Roman soldiers with clubs – Stele of Catavignus

[Nathan Ross]

in the right hand he holds an object that seems a club (or vitis ??)

I though a vitis too - and a transverse crest! But the man does not appear to be a centurion.

Then I thought of the club traditionally carried by Hercules, for example in this slab from northern Britain:

typical weapon of the troops from Britannia... typical Celtic hairstyle of the British warriors

The image seems too crude and too weathered to make out anything much about the costume, especially what the tunic might be made of (!), but I'm curious why clubs might be considered 'typical' of Britons.

I'm pretty sure I've seen hairstyles depicted on tombstones as a sort of roll or ruff like that before, together with the strange staring eyes - so I don't know that it would be typically 'Celtic'. Actually it reminds me most of this Trajanic lady from the Met Museum!