The 'Moorlands patera' (2003). Photo by S. Laidlaw (Institute of Archaeology). All rights reserved. Used with permission of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
In July 2003, the Portable Antiquities Scheme in the U.K. announced the discovery by amateur metal detectorists in the county of Staffordshire of a well-preserved, enameled alloy pan (or patera), which was inscribed with a text of geographical importance.
The image of the patera accompanying this article was provided by Daniel Pett at PAS, and is used here by permission. It is the intellectual property of the photographer, S. Laidlaw (Institute of Archaeology), and may not be reproduced or copied without permission. Our thanks to all parties for their kind assistance!
A fuller, multiply-illustrated description of the patera can be found in the online database of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. See also: forthcoming publications and on-line discussions.
This so-called “Moorlands patera” or “Staffordshire cup” is one of three extant examples of inscribed cups from the Roman imperial era — perhaps commemorative souvenirs — carrying the names of certain western forts along Hadrian’s Wall. The earliest of these, commonly referred to as the “Rudge Cup” was discovered in an ancient well at Rudge in Wiltshire in 1725. It provides the following placenames:
- Mais = Maia (mod. Bowness-on-Solway, BAtlas 9 D6)1
- Aballa = Aballava (mod. Burgh-by-Sands, BAtlas 9D6)
- Uxelodum = Uxelodu(nu)m (mod. Stanwix, BAtlas 9 E6)
- Camboglans = *Camboglanna (mod. Castlesteads, BAtlas 9 E6)
- Banna (mod. Birdoswald, BAtlas 9 E6)
The second example is known to scholars as the “Amiens patera” (or, the “Amiens skillet”) on account of its 1949 findspot in France. It lays out an itinerary similar to that on the “Rudge cup,” but adds an additional placename at the end and introduces some differences in spelling:
- Mais
- Aballava
- Uxelodunum
- Cambogs = *Camboglanna (mod. Castlesteads, BAtlas 9 E6)
- Banna
- Esica = (A)Esica (mod. Great Chesters, BAtlas 9 E6)
The new patera from Staffordshire is clearly not a “carbon-copy” of the other two surviving examples. Its decorative design is different, its itinerary differs more significantly (with yet more spelling variation), and a more complete text is presented:
MAISCOGGABATUXELODUNUMCAMMOGLANNARIGOREVALIAELIDRACONIS
This text can be supplemented reliably to invoke four known placenames and the name of an individual (presumably the person for whom the object was made). There remains a string of 9 characters between the placenames and the personal names, which has given rise to the theory that a fifth, hitherto unknown, placename is recorded:
Mais, Coggabat, Uxelodunum, Cammoglanna RIGOREVALI Aeli Draconis
The known placenames are:
- Mais
- Coggabat = ‘Congavata’ (mod. Drumburgh, BAtlas 9 D6)
- Uxelodunum
- Cammoblanna = *Camboglanna (mod. Castlesteads, BAtlas 9 E6)
The meaning of RIGOREVALI
So far I have only repeated and amplified commentary presented in the
PAS database entry for the patera; however, I wish to register
disagreement with the opinion expressed there, and oft-repeated in media reports
about the patera, that RIGOREVALI is most likely to be a place-name and may refer to
the place in which Aelius Draco had the pan made.
There is no corroborating evidence for such a placename. Moreover, if the letters
are taken as a two-word ablative phrase (rigore vali),
they assume a sensible and appropriate meaning: “along the line (or course)
of the wall.”
[[ Please see the November 2004 update. ]]
In the technical Latin of the Roman land surveyors, the word rigor usually connotes a straight-line boundary of no width. Its use in this way on inscribed boundary descriptions is not uncommon, for example: [EDH HD008964] = [AE 1987.391] = Jacques 1987 (a fragmentary verdict in a dispute from Italy) and on cippi marking the bed and banks of the Tiber (e.g., EDH HD027398 = CIL 6.40864). Balbus offers a formal definition of the term in his Expositio et ratio omnium formarum :
There are two types of boundary, one that is recognized by means of a rigor, the other by a curving line (flexus). A rigor is whatever is seen to stretch straight between two points in the form of a line. ... Whatever occurs on land as part of the work of measuring to establish a straight boundary, is called a rigor. Whatever is drawn on a map to represent this, is called a line (translation: Campbell 2000, 209 ll. 5-13).
extremitatium genera sunt duo, unum quod per rigorem obseruatur, alterum quod per flexus. rigor est quidquid inter duo signa ueluti in modum lineae rectum perspicitur ... nam quidquid in agro mensorii operis causa ad finem rectum fuerit, rigor appellatur: quidquid ad horum imitationem in forma scribitur, linea appellatur.
On the other hand, It is also clear from epigraphic evidence that the word rigor was sometimes used in a more general sense, as in Wilkes 1974, 268 no. 27 = CIL 3.3163 (a boundary marker from Dalmatia). In this case, rigor must mean something like “path” or “course,” for a river cannot have been straight enough to comply with Balbus’ definition:
Boundary between Seius Severinus, centurion of Cohors VIII Voluntariori and Baebidius Titianus, along the course of the river.
[Fi]nis [i]n/ter Seium / Severinum / (centurionem) coh(ortis) VIII / Vol(untariorum) et Bae/bid(ium) Titia/num rigo/re rivi.
That this “looser” definition was widely familiar is reinforced by the use on some inscriptions of the redundant phrase recto rigore (by a straight rigor), the repetitive emphasis signally that the formal surveyor’ definition is meant (e.g., FD 3.4.294).
Given these parallels, I would argue that we construe the text on the “Moorlands patera” as follows:
Mais, Coggabat, Uxelodunum, Cammoglanna, rigore val(l)i. Aeli Draconis.
Mais, Coggabat, Uxelodunum, Cammoglanna — along the course of the wall. (Property of) Aelius Draco.
Update (11 November 2004): This solution has been reached independently by others as well, notably Guy de la Bédoyère, whose A New Hadrian’s Wall Bronze Cup (from his Roman Britain site, updated June 2004) repeats an argument to this effect that he published in the October 2003 issue of Current Archaeology.2 The article goes further to argue that the word Aeli should be taken together with vali to produce the phrase meaning along the course of the Aelian Wall (Val(l)um Aelium),
thus giving us our first attestation of a possible ancient name for Hadrian’s Wall.
We can also look forward to a comprehensive publication and analysis of the cup by Roger Tomlin, slated to appear in the 2004 issue of Britannia. Once we have had a chance to digest his contribution, we will undertake any appropriate updates to the Barrington Atlas.
The implications of differences in the itineraries
A full analysis of the cup is forthcoming from Roger Tomlin (Britannia 2004). In the meantime, readers may be interested in the following sites:
- Guy de la Bédoyère’s A New Hadrian’s Wall Bronze Cup from his Roman Britain site
- Several relevant entries in Thomas Ikins’ Roman Map of Britain site, organized by placename and helpfully linked from his Rudge Cup, Amiens patera, and Staffordshire Cup page.
- Kevin White’s insightful observations on the Rudge cup (from his site www.roman britain.org)
Notes
- The identification of Maia with Bowness has recently been disputed, as has the reading of the placename Maia itself (as opposed to Mais, and Magis in other sources). This matter is currently under review for a possible Barrington Atlas update. In the meantime, see Thomas Ikins’ on-line discussion of Drumburgh from his site The Roman Map of Britain.
- I regret that I did not discover Guy de la Bédoyère’s important contribution on this subject until November 2004.
Bibliography
-
AE
L’Année épigraphique: revue des publications épigraphiques relatives à l’antiquité romaine, Paris, 1888-, ISSN: 0035-0737. -
ArhVest
Arheološki vestnik, Ljubljana, 1950-, ISSN: 0570-8966. -
BAtlas
R. Talbert (ed.), Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, Princeton, 2000. -
Campbell 2000
B. Campbell, The Writings of the Roman Land Surveyors: Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary, JRS Monograph 9 , London, 2000. -
CIL 3
Th. Mommsen (ed.), Inscriptiones Asiae, provinciarum Europae Graecarum, Illyrici Latinae, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 3 , 1873-. -
CIL 6
G. Henzen, et al. (eds.), Inscriptiones urbis Romae Latinae, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 6 , 1876-. -
EDH
G. Alföldy (ed.), Epigraphische Datenbank Heidelberg, 1997-, http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/institute/sonst/adw/edh/. -
Epigraphica
Epigraphica, Dipartimento di storia antica dell’università di Bologna, Faenza, 1939-, ISSN: 0013-9572. -
FD
Fouilles de Delphes, Paris, 1902-. -
Jacques 1987
F. Jacques, “Biens caducs revendiques par la cite d’Ostie. Attribution et delimitation d’un Terrain d’apres une nouvelle inscription du Latium,” Epigraphica 49 (1987) 29-70. -
Wilkes 1974
J. Wilkes, “Boundary Stones in Roman Dalmatia,” ArhVest 25 (1974) 258-274.
