The Roman empire brought many different people and religions into contact with each other. People from other parts of the empire who arrived in Britain, in particular soldiers, encountered local British religion and brought with them the deities of their original homes as well as gods and goddesses they had come across elsewhere in the empire. It was four eastern religions, the cults of Isis, Mithras and Cybele and Christianity, that travelled furthest across the empire. They seem to have met a need felt especially by soldiers, perhaps because they related in some way to the risk of death soldiers faced on a regular basis. The objects here represent gods from different parts of the Roman empire, all of whom were also worshipped in Britain.