Ancient Roman Probe-Spatula, Solid Silver, 1st-3rd Century AD

  
Ancient and authentic Roman silver spatula-probe from the 1st to 3rd century AD. This instrument is called "spathomela." It consists of a thin, smooth stem, one end of which is flat and long, functioning as a spatula, while the other end finishes with a small probe. This instrument was likely used for the preparation of medicines or ointments. Roman doctors often made their own medicines using various tools: grinders and grinding tablets, mortars, tweezers (vulsella, volsella), as well as probes of different shapes, such as spatula-probes (spathomela). Period: 1st - 3rd century AD. Total height: 14.1 cm. Dimensions of the spatula: 4.4 cm long.

Dimension of the probe: 1.7 cm long. Condition: Very good condition, cleaned by a professional. Provenance: Cyprus - private collection. The island of Cyprus was part of the Roman Empire from 58 BC. The Christianization of the Eastern Roman Empire transformed it into the Byzantine Empire, to which the island continued to belong until 649 and from 965 to 1192.