Brands, logos, signatures and the most diverse symbols of ownership and belonging surrounded the life of an ancient Roman no less than it does for a modern man today. Glasses, plates and oil lamps bore the distinctive symbols of their producers, the foodstuffs were transported in barrels and amphorae stamped by impresarios and merchants, just as the terrible custom of branding slaves or convicts with signa was in use. These are just some of the examples testified by the precious finds exhibited in the MADE in Rome archaeological exhibition. Marks of production and possession in ancient society and from prestigious Roman and international museums, among which, due to the role of cities as important production centers in the Roman Empire, the Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt Köln ( Germany, Cologne), the Arheološki muzej u Splitu (Croatia, Split) and the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia.
The exhibition, made even more evocative thanks to the splendid setting of the Museum of the Imperial Forums in Trajan's Markets, is promoted by Roma Capitale - Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, with the organization of Zètema Progetto Cultura, and was born from an idea of Claudio Parisi Presicce, curated by Lucrezia Ungaro, Marina Milella and Simone Pastor and will be open to the public until 20 November 2016.
MADE in Rome, which already includes an important series of objects from the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, will have a second stage in the Friulian city. The exhibition, commissioned and supported by the Aquileia Foundation, will be held in Palazzo Meizlik and its title will be "MADE in Rome and in Aquileia", with particular emphasis on the pieces from the ancient Roman city and nearby towns.
An exhibition therefore dedicated to the "brand", that complex system of identifying symbols and the reproduction of values and experiences which date back to the origins of man and which also covered the complex economic and social history of ancient Rome. A "pre-industrial" society where, thanks to the pax romana, the production and commercial system expanded - with shops, companies, guilds, artisans, transport, roads - and where symbols encoded identities and the will to belong to a system common production and culture. Romanization transformed different peoples and territories into a communis patria, a common homeland in terms of borders, language, habits, customs and even commerce. Being MADE in Rome, therefore, meant amalgamating traditions and histories towards a multi-ethnic culture in terms of styles, techniques and values.
The exhibition itinerary, enlivened by multimedia equipment, a communication system also dedicated to children and a busy calendar of educational activities, is divided into two macro sections.
The first analyzes the "industrial" aspect of the brand, making particular reference to brands and signs of officinatores (businessmen) and mercatores (traders) left on numerous product categories such as, for example, brick stamps, also proof of the vital entrepreneurial activity of Roman women, glass and oil lamps, ceramic and terracotta cups and plates. Among the latter, the list engraved on the bottom of a vase attests to the intense activity of a master kilnman who had fired a total of 1540 plates, 300 bowls and 790 bowls or bowls, made by six different potters. The stamps imprinted on each of the objects served to return the vessels, once fired, to their owners and the registration of the load to share the costs of firing fairly among them.
The second macro section, dedicated to production and maritime trade, includes barrels, amphorae and some marble marked by the quarrymen. Also on display is a focus on medicamenta – whose precious containers with imprinted brand could almost be miniatures, like those of the expensive lykion, eye drops, which were transported in jars less than 4 cm high – and one on the war brand where some glandes (bullets) on which not only the names of the producers are reported, but also real insults against enemies, such as the famous invective against Lucio Antonio, brother of the triunvir Marco Antonio, who opposed the young Octavian and caused the Bellum Perosinum. But the sign of war is also impressed on the skin of the legionaries. The sources mention the signa of the legions impressed on the soldiers, symbols of proud belonging but also a means of discouraging their desertion. And, again, stigma and signa used to determine the possession of an object or a person or to declare their belonging (whether desired or not) to a category will be remembered, such as the collars of slaves, the marks on the condemned or the tattoos made by Caligula on people for pure pleasure.
