The Twentieth Legion at Wroxeter and Carlisle in the First Century: The Epigraphic Evidence

Abstract

T here is only one piece of explicit evidence that the Twentieth Legion was ever based at Wroxeter (Viroconium), a tombstone discovered in 1752, since published as RIB 293. That the evidence is explicit, however, has been questioned. The stone is well preserved and the reading is not in doubt: OMANNIVS-C-F-POL-SECV NDVSPOLLENT MILLEG-XX-5 ANORV-LII-STIPXXXI BEN-LEG-PR-H S E G(aius) Mannius \ G(ai) f(ilius) Polflia tribu) Secu\ndus Pollent(ia) | mil(es) leg(ionis) XX an(n)oru(m) LII | stip(endiorum) XXXI | ben(eficiarius) leg(ati) pr(.. .) \ h(ic) s(itus) e(st) 1. 7. leg(ati) pr(incipalis) T. Wright; pr(inceps) Huebner; pr(ovinciae) Mommsen, Haverfield; pr(aetorii) Burn; pr(o praetore) E. Birley, R.P. Wright; leg(ionis) pr(aefecti) Schallmayer. * I am grateful to the Director of the Carlisle Archaeological Unit, Mike McCarthy, and to his colleagues Ian Caruana and Tim Padley, for allowing me to read and publish new texts from Carlisle. Alan Bowman, Ian Caruana, and Michael A. Speidel have kindly sent me relevant work of their own before it was published. Nicholas Milner helped me assemble the parallels cited in note 33. I am also grateful to Mark Hassall, Michael P. Speidel, and Graham Webster for their valuable comments.

An Inscription From Northern Italy, the Roman Temple Complex in Bath and Minerva as a Healing Goddess in Gallo‐roman Religion *

“…Usk was too far away from the main lines of communication to fulfil that task, Gloucester was in a better strategic position and ideally situated to protect south-western Britain, Wroxeter was in a better position to react to threats both from the north and from the west. If legio XX was directly transferred from Usk to Wroxeter in AD 66/67 where it was certainly in garrison later (Tomlin 1992), it would have been a sensible decision to use legio Xtttt to fill the gap in the defence system between Exeter and Wroxeter after its return in AD 69, and the Gloucester fortress might have been built on that occasion, possibly partiallyit has been doubted that a whole fortress could have been erected during such a short stay (Manning 1981, 50;compare 33-4). It is perhaps worth noting that the first Roman campaign in the west of Britain to be reported in the ancient sources after Boudica's rebellion was directed against the tribe of the Silures (Tac.…”

“…RIB 138-78 passim;Cunliffe 1984, 182-207;1969, 182-206 passim and1986, 9;compare Cunliffe and Davenport 1985, 128-32. The high percentage of Celtic names, attested on the much cheaper (and mostly later) lead tablets, points to a strong representation of lower and less mobile social levels among the temple visitors: Tomlin 1988, 95-8). 6.…”

The Roman Military Presence at Dalswinton, Dumfriesshire: a Reassessment of the Evidence from Aerial, Geophysical and LiDAR Survey

“… 85 Carlisle: Tomlin 1992, 146–53; 1998; Zant 2009, 435–41; Newstead: Manning 2006, 73–5 and 82–4; Hanson 2012, 65–8.…”

'The Girl in Question': A New Text from Roman London

“…26 22 AE 1969-70, 406. 2 3 For an example see Tomlin 1992, 147 (a loan note dated 7 November 83). Even if a legionary in London had been seconded to the governor's staff and was not on the books of his century, he would have been identified by rank, e.g.…”