Vicarello Cups

The cups were found inside a crevice in the rock from which the thermal waters issued, along with a huge votive deposit consisting of ca.

Dated to the 1st century AD, the cups are cylindrical in form and range in height from 9.5–11.5 cm (3.7–4.5 in), and are similar in shape to Roman milestones.

They are inscribed on their outside with an itinerary that goes from Gades (modern Cadiz) overland to Rome, including all the 104 stopping points along the way and the distances between them, for a total of 1840 Roman miles (2,723.2 km (1,692.1 mi)).

[1] The finds are believed to have been part of a votive deposit, consisting of dedications made by the sick who sought a cure at the baths, likely to the protective deity of the location, Apollo.

A second hypothesis[3] is that these cups were donated by travelers from Spain to the Roman senator Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus, a relative of the emperor Domitian who had a villa in the town of Vicarello.