Cramond Roman Fort

Antonine Auxiliary Fort (AD 138–161) and Vicus

Cramond Roman Fort encloses just under 5 acres; a civil settlement lay outside the E rampart. Excavations 1954-66 showed that it was first constructed about 140 AD, with a second Antonine occupation. There was a third occupation under Severus, with extensive reconstruction along existing alignments. Some use of the fort (probably civilian) with minor building in a Roman manner also took place in the post-Severan period which may be associated with a little 4th c pottery. The civil settlement was occupied during all four phases and yielded some 1st century coins, but if there was an Agricolan fort at Cramond, no trace of this has been found.

RIB 2137 - Centurial stone of Julius Sa(...)

The century of Julius Sa(…) of the Second Legion Augusta built this.

No commentary.

RIB 2134 - Altar dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus

To Jupiter, Best and Greatest, the Fifth Cohort of Gauls, under the command of Lucius Minthonius Tertullus, the prefect, gladly, willingly, and deservedly fulfilled its vow.

I O M
COH V GALL
CVI PRAEEST
L MINTHONIVS
TERTVLLVS
PRAEF V S L
LI M

The main downstroke of the first letter (l. 3) is certainly deliberate. If the mason was copying, but misunderstanding, a rustic l, the sloping bar could be a correction—two others appear in the same line—introduced in reverse in order to avoid an accident in the narrow space between the serifs of the subsequent m and the serif of the t below it R.P.W.For a member of the same family see CIL viii 23420 (Mactaris, Africa) M. Minthonius Tertullus. For a discussion of this nomen of African origin see Birley, Durham Univ. Jour. 43 (1951) 92, Roman army (1953), 166.

RIB 2135 - Altar dedicated to the Mother Goddesses the Alatervae (?) and the Mother Goddesses of the Parade-ground

To the Mother Goddesses the Alatervae (?) and the Mother Goddesses of the Parade-ground the Second Cohort of Tungrians (set this up) under the direction of …, centurion of the Twentieth Legion Valeria Victrix.

MATRIB ALA
TERVIS ET
MATRIB CAM
PESTRIB COH I[...]
TVNGR INS
VERSCARM
[.] LEG XX V V

1.  Macdonald (PSAS lii (1917-8) 46) suggests that the sculptured relief of the Matres found at Hailes House, Colinton, may well have come from Cramond, 8 km. distant. 1, 2.  The Alatervae appear to be connected with the Matres who appear on the Lower Rhine thrice in the form Alaferhuiae (CIL xiii 7862, with emendation CIL pars iv p. 736 n.; CIL xiii 12012; Nesselhauf, BRGK 27 (1937) 100 no. 303) and once as Alateiviae (CIL xiii 8606). The form Alatervae may be regarded either as a fusion of the two recorded German forms, or as a misreading of alafervis. Horsley comments that ‘great part of the inscription is now become very obscure and uncertain’; l. 6 seems now beyond interpretation R.P.W.

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