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Roman Roadworks near Vindolanda and the Cohors I Tungrorum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2017

Anthony R. Birley
Anthony R. Birley*
Affiliation:
Vindolanda Trust, Bardon Millarbirley@aol.com
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Abstract

On the Stanegate near Vindolanda two milestones are still in situ. The complete eastern one lacks an inscription. Only the base of the western one survives, cut down and split c. 1815; but eighteenth-century antiquaries read an inscription on it, now recognised as secondary, and a little of a primary text, probably naming Hadrian and perhaps a Tungrian unit. Writing-tablets and inscriptions show cohors I Tungrorum at Vindolanda in the late first and early second century, so it may have set up the milestone. Evidence from elsewhere names army units as road-builders on milestones. The distance between the Stanegate milestones is greater than the ‘standard’ length, hence perhaps the so-called pes Drusianus was used. The final section discusses the secondary inscription.

Keywords

StanegatemilestonesVindolandaantiquarieswriting-tabletscohors I Tungrorumarmy road-buildingpes Drusianusunofficial titulature
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 48 , November 2017 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

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References

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