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Roman soldiers with clubs – Stele of Catavignus
#1
Good morning everybody,

some time ago, looking at the Roman “stele” with a Celtic onomatology in the Gallia Cisalpina, I came across the tombstone of a militis cohortis III Britannorum named Catavignus son of Ivomagus, found in the province of Cuneo (Piedmont, Italy).

The particularity of this tombstone is the contrast between the quality of the letters and the simple representation of the soldier (in the superior part). Is not well preserved, but the soldier seems to wear a paenula, a gladius is held on his right side, and in the right hand he holds an object that seems a club (or vitis ??).
 
In 2009, the stele also appears in the “D’Amato – Sumner” at pag. 167: 
(the soldier) is represented with a club, typical weapon of the troops from Britannia, clad in a sagum and a military tunic. He wears a light armor, probably of leather, with pteryges on the shoulders and a small collar protecting the neck. […] the hair are following the typical Celtic hairstyle of the British warriors
 
The tombstone is dated at 69 AC, when some auxiliares of the cohors III Brittannorum they were sent to Cisalpina (ref. Tacitus, Hist., 1 70).
 
The club seems uncommon, the only comparison that I have found in a tombstone is a late II cent. AC from Sparta (tombstone of M. Aurelios Alexys ). Initially I thought of a reuse of a more ancient image, but the text and the letters seem contemporary and no marks of reuse…

What do you think about the representation? 

Any advice or bibliographical reference are greatly appreciated Wink  !


Best 
SM


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SM.

ὁπλῖται δὲ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ἀκροβολισταί (Strabo,IV, 6, 2)
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#2
(01-11-2018, 10:03 AM)S. Marcer Wrote: 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:

[Image: newcastle_dg_93-edit_sm.jpg?w=730]



(01-11-2018, 10:03 AM)S. Marcer Wrote: 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!


[Image: DP331293.jpg]
Nathan Ross
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#3
Quote: [b]Nathan Ross Wrote:[/b]
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. 


Yes, that's exactly what I thought. 
I saw the stele in person and the image is really too weathered for me to appreciate all that details.
I'm also curious to know more about his association club - Britons... maybe the association comes from the "barbaric origins" of the soldier, like the bare-chested figures armed with clubs from the Trajans Column who fought alongside the Romans.

The particularity of this tombstone is the contrast between the relative good quality of the letters and the crude/simple representation of the soldier. Here the full text :

Catavigni / Ivomagi f. / milit(is) coh(ortis) / III Britan / norum (centuria) Gesati / vix(it) ann(os) XXV / sti(pendiorum) VI exerci / tus Raetici /Paternus / h(eres) f(aciendum) c(uravit) / comminlitoni / carissimo.



Quote: Nathan Ross Wrote:
Actually it reminds me most of this Trajanic lady from the Met Museum!


The hairstyle is indeed similar, at first it seemed to me only an approximate way to represent the curly hair...
--------
SM.

ὁπλῖται δὲ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ἀκροβολισταί (Strabo,IV, 6, 2)
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