Castle Garth, Roman altar
Castle Garth, Roman altar
HER Number
1460
District
Newcastle
Site Name
Castle Garth, Roman altar
Place
Newcastle
Map Sheet
NZ26SE
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Altar
Site Type: Specific
Altar
General Period
ROMAN
Specific Period
Roman 43 to 410
Form of Evidence
Find
Description
An altar, 16 x 30 inches, found in 1929 on the site of the Roman fort near the south-west corner of the Castle Keep, Newcastle, 3 feet below the pavement. Inscribed: ((I(oui))) O(ptimo) M(aximo) et / ((Nu))mini((.../.../((D))is Hospital(ibus) /... S((..))AE / ((... - To Jupiter, Best and Greatest, and to the Deity ((of the Emperor...)) and to the gods of hospitality... About 10 letters are erased, presumably the names of an emperor, suggesting the altar cannot be earlier than the reign of Commodus, the first emperor to be so treated after the building of the Wall.
Easting
425040
Northing
563850
Grid Reference
NZ425040563850
Sources
<< HER 1460 >> Journal Roman Studies, 1929, XIX, 213
G.R.B. Spain, 1931, Exhibits Relics of Roman Newcastle, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 4, IV (for 1929-30), 47
G.R.B. Spain, 1930, Inscribed and Sculptured Stones Newcastle, Northumberland County History, XIII, 545-6, no. 7
R.G. Collingwood & R.P. Wright, 1965, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, 1317
E.J. Phillips, 1977, Great Britain, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani, Vol. I Fasc I, no. 196
G.R.B. Spain, 1931, Exhibits Relics of Roman Newcastle, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 4, IV (for 1929-30), 47
G.R.B. Spain, 1930, Inscribed and Sculptured Stones Newcastle, Northumberland County History, XIII, 545-6, no. 7
R.G. Collingwood & R.P. Wright, 1965, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, 1317
E.J. Phillips, 1977, Great Britain, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani, Vol. I Fasc I, no. 196