Fibulae

A fibula (in the plural fibulae) is a brooch used to fasten the fabric of garments. Roman soldiers wore them to clasp the paludamentum, or outer cloak worn in battle and in ceremony, around their necks, and they became common features of Late Antique aristocratic garb. The bronze Statuette of the Tyche of Constantinople (MMA acc. no. 47.100.40) is wearing fibulae to fasten her peplos at the shoulders. People living in the North of Europe, Romans and non-Roman tribes alike, adopted the fibula to fasten the long woolen garments that the cold wet climate required. The brooches took many different forms and sizes to adapt to the different clothing worn by various Northern peoples. Of the fibulae here, the smaller ones were worn in pairs by women, larger ones were worn alone by members of both sexes. Highly ornamented fibulae were prized possessions of high-ranking persons in the groups of migrating peoples. They were portable symbols of wealth, as well as valuable items that could be bartered and sold. Many of the examples of northern fibulae that we have were buried in treasure hordes, stashed in the ground to be protected by bands of marauders and never retrieved. Other examples are known because they were buried with their owners: according to Frankish law, a deceased person was still entitled to his possessions after death, and small valuable goods like fibulae or coins might have been thought to be helpful to the person in his or her journeys after death.