plaque
- Museum number
- 1892,0421.1
- Description
-
Copper alloy plaque with punched dedication to Mars.
- Production date
- 222-235
- Dimensions
-
Length: 208 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Dedicatory plaque
Roman Britain, about AD 222-235
From Colchester, Essex
The inscription has been punched onto a bronze plaque. It is of traditional ansate (winged rectangle) shape (tabula ansata). It is dedicated to Mars Medocius, a combination of the Roman god of war and a local British deity who may have had similar warlike qualities.
Lossio Veda, who made the dedication, was probably a visitor or immigrant, perhaps a merchant, for he proudly proclaims his northern Scottish origins. The inscription translates: 'To the god Mars Medocius of the Campeses and to the Victory of our Emperor Alexander Pius Felix, Lossio Veda, grandson [or nephew] of Vepogenus, a Caledonian, set up this gift from his own resources'.
The reference to the emperor Severus Alexander dates this inscription to his reign, AD 222-35.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2016 11 Mar- 25 Sep, Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, Celts.
2015-2016 24 Sep-31 Jan, London, BM, G30, 'Celts: Art and Identity'
2001 11 Jun-16 Sep, Leeds, Henry Moore Institute, The Sculpted World
- Acquisition date
- 1892
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1892,0421.1
