Horse Trappings

Silvered bronze horse trappings from Xanten, lower Rhineland. They were made as harness decoration for a high-ranking cavalry officer, perhaps as a military award or mark of his official status. His name, T(itus) Capitonius, is punched into the back of one of the larger pendants. From him they apparently passed on to a second owner, Verecundus, whose name is also inscribed.
The most important inscription is pricked into the face of one of the large roundels (above): Plinio praef(ecto) eq(uitum) - under Pliny, commander of the cavalry. This refers to the early career of the famous natural historian, Pliny the Elder.
The trappings were probably lost at the legionary camp of Xanten when it was ransacked by Civilis, the Batavian chief in AD69 or AD70.
Made about AD50.

British Museum, London.
April 2013.