Record number: CHEGM: 1999 6 51

Object name: inscribed tombstone

Description: Tombstone of Legion XX Valeria Victrix. Broken vertically and at the top and bottom, but leaving the inscription nearly complete.

Period: Roman2nd century

Place found: North Wall (West), Chester

Date: 5.1891

Material: stone

Dimensions: height 20 inches; width 36 inches

Inscription: D M / M VLP M F / VLPI IANVARIVS / TRAIA S[T] XVIIII / AN XXXVII / F
D(is) M(anibus) M(arcus) Ulp(ius) M(arci) f(ilius) Ulpi(a) Ianuarius Traia(na) s[t(ipendiorum)] xviiii an(norum) xxxvii [h(eres)] f(aciendum) [c(uravit)]
To the departed spirits, Marcus Ulpius Januarius, son of Marcus, from Ulpia Traiana, served 19 years, lived 37 years. His heir had this set up.
Uplia Triana is the name of two Roman coloniae founded by the Emperor Trajan, on in Dacia, the other at Xenten on the Rhine. It is probably that Xanten is meant here. In the inscription the title is divided, Ulpia being put in honour of the imperial founder, in the place generally given to the voting-tribe, which is omitted; this is common on second-century tombstones. It is natural to suppose that Januarius was actually born at Ulpia. In that case he cannot have been born before about AD 110, nor can he have died before AD 150. It is not likely that he was born in the first year possilby, so we may set his death after AD 150. His tombstone is somewhat worn; we may therefore suppose that it stood in the cemetery some little while before it was torn up and used for the North Wall. It is thus clear that the wall was not earlier than the late second century. The inscription is classed among those of the Twentieth Legion, because no other Legion was at Chester in the second or third century, and if the man had belonged to any other unit, the fact would doubtless have been mentioned. Latin