stirling-1963-vol-1/05_137

Transcription

No. 115 -- ROMAN MONUMENTS -- No. 116

[Illustration Inserted]
Fig. 39. Roman fort, Rough Castle (No. 115); building-inscription i (1/10)

which he presented ¹ for an Agricolan occupation of the
site. The latest excavations in the NW. quarter of the
fort have produced no evidence, whether structural or
otherwise, for such an occupation, and a fresh study of
the pottery from the earlier excavations has shown a
complete absence of Flavian wares. ² Moreover, neither
the defensive pits in front of the Wall, nor the fragmentary
ditches found in 1932-3 a short distance E. of the cobbled
enclosure, ³ are necessarily pre-Antonine. ⁴ The work now
in progress will doubtless resolve this problem in due
course, and in the meantime conjecture would be
profitless.

INSCRIBED STONES. Amongst the relics from the site
which are housed in the National Museum of Antiquities,
Edinburgh, there are the following two inscribed stones:
(i) Three fragments of a building inscription (Fig. 39)
which were found in the principia of the fort in 1903, in

[Illustration Inserted]
Fig. 40. Roman fort, Rough Castle (No. 115); inscribed
altar ii (1/10)

what may have been a well. The inscription reads
[Imp(eratori) Ca]esari Tito [Aelio] Hadriano [Anto]nino
Aug(usto) [Pio] P(atri) P(atriae) coh(ors) VI [Ner] viorum
pri[ncip]ia fecit. "The Sixth Cohort of the Nervii erected
the headquarters building for the Emperor Caesar Titus
Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, Father of
his country." See P.S.A.S., xxxix (1904-5), 470-2;
R.W.S., 410-12 and pl. xl, 2.
(ii) An altar (Fig. 40) which was discovered a short
distance to the S. of the fort in 1843. It reads Victoriae
coh(ors) VI Nerviorum c(ui) c(urat) Fl(avius) Betto
c(enturio) leg(ionis) XX V(aleriae V(ictricis) v(otum)
s(olvit) l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito). "To Victory, the Sixth
Cohort of Nervii under the charge of Flavius Betto, a
centurion of the Twentieth Legion, Valeria Victrix, has
paid its vow willingly, gladly and deservedly." See C.I.L.,
vii, 1092; R.W.S., 418-9 and pl. xl, 1.

843798 -- NS 87 NW -- 1 December 1958

116. Roman Fort, Seabegs (Site). Between Rough
Castle and Castlecary, which is 3 1/2 miles further W.,
there are no superficial indications of a fort. But as this
gap is nearly twice as long as the normal interval between
the forts on the Antonine Wall, there can be no doubt
that it was once bridged by an intermediate station
situated somewhere in the vicinity of Seabegs. The most
likely position for such a fort is at the E. end of Seabegs

1 R.W.S., 234-8.
2 The Commissioners are indebted to Mr. and Mrs. B. R.
Hartley for information on this point. The Flavian mortarium
rim cited by Macdonald (R.W.S., 238) has evidently been
wrongly labelled. Although marked "Rough Castle", it is
unquestionably part of the mortarium from Camelon, stamped
Q. Valerius Veranius, with which Macdonald compares it.
3 P.S.A.S., lxvii (1932-3), 262-3 and fig. 7.
4 It is worth noting that the filling of the pit which was
examined in 1920 contained only Antonine sherds (Ibid., lix
(1924-5), 285-7).

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