kings were elected by the people of Rome, sitting as a curiate assembly, who voted on the candidate that had been nominated by a chosen member of the senate called an interrex. A process fraught with potential corruption. (You can almost taste the conflict between sincere men of good intention and the chancers with money and/or influence or the biggest gang of bully-boys.)
Anyway, candidates for the throne could be chosen from any source; none of this ‘citizen of Rome’ malarky that would come later in the hierarchical Republic and Empire. Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, for example, who reigned c. 616-578 BC (38 years) was originally a migrant from a neighbouring Etruscan city-state. The people of Rome, sitting as the curiate assembly, could then either accept or reject the nominated candidate-king.
 Tarquin and Lucretia, Titian, 1571 (Public domain)
Well, the Romans became fed up with the antics of the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (534 – 509 BC). Tarquin was said to have been either the son or grandson of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, and to have gained the throne through the murders of both his wife and his elder brother, followed by the assassination of his predecessor, Servius Tullius.
His subsequent reign was full of abuse of power, murder, seizing other people’s property and general bad behaviour. His son Sextus Tarquinius (also, confusingly, called Tarquin) raped the virtuous wife of a consul, Lucretia (as later depicted by Titian and the subject of the opera by Benjamin Britten), and Tarquin senior conspired with Rome’s arch enemy, Lars Porsena, in an attempt to recover his throne.
Senior Tarquin’s reign has been described as a tyranny that justified the abolition of the monarchy. The establishment of the Roman Republic from approx 509 BC led to a limited separation of powers (executive, justice, legislation) and the rise of the system of magistrates, senators, consuls, praetors, tribunes, etc. and the odd temporary dictator. But as we know, it wasn’t all plain sailing…
But such was the horror that Romans instinctively felt of returning to rule by kings that even Julius Caesar, the most powerful man of his time, and Augustus, the first to count as emperor in historians’ eyes, were never crowned as such. They and Roman heroes throughout the Republic wore many versions of laurel, oak leaf, grass or metal wreaths (coronae) at times as marks of distinction, but never went through anything resembling a coronation. (Yet the word ‘coronation’ derives from the Latin ‘corona’…)
But things moved on…
The corona radiata, the ‘radiant crown’ possibly worn by the Colossus of Rhodes as a representation of Helios, was worn by Roman emperors as part of the cult of Sol Invictus, part of the imperial cult as it developed during the 3rd century. So the origin of the crown has religious meaning, comparable to the significance of a halo, marking the sacral nature of such leadership, expressing that either the leader is himself divine, or ruling by divine right.
The precursor to the crown we know was the browband or headband called a diadem, which had been worn by the Achaemenid rulers, the ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Constantine I, who became the ‘Dominate’ Roman emperor par excellence in the early fourth century decided to adopt it as a symbol of his absolute power.
 Gold medallion showing Constantine I wearing a jewelled diadem. Struck at Nicomedia in 336–337 AD to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his rule
The Dominate system of government emerged as a response to the chaos that of the crisis of the third century. The chronic usurpations, military insurrections, simultaneous military conflicts across multiple frontiers exposed the weaknesses in the Roman state as governed under the classic Principate imperial system.
After AD 285 a gradual but relentless move began from the collegiate model of government to a more autocratic version. The senatorial elite began to be excluded from high military commands and the equestrians (middle ranking aristocrats/upper middle class) became more important in government and the military.
The army was reorganised, imperial dress changed from simpler tunics and togas to (often ornate) robes and pallia, and ceremonial displays became more extravagant. Religious policy aimed at religious unity and large scale monetary reforms and the creation of an empire-wide civil bureaucracy became the norm.
Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the supreme symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century. Even Emperor Julian the Apostate/Philosopher who yearned for the values, religion and behaviour of earlier Roman times, was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers; he later wore a jewel-studded diadem.
Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a similar manner until the momentous decision was taken to permit the patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperor’s head.
The first imperial coronation was organised by Leo I, who was crowned by Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople in 457 AD. This Christian coronation ritual was performed by almost all future emperors and later imitated by courts all over Europe.
And, as they say, the rest is history.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.
Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 3rd century gold necklace set with amethysts, stones linked with peltae (Shields used by Amazon women warriors)
During my visit to the UK, I went for my usual research day at the British Museum. This time, I was looking at Roman jewellery, specifically Late Antiquity/early Eastern Roman (Byzantine).
While fashions change as new cultural preferences develop, no one historical period suddenly stops and another begins.
People were still wearing a tunic as their main garment and a top covering as a form of wrap or even cloak in AD 400 as they did in Augustus’s time in the first century AD.
Inevitably, styles and names evolved. Roman enthusiasts may be sad to hear that the segmented armour and toga had gone out and trousers were in by the end of the fourth century and actually, all these tendencies started earlier. Both sexes wore more elaborately decorated tunics with embroidery and wide stripes of decorations. Women wore a floor length, wide-sleeved tunic called a dalmatica, not a stola.
 Necklace and earrings from AD 400 Carthage, rock emeralds, sapphires and pearls on gold wire
Jewellery designs changed with influence from other peoples such as Germanic tribes – Alemanni, Goths, Franks, but the principles of necklace, brooches, rings, buckles and bracelets stayed constant. Designs, metals and gemstones for Romans in the Empire didn’t really change that radically, but as ‘barbarian’ and elaborate eastern influences and craftmanship became stronger and took over the West, preferences grew towards the heavier and more elaborate jewellery came to dominate.
 Gold chain with openwork pendant sent with emeralds sapphire and pearls. Approximately AD 600.
The Etruscan, Roman and post Roman rooms are fascinating and I heartily recommend a visit to the museum if you are in London. It’s an enormous (and popular) place and it’s best to go with a plan!
 Gold crescent earrings around 600 AD
More about the museum https://www.britishmuseum.org/
I can’t finish without showing you my favourite earrings from the visit. Also dated to around AD 600, they show the classic hoop popular for many decades, but overlaid with a more elaborate Eastern Roman decoration on the lower crescent.
All photos are mine, taken with my iPhone through the glass cases. Apologies for any reflections.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.
Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
If you enjoyed this post, do share it with your friends!Like this:Like Loading...
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