Archaeologists have discovered evidence that an Egyptian could have served in the Roman army and reached as far as York

The study is published in the journal Britannia.

Important: it's not direct evidence like an inscription with a soldier's name on it. Nobody found a plaque with the phrase "I am Egyptian and I serve at York". It's about indirect but very unusual archaeological evidence: vessels of this type are almost never found outside Egypt and Nubia.

Therefore, the find may speak of a person who was originally from Egypt, lived there for a long time or served in the Egyptian parts of the Roman Empire, and then ended up in Eboraca - as York was called in Roman times. Such an object could have been his personal item, associated with his habit of using a kohl.

Details

The vessel was found during York Archaeological Trust excavations in 1983-1984 at site 24-30 Tanner Row in York. The find came from a late 2nd century AD layer, a time when the area near the Roman military centre was being actively developed as a civilian settlement.

At first, the bottle didn't look like a sensation. It was a small glass vial with an unusual shape and internal cavity. Decades later, Hilary Coole, a specialist in Roman glass, revisited archival materials and noticed that the vessel looked not like an ordinary oil or perfume bottle, but like Egyptian kohl bottles.

Kohl is a dark eye make-up. It has been used in Egypt and Sudan for thousands of years. Kohl was usually kept in small vessels from where it was taken out with a thin stick and applied around the eyes. The shape of the bottle was therefore important: a narrow inner cavity helped to store and extract the substance.

The York vessel had just such a feature. It was different from typical Romano-British glass bottles, which were more commonly used for oils, aromatics or other liquids. According to the researcher, the shape and structure of the find is best explained by the fact that it was a cochlea vessel.

The main intrigue is that such objects are hardly ever found in Roman Britain. The article emphasises: kohl vessels are common in Egypt, but outside Egypt and Nubia traces of them are rare. If it were a widespread commodity or a popular souvenir, archaeologists would probably find such items in Britain more often.

The author therefore suggests a more 'personal' explanation. The bottle could have belonged to someone associated with Egypt: an Egyptian, a resident of the empire's eastern provinces, or a soldier who served in Egypt and adopted the local habit of using kohl. In the Roman army, people often travelled great distances, and such a personal item might have made its way to the north of the empire with the owner.

Why it matters

The find shows how mobile the Roman world was. York was a long way from Egypt, but the Roman Empire connected different regions by military, administrative and trade routes. People could serve at one end of the empire and then end up at the other - along with their belongings, habits and cultural practices.

The domestic side of the discovery is particularly interesting. Archaeology often tells us about wars, fortifications and coins, but the little cosmetic bottle gives a more vivid image of the past. It makes one imagine a particular person in Roman York - perhaps a soldier or veteran who kept a habit associated with Egypt.

At the same time the conclusion remains cautious. The vessel does not prove that its owner was definitely an ethnic Egyptian. But it does show that people with Egyptian experience, background or cultural habits may have been present in Roman Britain.

Background

York, or Eborac, was one of the most important centres of Roman Britain. There was a military base here, and civilian settlement developed nearby. Such places were often cosmopolitan: military units, artisans, traders and soldiers' families could come from different parts of the empire.

York's links with Egypt are not confined to a single bottle. The research text and retellings of the find mention other Egyptian or Oriental traces in Roman Britain, including cults and objects associated with gods of Egyptian origin. This does not imply a massive Egyptian presence, but shows that cultural links between distant provinces existed.

What is also interesting is how the find was recognised. The vessel lay in the archaeological record for decades before its significance became clear. This is a common situation in archaeology: old collections can yield new discoveries when they are revisited by specialists with a different question or new expertise.

Source

Research: H.E.M. Cool, "An Egyptian at York?", Britannia, 2026. DOI: 10.1017/S0068113X26100737. Article published by Cambridge University Press on 24 April 2026.