ALTAR TO JUPITER AND DEITIES OF HOSPITALITY AND HOME, YORK AEC/ASHLI ANChandler.3.2.xml 155142 Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.2 AshLI 02

A limestone altar decorated with reliefs sculpted within panels on its sides (0.68 0.42 0.33). The top of the altar has been damaged: it now lacks its focus and bolsters. On the right side is a sculpted relief, which is now very worn: it reportedly (RIB) depicted a figure holding a staff in its left hand, but what seems to be visible now at top left is a shape resembling a trophy in form. The left side is usually interpreted as a sacrificial scene (RIB), with a male figure in a knee-length tunic and possibly a hair-band, holding an animal. In the background above this animal is a wreath, and possibly an altar appears below it. Fresh autopsy, however, suggests a military figure in profile facing right wearing a crested helmet and possibly armour, with a band sculpted around his neck. He has his left arm raised to hold up a wreath-shape, over a very worn object (possibly the animal seen by earlier viewers). Notes in the card index of the RIB archive in CSAD tentatively describe the right-side relief as possibly Jupiter ('figure with shaft in left hand, weathered away below waist'), and the left-side relief as Hercules ('figure with ?headdress faces sin. And seems to wrestle with an animal (?lion), corona above. ?Hercules'). The rear remains rough. It is now in a poor condition: the whole altar is preserved, but its front surface is very worn and pitted after the first line of the inscription, with the rest now illegible.

Even by the time of Chandler (1763: Syllabus II.1), only the first line remained in his view. The card index in the RIB archive in CSAD records that when the stone was examined in 1944, only the first two lines were legible, and no trace remained of line 3 onwards. Triangular interpuncts are visible in line 1.

 0.04 (line 1); 0.038 (line 2). A number of ligatures are recorded in lines 5, 8, 9: in line 5, E is reversed to form a ligature with R, and E is reversed in a ligature with T; in line 8 AE are joined together, and in line 9 AM and the final DE. Also in line 5, Hübner (CIL) joined together VA in a ligature (following Drake). The content of line 9 is unclear, partly because of the use of ligatures, and many (mostly implausible and unparalleled) suggestions have been made. This altar was found in 1638 in digging the foundation of a house on the site at Castlegate, York, where Fairfax House was later built in 1762. mid-2nd/3rd century AD (from military context) This altar was found in 1638 in digging the foundation of a house on the site at Castlegate, York, where Fairfax House was later built in 1762. It was owned variously by Sir Ferdinando Fairfax, Sir Thomas Widdrington, and Lord Thomas Fairfax (Hargrove 1818: p.141), and his son-in-law George Villiers 2nd Duke of Buckingham (who died in 1687). Muratori (1739) was apparently mistaken in locating the altar at Durham, since Wellbeloved (1842) records the stone’s early movements, all within York, until the Duke of Buckingham abandoned Fairfax House. An advertisement in the Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of London in 1683 (p.112) describes the arrival of the altar in Oxford as a gift from Martin Lister – physician, antiquary, and natural historian – to be displayed with another Roman epigraphic donation of his (C3-3) by Elias Ashmole in the Court before the Musaeum by him latterly furnished. Lister’s benefactions to the new museum are listed in the Book of Benefactors, 1683 (p.8) (Martin Lister Esq., the son of a Knight, was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine for which he had not himself supplicated but which was spontaneously conferred on him by the University of Oxford; he had no foreknowledge of this, but amply deserved it. He was famous for his deeds and his writings; and in order to further the study of Natural History, he enriched this museum collection with shells of all kinds, from the sea, from the rivers and from the land; also freshwater mussels; formed stones and fluors, and various types of gypsum, mica, talc and metals of all kinds, most of which come from England. Furthermore, to preserve the past for posterity, he generously gave the Museum a large number of antiquities, Roman as well as British, which included altars, medals, rings and seals. This most excellent of men, to make complete his generous gift, also gave the Museum a variety of books, listed in his own catalogue, illustrating different aspects of Natural History.). (On Lister’s many gifts to Oxford University from 1682 onwards, and their contribution to the progression of his medical career in the highest circles in London, see Roos 2011). By doing so, Lister ensured right from the start of the museum’s opening that the epigraphy of Roman Britain would be represented in the new museum. Unfortunately, it seems likely that the decision to display it in pride of place in the courtyard at the museum’s entrance contributed to the inscription’s deterioration. It was first published by Lister in 1682, who was chiefly interested in its stone, claiming that it came from quarries near Malton (just to the north of York). Upon his account many of the later ones rely (including Gough, who mistakes ligatures), although Hargrove (1818: p.142) also records a transcription of it (lacking line divisions) by Bryan Fairfax. By 1763, Chandler could see parts of lines 1-2 only. It has evidently deteriorated even further since 1944, when Wright could still discern part of line 2 as well (RIB). At some point it ended up in the basement of the (Old) Ashmolean Museum on Broad Street (now the Museum of the History of Science), since it is included in the Ashmolean archive MS, ‘Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum’ p.39, no.192, a list of ancient marbles transferred in January 1888 from the (Old) Ashmolean Museum basement room to the marble rooms of the Randolph Building on Beaumont Street, which had been built alongside the University Galleries. This MS. also includes the puzzling note If this altar is found to be Romano-British it should be returned to Ashmolean. The Ashmolean in its current location was built behind the University Galleries, was opened in 1894, and finally the University Galleries and Ashmolean were amalgamated by statute in 1908. The altar is currently in a storeroom. Photograph: left side Photograph: left side, detail Photograph: left side, detail Photograph: right side Photograph: right side, detail Photograph right side, detail
Iovi Optimo Maximo dis deabusque hospitalibus pe natibusque ob con servatam salutem suam suorum que Publius Aelius Marcian us praefectus cohortis aram sacravit anc dedit

To Jupiter Best and Greatest, to the gods and goddesses of hospitality, and to the household gods, for having preserved the welfare of himself and his family. Publius Aelius Marcianus, cohort-prefect, consecrated and donated the altar

omitted by Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. divided into two lines DIS│DEABVSQVE (Dessau - ILS) SALVTM (Gough) MARCI/NVS (Orelli) AC has been corrected from NC, but cannot now be verified. ARAM SAC F NC DE (in ligature) (Lister, Muratori); ARM SAC FNC D (Fairfax, cited by Hargrove 1818, p.142, whose drawing, however, shows DE in ligature at the end); ARAM SACRA FACIENDO NVNCVPAVIT DEDICAVIT (Horsley); ARAM SACRAM FACTAM NOMINE COMMVNI DEDICAVIT (Ward, in Horsley); ARM SAC , SA│C D (Gough); ARAM (in ligature) SAC SNC ED (in ligature) (Drake), NVMINI CONSERVATORI DEDICATAM (Drake); NVMINI CONSERVATORI DEDICATAM VEL DARI IVSSIT (Ursatus, cited by Hargrove 1818: p.143); FECIT NVNC DEDICAVIT or NONIS DECEMBRIBVS (Orelli); KALENDIS AVGVSTIS DEDIT (Henzen); ARAM SACRAVIT AC DEDICAVIT] (Royal Commission on Historical Monuments); ARAM SAC ET AVG DE (Tomlin).

The altar was dedicated by the commander of an auxiliary cohort. A similar combination of deities is found on an altar from Newcastle-upon-Tyne (RIB I2 no.1317: Iovi Optimo Maximo…dis hospitalibus). AEL is first used in abbreviated form for the nomen AELIVS from AD 135 (Gordon 1983: p.145), but this inscription is likely to be somewhat later, from the mid/late second or third century, when York was flourishing. The career of a homonymous P. Aelius Marcianus (PIR2 I p.37 no.217) in an inscription from Caesarea Mauretania (ILS 2738) includes his post as praef. coh. I Augustae Bracarum, which Birley (1942: p.139) suggested may have been stationed in Britain. The ending of the text is much disputed: Orelli (1828) expressed a preference for his second version fecit nonis Decembribus, whilst Hübner (in CIL) suggested that it is more likely that the first word was once the name of the cohort, rather than the word for ‘altar’. It seems most likely, however, that there is simply some sort of dedicatory formula here. The final words were copied by Bryan Fairfax as SAC f NC DE, suggesting that a leaf-stop follows the abbreviated word SAC.

Lister (1682) pp.91-92; Lister (1683) pp.115-116; Gibson (1695) p.734; Gale (1709) p.21 (following Lister); Horsley (1732) p.309 (following Lister); Drake (1736) p.56 with plate 8, fig. 3 (following Bryan Fairfax); Muratori (1739) I, p.11 no.6 (following Lister); Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl. I.ii (following Lister), with drawings; Gough (1789) III p.61(following Lister); Hargrove (1818); Allen (1828, following Hargrove) pp.130-32; Orelli (1828) I no.1675; Wellbeloved (1842) p.87 (following Lister); Wright (1852) p.260; Henzen (1856) p.153 no.1675; CIL VII no.237 (Hübner, 1873); ILS 3598 (Dessau 1955); Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (1962) no.29 + pl.45; RIB I.649 (1965); Kewley (1970) p.450 no.443; Rinaldi Tufi (1983) = CSIR-GB-vol.I, fasc.3 (1983) p.3, no.6 + pl.2; RIB I2 649 (1995); Tomlin (2012) p.419-20 (c)= AE 2012: 833.

Online: EDCS-07800932 [accessed 10/03/14]

Allen T. 1828 A New and Complete History of the County of York Vol. 1 1 London Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum Ashmolean Museum Ashmolean Museum, Book of Benefactors http://www.ashmolean.org/ash/objects/makedetail.php?pmu=571&mu=573&gty=qsea&sec=&dtn=15&sfn=Title,Page Number&cpa=1&rpos=0&key=Martin accessed 07/08/16 Birley E. 1942 Review of W. Wagner, Die Dislokation der römischen Auxiliar- Formationen in den Provinzen Noricum, Pannonien, Moesien und Dakien von Augustus bis Gallienus Journal of Roman Studies 32 138-40 Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Collingwood R.G. and Wright R.P. 1965 he Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Vol. I. Inscriptions on Stone [=RIB] I Oxford Clarendon Press Collingwood R.G. and Wright R.P. with Addenda and Corrigenda by R.S.O Tomlin 1995 The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Vol.I. Inscriptions on Stone [=RIB I2] Stroud Alan Sutton Drake F. 1736 Eboracum: or the History and Antiquities of the City of York London Gale T. 1709 Antonini Iter Britanniarum London Gibson E. 1695 Camden’s Britannia. Newly translated into English: with large additions and improvements London Gordon A.E. 1983 Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy Berkley, London University of California Press Gough R. 1789 Britannia by William Camden (translated and enlarged edn) London Hargrove W.M. 1818 History and Description of the Ancient City of York Vol. 1 1 York Henzen W. 1856 Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Amplissima Collectio vol. III 3 Turici Horsley J. 1732 Britannia Romana: or the Roman Antiquities of Britain London Kewley J. 1970 The sculpted decoration of Roman votive altars and pedestals from northern Britain Vol. 3 (PhD thesis, University of Durham [etheses.dur.ac.uk/9280/3/9280_6211-vol3.PDF consulted 23 Jan 2014] Lister M. 1682 A letter containing an account of several curious observations made by him about Antiquities in HookeR. Philosophical Collections 4 87-92 Lister M. 1683 Letters and divers other mixt Discourses in Natural Philosophy York J. White Muratori L.A. 1739 Novus Thesaurus Veterum Inscriptionum I Milan Orelli J.C. 1828 Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Amplissima Collectio vols I-II Turici Rinaladi Tufi S. 1983 Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani. Corpus of Sculpture of the Roman World. Great Britain. Vol. 1, fasc. 3, Yorkshire 1 fasc. 3 Oxford Oxford University Press/British Academy Roos A.M. 2011 Web of Nature: Martin Lister (1639-1712): the first arachnologist Leiden/Boston Brill Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England 1962 Roman York: Inscription, Sculptures and Architectural Fragments An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York. Vol. 1. Eburacum, Roman York 1 111-35 London HMSO http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=125267 [accessed: 27 January 2014] Tomlin R.S.O. 2012 Roman Britain in 2011. III. Inscriptions Britannia 43 395-421 Wellbeloved C. 1842 Eburacum or York under the Romans York and London Wright T. 1852 The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon: a History of the Early Inhabitants of Britain London