Silver spoons from the Mildenhall treasure
Roman Britain, 4th century AD
Found in Mildenhall, Suffolk
The eight spoons in the Mildenhall treasure represent examples
from at least three, perhaps four, sets. It seems fair to assume
that the owner of such an outstanding piece of silver plate as the
Great Dish would have had a large number of spoons, most of which
were not hidden in this particular cache.
Three spoons have foliate decoration which matches that on the
large fluted bowl. Another three bear the only overt Christian
symbols in the hoard, the Greek letters chi and rho, the first
letters of Christ's name, flanked by alpha and omega (the first and
last letters of the Greek alphabet, another symbol of Christ - 'I
am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last' (Revelation 1:8)). The
remaining two spoons have personal names (Papittedo and Pascentia)
with the word vivas ('may you live'), a good-luck formula
frequently used in late-Roman times, often by Christians.
K.S. Painter, The Mildenhall Treasure-1 (London, 1977)