The artifact was found in fragments before it was reassembled by conservationists

NEED TO KNOW

• A bronze and enamel cup discovered in a young Roman child’s grave is now on display in a museum in England, officials announced on Saturday, Oct. 10
• Conservation funding helped restore the fragmented relic after it remained in pieces for years
• Visitors can now see the cup at the Corinium Museum, where it is reunited with the Corinium Cockerel for the first time

A cup used by a Roman toddler during the second century has found a new home at a museum in England. 

“A rare Roman toddler’s drinking cup, discovered in Cirencester more than a decade ago, is now on display at Corinium Museum after being carefully conserved,” the Cotswold District Council announced via social media on Saturday, Oct. 10.

The relic, also known as a tettine, “was found during archaeological excavations in 2011, alongside the remarkable Corinium Cockerel, in the grave of a young child,” the announcement said.

Experts believe the cup was placed in the child’s grave to accompany its “spirit on its journey to the Underworld.”

When the tettine was first discovered in 2011 by archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology, the BBC reported that the item “was unfortunately highly fragmented.”

The Cotswold District Council stated that the cup sat “in pieces” for years until the Friends of Corinium Museum funded conservation efforts.

“It’s a poignant glimpse into the lives of a Roman family – and the care they showed for their child thousands of years ago,” the council said of the artifact.

The site where the cup was discovered was found outside the Roman walls of Corinium, an area that formed part of a Roman cemetery.

The cup was reunited with the museum’s famed second-century cockerel, a bronze and enamel piece discovered in 2011 in Gloucestershire. Corinium Museum director Emma Stuart described the cockerel a “representative of the god Mercury,” placed in the grave “to crow the way to the Underworld so that the child’s spirit didn’t get lost on the journey.”

“It is a sad and touching story but one that is imbued with care and concern,” Stuart said.

Kathryn Allison from the Friends of Corinium Museum also expressed her excitement while speaking on behalf of the organization.

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“We are proud to have funded the conservation of the tettine cup and to help reunite it with the Corinium Cockerel,” she said. “We would like to thank all the Friends and supporters for their contributions.”

The rare cup was put on display at Corinium Museum earlier this month, and its arrival coincides with the Cirencester History Festival, which has adopted the Corinium Cockerel as its official mascot. 

For the first time since archeologists made the discovery, visitors will be able to see the reunited relics together.

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