Votive trachea offering, Roman, 200 BCE-200 CE

Made:
200 BCE-200 CE in Roman Empire
Votive trachea, terracotta, Roman, 200BC-200AD

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Votive trachea, terracotta, Roman, 200BC-200AD
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Votive trachea, terracotta, Roman, 200BC-200AD

Objects like this were left at healing sanctuaries and other religious sites as offerings to gods such as Asklepios, the Greco-Roman god of medicine. It was intended either to indicate the part of the body that needed help or as thanks for a cure.

Made from bronze or terracotta, as in this case, a large range of different votive body parts were made and offered up in their thousands. Although it originated in earlier cultures, this practice became very popular in Roman Italy – particularly between the 400s and 100s BCE.

Details

Category:
Classical & Medieval Medicine
Collection:
Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
Object Number:
A636200
Materials:
terracotta
type:
votive offering
credit:
Gorga, Evangelista