tombstone
- Museum number
- 1853,1108.1
- Description
-
Military tombstone of Titus Valerius Pudens. The decoration of the slab comprises a pedimented inscription panel. The pediment contains two dolphins flanking a trident. In the field outside the pediment are two raised circles, quartered, and in the space below the inscription panel an axe.
- Production date
- 1stC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 1820 millimetres
-
Thickness: 230 millimetres
-
Width: 660 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- 'The tool carved at the base of the tombstone is a dolabra, the pioneer's axe used for clearing ground and entrenching, but in the gable above is the trident of Neptune between two dolphins... an allusion to the legion's naval origin. Pudens came fro Savaria, now Szombathely in Hungary, where Claudius founded a veteran colonia whcih shared his own voting tribe of Claudia; the Ravenna fleet was recruited from the Danbian provinces, a foretaste of their military potential which reached its climax in the third century.... when they provided whole legions, the Praetorian Guard, and even emperors' (Tomlin 2018, 46).
- Location
- On display (G49/od)
- Condition
- Broken off across the top, just removing the top of the pediment. Large chips are missing from the left-hand side and from the centre at same level, with cracks running from there across the crntre, diagonally up to the left and down to the base. Another crack runs down the back (CSIR I, 8).
- Acquisition notes
- Found in 1849
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1853,1108.1
