Art Resource - ART346252

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Gold bracteate. Anglo-Frisian, 450-500 CE. From Undley Common near Lakenheath, Suffolk, England. It shows the helmeted head of the Roman emperor Constantine together with Romulus and Remus suckled by the she-wolf. Inscribed with the oldest Anglo-Saxon runes which transcribed reads as 'gæ go gæ - mægæ medu', which may be read as 'howling she-wolf' (a reference to the wolf image) and 'reward to a relative'. The runes are Anglo-Frisian and it is likely that the bracteate was made in Schleswig-Holstein or southern Scandinavia and brought to England by an Anglian settler. In early Anglo-Saxon England, even after the introduction of the Roman alphabet, runes continued to be used on a popular level for magical and amuletic inscriptions, as well as for sophisticated riddles. Diam. 2.3 cm. Weight: 2.24 g. Inv. PY 1984,1101.1.

Location British Museum/London/Great Britain

Unique Identifier ART346252

Type Image

Purpose Public

Size 4300px × 3533px

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