VOTIVE ALTAR ON BEHALF OF CARACALLA AND GETA, SOUTH SHIELDS Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHLI ANChandler.3.3.xml 155547 South Shields Arbeia Museum ANChandler.3.3 AshLI 03

An altar of local buff sandstone with a focus and bolsters/pulvinars on top, decorated with reliefs of sacrificial implements (1.26 0.61 0.375). On its left side are sculpted a knife and axe; on its right side is a jug above a libation bowl. On its rear is a two-handled mixing-bowl with ivy leaves coming out of the top. The altar’s surface is very weathered, and lettering indistinct

The inscription is carved upon a recessed panel (0.62 0.48), framed by triple mouldings. Lines 1 and 11 are engraved separately from the rest of the text outside the inscribed area, on the capital and base of the altar. Lines 7-8 were erased in antiquity (see commentary below), but the earliest commentators failed to perceive their significance (Lister 1683 thought that the names of the dedicators had been erased) and assumed that Geta had not been mentioned. Line 9 is mostly irrecoverable, but the crucial letter G is visible in Bidwell’s photograph (2014: p.54 Fig. 7.3A), supporting his suggestion that we should read Lugudunens(iu)m as the dedicators (the text below differs from Bidwell, though, in suggesting that traces of the initial L, rather than the second letter V, are visible). The lettering down the left margin of the altar is damaged

 0.035 (line 1); 0.04 (lines 2-5); 0.045 (line 6); nothing visible for lines 7-8; 0.05 (line 9); 0.06 (line 10); 0.05 (line 11). In line 2, the oblique stroke of A is visible; small O at end of line 2. In line 3, traces of vertical strokes can be seen at the start of the line. There are ligatures recorded in line 4 (EL) [of which the reversed E can still be seen], and line 9 (EN) AD 211/12 (from imperial titulature). Found around 1672 on south bank of the River Tyne at South Shields. It was sent to Martin Lister at York (who first published it in 1683, commenting with regret that its text was largely illegible). He presented it in 1683 together with C3-2 to the new Ashmolean Museum (see on 3-2; Roos 2011: p.263). According to Horsley (1732: p.287) and Hutchinson (1823: p.610), on Lister’s death the altar was taken to Norwich, to a Mr Giles, and they supposed that it was subsequently lost. This version of events, however, is in error, since the altar was certainly published by Lister in 1683, and his donation of it to the new Ashmolean Museum duly advertised, whereas he died only in 1712. Bidwell 2014: p.51 suggests that the inscription went to Norwich on its way to Oxford, but this does not fit chronologically. An advertisment at the end of the issue of Philosophical Transactions in which Lister published the stone (1683: p.112) records that, together with C3-2, it had now arrived in Oxford and was to be displayed in the ‘Court before the Musaeum’. It was displayed in the entrance hall of the Ashmolean by the 1920s, and is recorded as being in The Arundel Vestibule on the ground floor in 1931 (Leeds 1931: p.21), presumably having been moved there in the late nineteenth century. It was then relocated on permanent loan in the early 1980s (Bidwell 2014: p.53) to Arbeia Museum (South Shields), where it is now on display. Photograph: front face Photograph: front face Photograph: front face Photograph: front face Photograph: front face Photograph: top detail Photograph: top detail Photograph: top detail Photograph: top detail Photograph: front face Photograph: moulding detail Photograph (Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums blog) Outline (Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums blog) Photograph (Flickr)
dis
conservato ribus pro salute imperatoris Caesaris Marci Aureli Antonini Augusti Britannici Maximi et imperatoris Caesaris Publi Septimi Getae Augusti Britannici numerus ? Lugudunensium ob reditum
votum solverunt

To the preserving gods for the welfare of Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus Greatest Britannicus and of Imperator Caesar Publius Septimius Geta Augustus Britannicus. The corps of the Lugudunenses fulfilled their vow for their return.

IOM (Bruce); omitted (Collingwood) DIS DEABVSQ MATRIBVS (Lister text), IS MATR (Lister fig.); DIS MATRIBVS (Horsley text) and ISIDI MATRI BONAE (Muratori); DIS MARI (Horsley fig.); IS MATR (Chandler); ///IS//// MAR (Gough, fig.); IS MAR (Muratori); CONSERVATO│RI.B (Johnson, recorded by Lister); DIS MATRIBVS (Hutchinson, following Lister in part); CONSERVATO (Bruce). PROSALV (Lister fig.); B PRO SALV (Muratori); B PRO SAIV (Chandler); RI (Bruce, Hübner in CIL). M AVRELII (Lister text); TEM RETE (Lister fig.); ET IMP M AVREL (Horsley); TE M REE (Muratori); TEM RETE (Chandler); EM (Gough); TE M AVREL (Orelli, Hübner in CIL); TE M AVREL (Bruce text); IMP //////REL (Bruce fig.) AVGVSTI IMPERATORIS (Lister text); AVG IM (Lister fig., Chandler); AVG IMP (Orelli); AVG PII FEL Horsley; AVG B// IMP (Hübner in CIL); AVG BRIT MAX (Bruce text) erased (Hübner in CIL); Line 7 ////////E (Collingwood). VOTVM SOLVIT LVBENS LVBENS (sic) MERITO OB REDITVM (Lister text); LV BENSM (Lister fig., Chandler, Horsley); LVBENS M(ERITO) (Muratori, Orelli); ////IIP//ENS (Hübner in CIL); /////RENS (Bruce fig) LIBENS MERITO (Bruce text); C//II RENS (Collingwood); NVMERVS LVGVDVNENSIVM (Bidwell) omitted (Lister fig., Chandler, Hübner in CIL, Bruce)

The altar was dedicated in AD 211-12 in fulfilment of a vow made on behalf of the two joint emperors, Caracalla and Geta, who had recently been brought to Britain by their father in order to extend Rome’s control over the northern parts of the island. It dates roughly between their accession on 4th February 211 and the murder of Geta in the following February 212. As is usual, Geta’s name and titles were subsequently erased from the inscription after he was killed by his brother. Collingwood (1923: p.61) suggests that the safe return in line 10 may relate to their journey back to Rome via Gaul, bearing their father’s ashes (cf. Herodian 3.15.6-7). He further concludes that this journey commenced from the altar’s location, South Shields. Given that the vow for their safe return was fulfilled by setting up this altar, we may surmise that the dedication was made after news had arrived back in Britain that the two emperors had indeed safely returned to Rome. Bidwell (2014: esp. p.56) identifies the altars’ dedicators as a numerus (or perhaps the vicani) of the Lugudunenses, which he argues is an earlier name for the fort, pre-dating the adoption of the name Arbeia in the late Roman period. This numerus would originally have been defined further by a letter, of which no trace now remains. The ‘preserving gods’ are not named, but this is the epithet sometimes given to Jupiter, Mars, and Hercules.

Lister (1683) [evaluated by Bidwell 2014]; Gale (1709) p.9 (following Lister); Horsley (1732) p.287, p.351 + Durham pl.no.II; Bourne (1736) pp.176-78 (following Lister); Muratori (1739) I p.73 no.4 (following Lister) + p.111 no.2; Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl. I.iii, with drawings; Gough (1789) II pl.XIII fig.2, III p.124; Hutchinson (1823) p.484-85; Orelli (1828) I no.2077; Hodgson (1840) p.229 (following Horsley); CIL VII no.496 + addit. p.309 (Hübner, 1873); Bruce (1875) no.537, with figs; Collingwood (1923); RIB I no.1054 (1965); Kewley (1970) p.414 no.401; Phillips (1977) = CSIR-GB-vol.I fasc.1 p.59, no.182; RIB I2 no.1054 (1995); Bidwell (2014).

Online: EDCS-07801345 [accessed 10/03/14]. Photograph (Flickr)

Bidwell P. 2014 The Roman names of the fort at South Shields and an altar to the di conservatores Life in the Limes. Studies of the people and objects of the Roman frontiers presented to Lindsay Allason-Jones on the occasion of her birthday and retirement R. Collins and F. McIntosh Oxford and Philadelphia Oxbow 49-58 Bourne H. 1736 The history of Newcastle upon Tyne: or, the ancient and present state of that town Newcastle upon Tyne Bruce J.C. 1875 Lapidarium Septentrionale: or a Description of the Monuments of Roman Rule in the North of England London Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Collingwood R.G. 1923 An altar from South Shields, now at Oxford Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd series 30 55-62 Collingwood R.G. and Wright R.P. 1965 The 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 Gale T. 1709 Antonini Iter Britanniarum London Gough R. 1789 Britannia by William Camden (translated and enlarged edn) London Hodgson J. 1840 A History of Northumberland 2 3 Newcastle Horsley J. 1732 Britannia Romana: or the Roman Antiquities of Britain London Hutchinson W. 1823 The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham 2 Durham G. Walker 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 An Account of a Roman Monument Found in the Bisho-Prick of Durham, and of Some Roman Antiquities at York Philosophical Transactions 13 145 70-74 with Tab. I, figs 1-5 + 'Advertisement' 112 Muratori L.A. 1739 Novus Thesaurus Veterum Inscriptionum I Milan Orelli J.C. 1828 Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Amplissima Collectio vols I-II Turici Phillips E.J. 1977 Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani. Corpus of Sculpture of the Roman World. Great Britain 1, fasc. 1. Corbridge, Hadrian's Wall east of the North Tyne Oxford British Academy/Oxford University Press Roos A.M. 2011 Web of Nature: Martin Lister (1639-1712): the first arachnologist Leiden/Boston Brill