Category: Romans in Britain

Shrine to Jupiter Dolichenus

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
via the Journal
via the Journal

Very interesting find at Vindolanda of a large shrine to Jupiter Dolichenus with a Latin inscription; quotes from Andrew Birley have appeared in a number of newspapers:

What should have been part of the rampart mound near to the north gate of the fort has turned out to be an amazing religious shrine …There is a substantial and exceptionally well preserved altar dedicated by a prefect of the Fourth Cohort of Gauls to an important eastern god, Jupiter of Doliche. Major altars like this are very rare finds and to discover such a shrine inside the fort is highly unusual … The shrine also has evidence of animal sacrifice and possible religious feasting … It all adds to the excitement of the excavations and is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most excavators.

The inscription translates:

To Jupiter Best and Greatest of Doliche, Sulpicius Pudens, prefect of the Fourth Cohort of Gauls, fulfilled his vow gladly and deservedly.

Adrian Murdoch has a transcription of the Latin in his coverage of this find …

Patricia Birley noted:

Perhaps what the prefect had asked for had come to pass and he fulfilled his vow by paying out for this expensive stone … It would have cost him a bob or two.

Interestingly, Dr Birley notes that the Sulpicius Pudens is surely the same character who erected another altar which was later reused in a wall at Staward Pele sixty or so years ago (which a certain E. Birley wrote about in “A Roman altar from Staward Pele,” Archaeologia Aeliana [ser4] Vol28 p132-6 and 139-40.

Jupiter Dolichenus was really popular — especially among the military — during and after the principate of Septimius Severus …

UPDATE (09/23/09) — see now Adrian Murdoch’s followup post on the previous inscription ascribed to Suplicius  Pudens: New inscription at Vindolanda UPDATED

Another Arthur Link?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From a press release via Earthtimes:

Researcher David Xavier Kenney discovered the inscriptions on the 2nd to 3rd century artifact which was found on a hilltop in Norfolk County, England and is part of his collection.

Among the revelations on the lance head (or contos head) is that the real King Arthur may have been Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius, a 3rd century Belgic sailor from humble origins who rose up through the ranks to eventually become a Rogue Emperor of Rome.

The contos was a victory votive to the Romano Celtic war/sword god Mars Camulos and Carausius, who undoubtedly identified himself with this god, based on coins he minted and evidenced on the contos. The Roman settlement of Camulodunum (modern Colchester), named after Camulos, is widely thought to be the origin of Medieval writers’ Camelot.

Carausius strove to become a people’s hero of Britain and Northern Gaul when he rebelled against the co-Emperor Maximian, who ordered his execution after he was accused of keeping seized pirate booty. Backed by his Roman legions, he proclaimed himself another co-emperor. Three years later in 293 AD Carausius was assassinated by his finance minister.

The war/sword god Camulos’ primary center of Celtic worship was with the Remi, a Belgic tribe. Based on contos inscriptions Camulos appears to be connected to a previously unknown Belgic agricultural/fertility bear god of the northern constellations and its related symbols, including a pagan type grail cup, magical blade weapons, meteorites, magnetic north, and the seasons named Artor. The sword in the stone shown on the contos has a connection to an elite Roman Parazonium (ceremonial short sword).

According to Kenney, inscriptions show the primary aspect of Artor is a force associated with breaking through or beginnings, including spring and the dawn. Other artifacts show that this bear war/sword god in some form can be seen across ancient Europe and Asia as far east as ancient China, particularly in the northern regions.

… the author has more to say at his webpage … personally, I don’t see most of the stuff he’s seeing on this; your mileage may vary (but I doubt it) …

UK News

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Seems like a good time to catch up with a pile of brief news items from the UK that have accumulated over the past few weeks:

A caesium vapour magnetometer was used at Caistor St Edmund to get a better idea of the layout of Venta Icenorum:

A pair of Roman burials turned up in a Leicestershire garden:

Plans are afoot to reveal more of Wroxeter Roman City (a.k.a. Viroconium):

Digging has resumed at a bath site in Northamptonshire:

Remains of a Roman road at Tesco:

Some letters from the 1940s by the schoolboy who found Bristol Roman Villa were found:

Digging has resumed at Arbeia Roman Fort:

They’re still fighting to preserve the site of Colchester’s Roman circus:

Castleford’s Roman bathhouse is getting some recognition:

A Roman well from Chester:

A metal-detecting group from Bridlington has found a hoard of 75 silver coins and 10 bronzes dating to the mid-fourth century:

There were also a few reenactment events which folks might be interested in reading about … in Carlisle … York … St Albans (sort of) …

Mystery Burials at Dorset

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment

This one is a week or so old, but its interest remains. Assorted news organizations have covered the discovery of a mass burial of possibly 1st-century date during road construction in Dorset. The burial itself is puzzling, however, as the 40-odd skeletons seem to belong to folks who were decapitated, and the skulls were buried in a different location than the trunks. David Score, head of Oxford Archaeology told various news organizations (this is the version from the Guardian‘s coverage), inter alia:

There are lots of different types of burial where skeletons may be aligned along a compass axis or in a crouched position, but to find something like this is just incredible. We’re still working on carefully recording and recovering all of the skeletons, which will be taken back to our offices in Oxford for detailed analysis, and trying to piece together the extraordinary story behind these remains … It’s very early days, but so far, after a visit to the site by our head of burial services, the skulls appear to be predominantly those of young men. At the moment we don’t fully understand how or why the remains have come to be deposited in the pit but it seems highly likely that some kind of catastrophic event such as war, disease or execution has occurred.

With Reuters, Dr. Score went a bit further in his speculations:

Were they fighting amongst themselves? Were they executed by the Romans? Did they die in a battle with the Romans? The exciting scenario for us possibly is that there were skirmishes with the invading Romans and that’s how they ended up chopped up in a pit.

The Reuters coverage also adds some details:

The grave site is close to Maiden Castle — Europe’s largest Iron Age hill fort where local tribes are said to have staged a last stand against the Roman legions after the invasion.

Some historians believe the Romans sacked the site, butchering its population including women and children, before burning it to the ground.

Score said they had counted 45 skulls so far in the 6-meter wide pit, together with a tangle of torsos, arms and legs, More could be found in the coming weeks.

Most of the skulls were those of young men, supporting the theory they could have been killed in battle or executed en masse.

Well it seems to me that the ‘epidemic’ theory is right out, unless it was some mass outbreak of some unknown disease which caused peoples’ heads to fall off. Killed in battle seems a bit odd as well — you don’t get a lot of decapitations in battles outside of Hollywood. Perhaps a post-battle execution is possible, but if these were young, capable warrior types, wouldn’t one expect such folks to be sent back to Rome to fight in the arena? Maybe … maybe not. Similarly, execution by beheading wasn’t generally how Romans treated foreigners (the quick and easy death was preserved for Roman citizens), although perhaps a need to move quickly occasioned these events. Of course, there is an assumption being made here that the Romans would be responsible … that’s due primarily to the proximity of the burials to Maiden Castle, which Sir Mortimer Wheeler had connected long ago to the Roman invasion in 43 B.C., which, in this part of England, was led by the future emperor Vespasian. To judge from English Heritage, the current tendency is to downplay the Roman side of Wheeler’s theories and perhaps the same should be done in this case.

UPDATE (09/21/09): Turns out the burials are Saxon …