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Roman Inscriptions from Scotland: Some Additions and Corrections to RIB I L J F Keppie*

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Roman Inscriptions from Scotland: Some Additions and Corrections to RIB I L J F Keppie* Proc Antigc So Scot, (1983)3 11 , 391-404 Roman inscriptions from Scotland: some additions and corrections to RIB I L J F Keppie* Nearl year0 y2 s have elapsed sinc completioe th e WrighP R firse f wory th o tn tb n ko volum Romane Th f eo Inscriptions f Britain,o which provide detaileda d descriptio drawd nan - more in f eacth go f eho than 2000 inscribed stones foun Britai n di 195o t p 4nu (Collingwoo d & Wright 1965). Of these about 125 derived from Scotland. Since then a further 19 stones (some complete, others fragmentary) have come to light within Scotland's modern political boundaries. Most have already received definitiv t leasa r eto preliminary publicatio varieta n i y of journals, but it may be of use, since the appearance of supplements to RIB remains a distant prospect havo t , e these collecte singla n i d e place additionn I . numbea , f improveo r d read- ings to published inscriptions have followed upon the cleaning of stones in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh (hereafter NMAS), and the Hunterian Museum, Universit f Glasgoyo w (hereafter HM) preparation i , re-displayr nfo mord an , e recently during preparatory work for the Scottish Fascicule of the Corpus of Roman Sculpture (Keppie & Arnold 1984). The following report is divided into three sections: I, improvements to the readings of inscriptions already publishe RIB;description da i , II stonef no s lont g helbu , NMAy db HM r So only recently perceive inscribede b o dt ; III resumdiscoveriea ,w ne f eo s made since 1954. I: IMPROVEMENTS TO THE READINGS OF STONES ALREADY PUBLISHED IN RIB 2111B RI ,1 Birrens, Dumfriesshire; fragment commemorativf so e slab) b (fi g& 1a ; 6 p2 i single Th e fragment publishe 211B RI 1 s , showd(Fragmena 1) g segmenfi sa n o tC lauref o t l wreath, together with a small part of the die on which the letter M was read by Richard Wright (RIB, foe)d a bette A . r readin (pN i A OOa)gs i . Also preserve NMAdn i secona Ss i d fragmene th f o t same wreat died whicn han ,o uppee hth r serif singla f so e letter mad,e perhapb n e ca out , sM , along with part of the outer moulding of the slab (Fragment D on fig 1). On Roman sculpture, a laurel wreat s frequentlhi y supporte flankiny db g figures, most often personification f Victoryo s , with wings, holding a palm frond and with one foot resting upon a globe, the symbol of her dominion. Birrens has yielded several fragments of Victory-figures, from at least two different slabs (Keppie & Arnold 1984, nos 26 & 27). Two of these fragments, found W of the headquarters building during excavatio fort-site th f n o 1895n ei , seem likely, fro mconsideratioa stylf no carvingf eo , scald ean type of sandstone, to belong with this wreath. Fig 1 offers a reconstruction based on the surviving fragments. The slab, when complete, must have been c 2-06 m long and 0-77 m high. The inscription restoree b n ca shoo dt wdedicatioa honou nn emperoi e th f o r r Antoninus Pius: [i]m[p(eratori) C(aesari)IT(ito) Ael(io) Hadriano\IAn[tonino Aug(ustci)/Pio p(atri) p(atriae) pont(ifici) max(imd)] ..., ie 'For the emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, father of his * Hunterian Museum, The University, Glasgow 39 | 2SOCIET Y OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1983 ^AEL-HADRIANo TON1NOAVO PIOP-P-PONPMAX FI G1 Fragment commemorativf so e slab from Birrens texe tTh . placed withi wreate nth 2110 B basehs i RI .n do Scale 1:12 country, Chief Priest...'. A further four or fives lines seem lost. Space is available for the name of the military unit responsible for the erection of the slab, perhaps the Second Cohort of Tungri, as on RIB 2110 and many other stones from Birrens. The slab would thus date to the beginning of the Antonine II phase of occupation of the site (ie AD 158 onwards). However, the surviving left hand edg f Fragmeneo s neatli B t y re-usdressedr fo f i e s withia , Romae nth n period mors i t i ; e likely therefore that the slab testifies to building work at the beginning of the Antonine I phase, about AD 142. 2125B 2RI , Newstead, Roxburghshire; altar (fi; p2 ig 26c) The front face of the altar shaft is badly worn, so that only a few letters of the last four lines can be rea : .....das . C-A./.... .IN. ./7 L..... ./VSL. must I . likele b t y thaaltaerectee s th t wa r d centurioe byth . ArriunC s Domitianus serveTwentieto e th ,wh n di h Legio t Newsteadna , probably in the first Antonine period of occupation, and who erected altars there to Diana Regina, to Jupiter, family's hi d an s safetyn ow 'fod s ' hi ran (RIB 2122-4) name .Th namer god(see o th f whoso o )t m this altar (RIB dedicates 2125wa ) totalle dar lase yth t lost t fou bu ,rea e r b s ...line da n . sca C(aius) A[r/rius Domit]iah[us]/l l[eg(ionis) XX V(aleriae) V(ictricis)]/v(otum) s(olvft) l(aetus) [l(ibens) m(erito)]; ie 'Gaius Arrius Domitianus, centurion of the Twentieth Valiant and Victorious Legion, gladly, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow'. The splitting of the nomen Arrius between two lines of the inscription is unusual, but RIB 2124 provides a convenient parallel. Hillr 2165B Ba 3RI ,, Dunbartonshire; altar (fip; i3 g 26d) quived an w r showbo alta e e sidee th relien th ni Th r f so n shaf o f t mak reasonablt ei y certain that the dedication was to Apollo, the archer god, as proposed by Hiibner (1873, 1061), but almost nothing of the god's name can now be made out. The inscription, in five lines, reads:........ .I/N. CO. ./I........ ./C.........1. S.. M. We may restore the dedication [Apolf]i/n[i] in lines 1-2, identifd an formule yth a [v(otum)] s(olvit) [l(aeta) l(ibens)} m(erito) t seemlinn I i . e5 s clear thae tth dedicatio s mada cohort wa ny b d eattentio an , s immediateli n y directed toward e knowth s n garrisonAntonine r th Hil n Ba i l f o se period Firse th , t Cohor Firse f Hamiith o t t d Cohoran f to Baetasii (Robertso alt ne 1975,24-7) name .Th eithef eo r coul made db fito et , give uncertainte nth y over the first letter in line 3, which is crucial. The restoration BAETASI/ORVM C R neatly fills the available space in lines 3-4, but a dedication to Apollo might seem more appropriate to the Hamii, specialisa t archer cohort. KEPPIE: ROMAN INSCRIPTIONS FROM SCOTLAND 393 FIG 2 Altar from Newstead (RIB 2125). Scale 1 : 8 4 RIB 2166, Bar Hill, Dunbartonshire; altar (fig 4) This altar Maro ,t s Camulus badls ,wa y burn antiquityn ti ; recent cleanin liftes gha d away dirt and some of the staining, sufficient to improve dramatically our appreciation of the content of the inscription, which can now be read as: Deo Mar(ti)/Camulo [tri\ilites coh(ortis)[f\/Hamioru[m] . .CIV.SC. ./. .rvi. ; ie 'To the god Mars Camulus soldiers of the First Cohort of Hamii .......'. The letters of the fifth and sixth lines may conceal the name of the prefect or centurion who supervise erectioe completo daltare th n t th f bu ,no e madnamee b n e sca out . The decorative bands round the capitals of both altars - of chevrons and raised circular bosses - are distinctive, and may be matched on RIB 2168, also from Bar Hill. Chevrons are found occasion- ally elsewhere, and circular bosses (sometimes interpreted as a cable-pattern) are commonplace 394 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1983 t;; i-t FI G3 Altar fro Hilr mBa l (/J/S 2165). Scale 1:8 •• D ro , fl -•CftMVUO;^mrjico*^ ^HAMiORVf FIG 4 Altar from Bar Hill (RIB 2166). Scale 1:8 KEPPIE: ROMAN INSCRIPTIONS FROM SCOTLAND | 395 Closely simila altan a t Carvoras ra i Hadrian'n no 137-D A Fortun8o n t i s p Wallu t a se ,August a b FlaviuyT s Secundus, prefecFirse th f t o tCohor Hamiif o t (RIB tha e cohore b th ty 1778) ma t t I . carried forwar same dth e artistic convention postingw ne s styld it . san Perhapo et s therefore eth three altars, RIB 2165,2166,2168, should all be assigned to the First Cohort of Hamii. (Notice also the chevrons on two of the column-capitals from Bar Hill (Robertson et al 1975, 40).) 5 RIB 2179, Auchendavy, Dunbartonshire; commemorative slab (fig 5). Now lost texte t withiTh se , nlaurea l wreath recentls ha , y bee DavienW studie R lat e sr eth (1976 D y db , 103)deduce o tombstona t wh , no dedicatioRIB), a n ds i t thas wa bu e (a t i t Maro n t Victory d san , erected jointly by soldiers of the Second Legion Augusta and an ala of auxiliary cavalry. The text reads: ........ ./NO.... ./MART MAL/VICTO MILLE.. ./AVG T ALAEEX... ./VLERNIS. Dr Davies is to be congratulated for bringing such an enigmatic inscription to the attention of scholars doubtee , b thoug y ma d ht i whethe counte e restoratione b t th l ye satisfactory ral s d s a a n sca .
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