WHAT IS THE FIBULA ?

in antiquity, a clasp, buckle, or brooch of various designs, usually shaped like a modern safety pin. It was often used for fastening a draped garment such as a toga or cloak, and was made of bronze, gold, silver, ivory, etc. It consisted of a bow, pin, and catch. It is the Latin word for brooch, and is so-named for the outer of two bones of the lower leg or hindlimb, which together with the tibia resemble an ancient brooch. The earliest examples date to around 1300 bc. There are two main families of fibulae. In the south they were made in one piece, starting with the Peschiera or violin bow form in northern Italy and Mycenaean Greece. From this developed the arc fibula north of the Mediterranean and the harp and spectacle fibulae in the eastern Alps in the years around 1000 bc. From the Certosa form was derived the long series of La Tène Iron Age varieties. Even wider variation is found among the succeeding Roman fibulae, leading on to the final forms in the Saxon and Migration periods. Around the same time, there was an apparently independent development in northern Europe of the two-piece variety. Fibula types include: violin bow, arc, elbowed, serpentine, dragon, harp, disk with “elastic bow,” leech, boat, twopiece fibula, spiral, La Tène I, and La Tène III. Fibula terms include: catchplate, pin, spring, bow, stilt, elongated catchplate, disk catchplate, and knobbed (Certosa) catchplate. Although primarily functional, fibulae were often also highly decorated items of personal adornment, sometimes inlaid with glass and precious stones. An enormous number of different types of fibulae were made and they can often be a useful guide to dating.