Quintus Antistius Adventus – Governor of Britannia in period 169 to 180AD
It was during the governorship of Antistius Adventus that a contingent of five and a half thousand Sarmatian horsemen were sent to Britain by the emperor Marcus Aurelius, their most famous garrison being that at Bremetenacum Veteranorum, now known as Ribchester in Lancashire.
It is thought that he was succeeded, possibly by Caerelius Priscus, perhaps as early as 178.
Antistius Adventus – Epigraphic Evidence
The sole epigraphic evidence for this man’s governorship of the Island is an altarstone recovered from Longovicium (Lanchester in Durham; RIB 1083; dated: c.175-8AD): NVM AVG ET GEN COH I F VARDVLLORVM C R EQ M SVB ANTISTIO ADVENTO LEG AVG PR PR FL TITIANVS TRIB D S D “To the divine spirit of the Emperor and to the Genius of the First Cohort of Faithful Vardulli, citizens of Rome, part-mounted, one-thousand strong, under Antistius Adventus, pro-praetorian legate of the emperor, and the tribune Flavius Titianus, (made this) out of their devotion”.