STAMPED BRICK. - The imprint that the Romans stamped on ceramic manufactures, especially plates, vases, tiles, and bricks. It is very useful for determining the age of objects and especially of buildings through the bricks used in them. These imprints also provide us with much interesting information about the organization of the factories, particularly in Rome.
STAMPED bricks date back to the end of the Republic, when thin tiles began to be used in firing. With the advent of the Church’s peace, Christian elements were then introduced into them, generally crosses or monograms. The most common and most characteristic examples in Rome are those from the *Claudian* factory, with a fine Christological monogram at the center; those made by a certain Cassius, with a Greek cross followed by the famous Christian cryptogram XMF, and the tiles of the Gothic kings Theodoric and Athalaric. Outside Rome, the Spanish examples from the time of the Visigoths are particularly interesting. In Andalusia, the stamp *Bracari vivas cum tuis* around an A. B. o is very frequent; in one there occurs the fine invocation *spes in deo*, in another the motto *aedificat X(xristus)*. In Africa (*Cilicium*) the invocation *t s(an)cta Maria a(d)uba nos t* is found. Christian stamps on other objects are much less frequent than on bricks. A jar from the Lateran Museum found in the cemetery of Ciriaca bears the inscription *spes in deo*, which seems to be the name of the maker; above another from Modena, Cavedoni saw two fish facing a Christological monogram depicted.