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Victoria County History of Kent Vol. 3  1932 - Romano-British Kent - Topographical Index - Page 172

INTERIOR TEXT (p. 3)

     . . .  NVBIVM . . .  | . . .  VISSENT . . .  | . . .  LIBES ES . . .  |  . . .  MTAXAT . . .  |  . . .
III . . .  |  . . .  I  . . .  |  . . .  D  . . .  |  . . .  VM . . .  I  | . . I . |  . . .  IION . . . NIS  |  . . .

EXTERIOR BACK (p. 4) BLANK

   Mr. F. N. Pryce of the British Museum tells us that the following readings, hitherto regarded as uncertain, can be made out :— On p. 1,  I FIDA VARDVLLO [RV]M; I FRISIAV[ONVM] ET I NERVIORVM . . . [A]STVRVM.
E T] . . .  ATA, with a trace of the M in front of it. On.p. 2, QVENA. On p. 3, where the consuls’ names occur only a stroke of the first name is to be seen now, but the D of the second is certain. It is doubtful if anything of the C of’ 'CUI’ remains.
   By putting together the interior and exterior texts and by taking the known formula from other copies, the following reading can be restored
Imperator Caesar, divi Nervae fihius, Nerva Traianus Augustus, Germanicus, Dacicus, Pontifex Maximus, tribunicia potestate VIII, imperator III, consul V, pater patriae, equitibus et peditibus, qui militant in alis duabas et cohortibus decem et una, quae appellantur I Tungrorum et Classiana civium Romanorum; et I Celtiberorum et I Hispanorum et I Lingonum, et I Fida Vardullorum, et I Nervorum, et II Vasconum civium Romanorum et II . . . et . . .Asturum et . . . Pannonionum et . . . Delmatorum; et Sunt in Britannia sub . . . qui quena (sic) et vicena plurave stipendia meruerunt, quorum nomina subscripta sunt, ipsis liberis posterisque eorum civitatem dedit et conubium cum uxoribus quas tunc habuissent, cum est civitas us data, aut, si qui caelibes essent, cum us quas postea duxissent dumtaxat singuli singulas. A.D. III. C. Iulio Basso, Cn. Afranio Dextro cos . . . num cui praeest P(?) . . . rioni . . . nis fihio  . . descriptum et recognitum ex tabula aenea quae fixa est Romae in muro post templum divi Augusti ad Minervam.
   With regard to the date in Trajan’s reign, the important point, ‘COS V TR POT VIIII,’ must lie between A.D. Oct. 104 and Dec.105 [see Mattingly and Sydenham, Journ. Rom. Studies, xx, 81]; a more precise date could be obtained if it were known when ‘IMP IIII’ began and ended. It includes May 105 [C.I.L. iii, p. 868, no. xxii]. ‘IMP V’ occurs on only one inscription [Dessau, I.L.S. 287], where ‘v’ is said to be an error for ‘iv,’ but, as Dr. Milne points out, this is not very probable, ‘iv’ at that date being usually written ‘IIII,’ and the error more probably lies in ‘TR. POT. VIII,’ which should be TR. POT. VIIII, in which case IMP. V would begin and IMP, IV end in 105. IMP. vi is known to be in 107 [C.I L. VIII, 7967, 8315; Dessau, I.L.S. 289]. Thus the date lies probably in the first half of 105 A.D., and the names of the consuls may be restored as above; the only certain letter in their names is ‘D" but the only consuls of 105 whose names contain a ‘D’ are the two above, who were in office in May and June, 105 (Klein, Fasti, sub anno, 105). Moreover, a diploma from Pest with these consuls and dated otherwise precisely as ours is of 13 May, 105. This year, which is that usually assigned to our diploma, should therefore be accepted, but can be further limited to the first half of the year. It is not necessary here to discuss the units mentioned in the diploma, for that concerns the military history of the province as a whole and not of Kent. It should be added that its discovery at Sydenham in no way implies a military or even a civil occupation of Sydenham; the fragment was lost or stolen at some time and so stayed there. No other finds have been made at Sydenham so far as is known. [For the discovery see Lyson’s Reliquiae (1813), pt. iv, plate i, and Soc. Antiq. MS. Minutes, xxiii, 3 June, 1813. For a proper pulication see Corpus. Insr. Lat, iii, 866, no. xxiii, and Supplt. p. 1972, no. xxiv; for an earlier publication, C.I.L. vii, 1194. For diplomas in general see Journ. Rom. Studies, xvi (1926), xvi (1926), 95, and Sandys Latin Epigraphy (1919), 180, and for their historical importance, Cheesman, The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army. For British diplomas, Journ. of Rom. Studies, xx, 21.]
   SYNDALE.—See p. 94.
  
TENTERDEN.—A Roman urn and coins and a quantity of ashes were found in a raised bank, in draining a field near Reading Hill. [Arch. Cant. xiv, 38.]
   TESTON.—Villa, see p. 125.
   TEYNHAM.—Villa at Buckland, near Faversham, see p. 94. Three urns containing burnt bones and charcoal, one 7 in. high, were excavated at a depth of 3 ft. by gravel diggers on the eastern bank of Conyer Creek. [Payne, Coll. Cant. (1893), p. 89.] The earthwork or barrow at Sandown in this parish, thought to be a Roman camp, has been proved by excavation to be earlier.

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