For today's #EpigraphyTuesday thread here's a Romano-British tombstone, that of Titus Valerius Pudens, ca. 1st Century AD, discovered on Monson Street in Lincoln in 1849.

Image: British Museum (1853,1108.1)

Text:

T(itus) Valerius T(iti) f(ilius)
Cla(udia) (tribu) Pudens Sav(aria)
mil(es) leg(ionis) II A(diutricis) P(iae) F(idelis)
(centuria) Dossenni
Proculi a(nnorum) XXX
aera [V]I h(eres) d(e) s(uo) p(osuit)
h(ic) s(itus) e(st)

Translation:

'Titus Valerius Pudens, son of Titus, of the Claudian voting-tribe, from Savaria, soldier in the Second Legion Adiutrix Pia Fidelis, in the century of Dossennius Proculus, aged 30, having served for six years. His heir set this up at his own expense. Here he lies.'

The 1st Century AD date of the tombstone may be narrowed further by the reconstruction of "aera [V]I" to AD 76. The Second Legion Adiutrix was stationed in Lincoln only briefly, being founded by Vespasian in AD 70 to deal with issues in Germany.

The origins of the legion also account for the decoration of the tombstone. The dolphin and trident in the pediment recall the legion being originally drafted from the marines of the Ravenna Fleet, also accounting for Pudens' hailing from Savaria (Szombathely, Hungary).

The tool at the base of the stone is the 'dolabra', the axe-cum-entrenching tool of the Roman army, perhaps alluding to the Legion's role in 'pacifying' areas of Scotland and Wales, while stationed in Britain.

For the RIB entry for this piece (RIB 258), see:

https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/258

#EpigraphyTuesday