South Shields vicus, Roman tombstone
South Shields vicus, Roman tombstone
HER Number
897
District
S Tyneside
Site Name
South Shields vicus, Roman tombstone
Place
South Shields
Map Sheet
NZ36NE
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Tomb
Site Type: Specific
Tombstone
General Period
ROMAN
Specific Period
Roman 43 to 410
Form of Evidence
Find
Description
Tombstone, 23 inches x 40 inches, found in two pieces - the gable in Cleveland Street, the rest in 1885 about 100 yards away at the junction of James Mather Street and Cleveland Street. Beneath a pediment the deceased, in tunic and long robe, reclines on a couch, and holds in his right hand a bunch of leaves, in his left a cup. Below the couch a boy stands, holding up a cup. Its inscription reads: D(is) M(anibus) Victoris natione Maurum / ((a))nnorum XX libertus Numeriani / ((e))q(u)itis ala(e) I Asturum qui / piantissime pr((ose))qu((u))tus est; To the spirits of the departed (and) of Victor, a Moorish tribesman, aged 20, freeman of Numerianus, trooper of the First Cavalry Regiment of Asturians, who most devotedly conducted him to the tomb.
Easting
436490
Northing
567550
Grid Reference
NZ436490567550
Sources
<< HER 897 >> R.Blair, 1885, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2, X, 196-7
JC. Bruce, 1885, On the recent discoveries in the Roman Camp on the Lawe... Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, X, 249
W.T. Watkin, 1886, Roman Inscriptions discovered in Britain in 1885, Archaeological Journal, XLIII, 275-6
J.C. Bruce, 1887, Roman Inscribed Tombstone from South Shields, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 2, II (for 1885-86), 7
D. Smith, 1959, A Palmyrene Sculptor at South Shields?, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XXXVII, 203-10
R.G. Collingwood & R.P. Wright, 1965, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, 1064
E.J. Phillips, 1977, Great Britain, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani, Vol. I Fasc. I no. 248
P.T. Bidwell, 1988, The Civilian Settlement...of the Roman Fort at South Shields, nos. 10-11
JC. Bruce, 1885, On the recent discoveries in the Roman Camp on the Lawe... Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, X, 249
W.T. Watkin, 1886, Roman Inscriptions discovered in Britain in 1885, Archaeological Journal, XLIII, 275-6
J.C. Bruce, 1887, Roman Inscribed Tombstone from South Shields, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 2, II (for 1885-86), 7
D. Smith, 1959, A Palmyrene Sculptor at South Shields?, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4, XXXVII, 203-10
R.G. Collingwood & R.P. Wright, 1965, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, 1064
E.J. Phillips, 1977, Great Britain, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani, Vol. I Fasc. I no. 248
P.T. Bidwell, 1988, The Civilian Settlement...of the Roman Fort at South Shields, nos. 10-11