Silver ingot with stamps of Emperor Honorius (AD 395-423)

Silver ingot with stamps of Emperor Honorius (AD 395-423)

4thC(late)-5thC(early), found at Tower of London, silver, 353.4 g, British Museum

Silver ingots like this were used to pay soldiers and civil servants in the Late Roman Empire. The stamped inscription reads EX OFFE HONORINI, which translates 'from the workshop of Honorinus'. It was found in 1777 with two gold coins of the emperor Arcadius (AD 395-408) and one of Honorius (AD 395-423), and dates to the end of the Roman period in Britain. The site, later to be occupied by the Norman Tower of London, lay inside the south-east corner of the Roman city wall, and it is possible that it had been a late Roman military stronghold.