Fibula (brooch)
A Fibula is an ancient brooch. (Plural: fibulae). Technically, the latin term fibulae meant Roman brooches, but the term is widely used for brooches from the entire ancient and early medieval world. Unlike modern brooches, fibulae were not only decorative, they originally served a practical function: to fasten clothes, including cloaks. Fibulae replaced straight pins that were used to fasten clothing in the Neolithic period and Bronze Age. In turn, fibulae were replaced as clothing fasteners in the Middle Ages by buttons. Their descendent, the modern safety pin, remains in use today.
There are hundreds of different types and variations of fibulae. They are usually divided into families or groups based on historical period, geography and/or cultural grouping. Fibulae are also divided into classes based on their general forms.
Further reading
- Hattatt, Richard. A Visual catalogue of Richard Hattatt's Ancient Brooches. Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2000.
Fibula (brooch) Media
Germanic fibulæ, early 5th century, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Visigothic eagle-shaped fibulae, 6th century, found at Tierra de Barros, Spain, made of sheet gold over bronze. The Walters Art Museum.
Lombardic gilded silver brooch from Tuscany, c. AD 600, one of the largest of its kind (British Museum)
cloak pin acquired by myself; pin corresponds to same on page 16 (&17) in Richard Hattatt's book Ancient and Romano-British Brooches
Detail of the Elder Futhark runic inscription on the pinholder of the 3rd-century AD Værløse Fibula followed by a swastika.
Early bow fibulae.8th – 6th centuries BC
Villanovan Etruscan fibula 7th-8th BCE
Typical silver Dacian fibulae 1st century BC (Museum of Transylvania Cluj Romania)
La Tène era fibulae.4th – 1st centuries BC
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