Archaeological Journal/Volume 2/Notices of New Publications: Eburacum, or York under the Romans
Notices of New publications.
Eburacum, or York under the Romans, by C. Wellbeloved.
The work before us is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Roman civilization in this country. The first chapter treats of the origin of Roman York, and of its history as far as it can be gathered from classical authors, the few incidental notices which ancient writers afford being incorporated in a general sketch of the progress of the Roman arms in Britain. Mr. Wellbeloved considers that Eboracum, or according to the orthography which he prefers Eburacum, was originally, as its name implies, a British city, and that the Roman station was there founded on the occasion of the expedition of Agricola against the Brigantes. That it was founded by Agricola himself, and that it was subsequently visited by the emperor Hadrian, are statements of earlier topographers, for which there does not appear to be any sure warranty. In the time of Antoninus Pius, Eburacum is described by Ptolemy the geographer, as the head quarters of the sixth legion, and Septimius Severus, as is well known, resided and died there. From his time till the fourth century, nothing certain seems known of Roman York. Constantius Chlorus on his accession to the divided empire of Rome, came over to Britain and fixed his residence at Eburacum, where after two years he died, and where after his death, his son, Constantine the Great, was proclaimed emperor by the army. To the arguments that have been adduced to prove that this latter emperor was born at York, Mr. Wellbeloved gives due consideration, more perhaps than reasoning depending so entirely on doubtful interpretation and late authorities deserves; his conclusion is, that so far from its being proved that Constantine was born at York, it is highly probable that he was not born in Britain. Nor does there seem any true evidence for the assertion that his mother Helena was the daughter of a British king named Coïl, which, like the story of the tomb of Constantius Chlorus in the church of St. Helen's, is probably an invention of some ancient local historian, whose zeal for his native city surpassed his critical discretion. Such are the few facts recorded in history of Roman York, but we might infer from these scanty particulars that it became the chief northern station of the Romans, after the invasion of the Brigantes, by Agricola. That such was the case, Mr. Wellbeloved proceeds to shew by a consideration of the monumental evidence, afforded by the Roman remains found at York.
First, as to the plan and extent of the ancient city, Mr. Wellbeloved shews that Eburacum was laid out in the usual rectangular form of a Roman camp, inclosed by a wall, on the inside of which was a rampart mound of earth, and on the outside probably a fosse; that in dimensions it was about 650 yards by 550, and that it was situated between the Fosse and the Ouse, near their point of junction, the longest side lying north-cast and south-west. Of this camp considerable portions of three of the walls exist, the most perfect part being from the south-west corner, where a Roman multangular tower (Pl. I. and IV.) still remains, to the gate now called Bootham Bar. Between these two points the foundations of two towers and a small arched chamber (Pl. III.), which must have belonged to a third, have been discovered within these few years, Mr. Wellbeloved supposes that this chamber served as a place of deposit for arms or military stores. These towers are placed at regular intervals. No traces of any of the gates of the camp have been discovered, except at the modern entrance at Bootham Bar.
The structure of this wall, and of the multangular tower, has been ascertained, and is very minutely described by Mr. Wellbeloved. Both are built on piles of oak, and formed of courses of ashlar work, enclosing concrete, courses of bricks being inserted in the face of the ashlar at intervals in the usual manner of Roman masonry. The diameter of the interior of the tower is about 33 ft. 6 in. The lowest floor appears to have been of mortar; at the height of about 5 ft. are marks of a timber floor, and at the height of about 7 ft. 5 in. of another. This tower appears to have been divided in the interior into two equal portions by a wall. No other architectural remains have been brought to light within the Roman city; but in its suburbs, particularly those on the south-west and north-west sides, ruins of temples, baths, and other buildings have been discovered. Of tesselated pavements very few have been excavated, one partially preserved exists in the museum at York. Having traced the boundaries of the ancient city, Mr. Wellbeloved proceeds to give an account of the various Roman antiquities found at York. Of the inscribed monuments the most remarkable is a tablet (Pl. IX., fig. 2. p. 75.) recording the erection of a temple DEO SANCTO SERAPI by Hieronymianus, legate of the sixth legion, which Mr. Wellbeloved considers not later than the time of Severus,—a pedestal inscribed BRITTANNIÆ SANCTÆ, p. 92. which probably supported a statue of Britannia as she appears on the medallions of Antonius Pius, and a sepulchral tablet (Pl. XIII., p. 113) representing a Roman signifer or standard-bearer in bas relief standing in an arched recess, "having in his right hand a signum or standard of a cohort, in his left the vessel for holding the corn received by the Roman soldiers as pay;" this monument is inscribed with the name of L. Duccius Rufinus, signifer of the eighth legion. In the inscription on the base, we are disposed to read L(ucii) VOLT(inii) F(ilius) rather than L(ucii) VOLT(inia) (Tribu) F(ilius). The details of the standard and costume of this figure are curious but very rude.
Of the other inscriptions, the dedication by Marcianus to the Di Hospitales, p. 87, is published by Orell. Inscript. Latin. Select. Collectio, I., p. 317, No. 1675, where it is stated to be at Durham. Three explanations of the much disputed concluding letters, F.N C.D, on this monument are offered in that work; F(ecit) n(un)c D(edicavit), F(ecit) n(ummis) CCCC, and F(ecit) N(onis) D(ecembribus), N(O) being read instead of NC.
Some very interesting sepulchral remains have been preserved at York. Two of the curious arched graves formed of tiles have been discovered, one of which is engraved, Archæologia, II. pl. xi. fig. 2, and the other preserved in the museum at York. The tiles are such as were used by the Romans in roofing houses. They are about 1 ft. 8 in. long, are slightly curved, and are inclined against each other at such an angle as to form a Gothic arch of about 2 ft. diameter. At each end of this chamber was a tile, and the roof was surmounted by a row of ridge tiles. See Pl. XI., p. 104.
In one of these tombs were found some urns containing ashes and earth, and near it a coin of Vespasian, and another of Domitian. Each tile was stamped LEG. IX. HISP., Legio Nona Hispana. The other tomb contained nothing but a layer of charcoal and bones and some iron nails. The tiles had the mark LEG. VI. VI., Legio Sexta Victrix. Mr. Wellbeloved mentions other instances of these tombs; and we may add that this mode of sepulture was not peculiar to the Romans, but was in common use among the Greeks, for the majority of the graves found at Athens are so formed, the tiles used being both flat and curved, and some of them stamped in the centre with the letters ΑΘΕ, and the cavity within containing bones and urns. See Dodwell, Tour through Greece, I., p. 452; and for three varieties of this kind of tomb, Stackelberg, Die Gräber der Hellenen, tab. vii. p. 41.
In the museum is also preserved a coffin found in the neighbourhood of York, half-filled with lime, which still retains the impression of a human body originally laid in it; a number of female ornaments, consisting of gold ear-rings and bracelets, and copper and jet rings, were discovered imbedded in the lime.
Great abundance of the so-called Samian ware has been found at York, and a most excellent collection is exhibited in the museum there. It is probable that a Roman pottery was established in the neighbourhood, where there is abundance of clay. Mr. Wellbeloved gives a very full list of the names of potters stamped on the fragments found at York, which should be compared and incorporated with the lists drawn up by archaeologists in this and other countries occupied by the Romans. See a work published at Leyden, 1842, by Dr. Conrad Leemans, keeper of the Museum of Antiquities at Leyden, entitled Romeinsche Oudheden te Rossem, pl. xv. pp. 118, 119. A comparison of the list of potters there given with Mr. Wellbeloved's exhibits the following coincidences:
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Wellbeloved. ALBILLIM.
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Leemans. ALBILLVSF.
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The groups in relief on this kind of ware frequently exhibit subjects of mythological interest, and the compositions seem often borrowed from those on late sarcophagi. See among the specimens engraved in pl. xvi., a vessel on which figures are represented under arches.
Mr. Wellbeloved's last plate contains some Roman ornaments, among which are several interesting specimens of enamelled copper, figs. 1, 4, and 6; fig. 3 seems also to have been enamelled; the ornament of fig. 4, a circle from the centre of which issue rays of enamel, resembles that on the enamelled thorax of the remarkable bronze figure of a Roman Emperor[1] in the British Museum, which is of late Roman times. Of sculpture there is but little at York except a very interesting Mithraic group, engraved in the work before us, Pl. ix. All the fragments that have been found at York, as far as we know, exhibit that decadence which characterizes art throughout the ancient world from the time of Severus downwards.
But the remains we have enumerated are sufficient evidence of the military consequence of this station, and of the civilization of its inhabitants; and prove, as Mr. Wellbeloved observes in his concluding sentence, "that it was in all respects worthy of the distinction it so long enjoyed of being the head-quarters of one of the bravest of the Roman legions, the seat of justice, the imperial residence, the capital of the province of Britain."
While noticing the chief local subjects of the work before us, we must not omit to add that it contains information on a variety of subjects of general interest to the classical scholar. Mr. Wellbeloved has illustrated the antiquities of which he had to treat with a great deal of sound, well-digested learning, and, arranging them under general heads, has prefaced the description of each class with an excellent introductory sketch of the branch of Archæology to which they belong. Sometimes perhaps he may have indulged a little too much in digression, but his researches are always valuable, and his remarks judicious. Such digressions are, moreover, as Livy expresses it, legentibus velut diverticula amœna, pleasant convenient halting places for the reader, relieving the dryness of such details as must necessarily be of local interest only. Among the most instructive essays of this kind in the work before us, we may mention the chapters on numismatics, on sepulchral monuments, on legions, encampments, and stations of the Romans, and the account of military roads in the Roman empire and particularly in Yorkshire, with which Mr. Wellbeloved concludes his book. We cannot here take our leave of him without expressing the hope that his work may be made the basis of a real monograph of Roman Yorkshire, written with the same candour and dispassionate judgment, and enriched with the same varied and well directed research; and we trust that before the visit of the Archæological Institute to York this summer much will be done for the illustration of this subject by the combined exertions of archæologists resident in the county.
- ↑ Vetusta Monum. iv. Pl. 2—15.