Monday 21 March 2011

Inveresk (Musselburgh) again

Finally some follow up on the altars from Inveresk (Musselburgh) on the BBC (and elsewhere. well, the East Lothian Courier, at least). These were first reported (and mentioned here) last April/May.

The reports answer some questions, but leaves many open. It does seem that the altars were face down in the initially published photos and that the suggestion that 'at least one' was dedicated to Jupiter seems to have been supposition. We are now told that one is dedicated to Sol and the other to Mithras, thus the most northerly known dedication to that god.

Frustratingly, the only photos so far released don't allow much to be made of the inscriptions (and the front faces don't seem to have been fully cleaned as yet - the report mentions remains of painted decoration, which is a good reason not to take a scrubbing brush to them, but unless they're so fragile that the surface is in danger of flaking away, I'm not sure why they are being treated quite so delicately...but see this news report and footage which does show them as rather more fragile than the early photos would lead you to suspect).

DAEO INVICT.M.C CAS...? etc
the form DAEO is not recorded in RIB I (where's that index to RIB III when you need it?), but easy enough to find Daeo Mercurio (CIL 13.5047) in Germany.

Certainly looks like a centurial symbol at then end of the only visible line on the other. More please.

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