Record number: CHEGM: 1999 6 77

Object name: inscribed tombstone

Description: Tombstone, rudely inscribed and much damaged.

This is one of only a few tombstones from Chester which can be closely dated. It commemorates a soldier from the Second Legion Augusta (based at Caerleon in south Wales) who died at Chester. The inscription gives the legion the honorary title Antoniniana. This title was only used between AD.213 and 222 – therefore the stone must have been set up between these years. The stone appears to have been quite badly worn by the weather while it was standing in a cemetery. It was then taken to be used as a building block in repairs to the fortress wall, possibly at the beginning of the Fourth Century AD.

Date: 213 AD-222 AD

Period: Roman3rd century

Place found: North Wall (West), Chester

Date: 3.1891

Material: stone

Dimensions: height 47 inches; width 30 inches

Inscription: D M S / GABINIVS FE / LIX MILES L / EG II AVG ANT / ]SIT ANIS / XXXX H P C
D(is) M(anibus) s(acrum) Gabinius Felix miles leg(ionis) II Aug(ustae) Ant(oninianae) [vix]sit an(n)is xxxx H(eres) p(onendum) c(uravit)
Sacred to the departed spirits, Gabinis Felix, soldier of the Legion II Augusta Antoniniana, lived 40 years. His heir had this stone placed.
Latin