07-15-2008, 10:19 PM
Quote:Are these tomb stones?
No, they are known as 'centurial stones'. They are regarded by some sources as being a sort of 'quality control' - they were added to a building or somesuch to indicate that they had been constructed satusfactorily and to specifications. A number have been found at Caerleon (and there are also quite a few from Hadrian's Wall as well.)
The interesting thing about this one is the centurion's name - which you can see is FLAVI RVFI (the '>' sign in front a Roman carving shorthand for 'century of').
There are other stones from Caerleon with the name 'Rufinus'. RIB 339, for example, shows: COH III >/RVFIN.PRIMI. Is this the same man (or a brother, perhaps?), promoted (if he is the same one) from the 3rd cohort to the 1st as Primus Pilus? This stone has a small leaf carved between the COH and the III - and there may be a small leaf-form in the bottom left hand corner of the above photograph. We await developments when the stone is lifted and cleaned more!
Caratacus/Mike Thomas
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
