Roman Military Tombstones: Uncovering the Unknown Warriors

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

From Northern Britain to the Near East, Roman tombstones have been uncovered on various far flung frontiers of the Roman Empire. Dedicated to those auxiliaries and legionaries that perished far from home, guarding a distant border of this ancient empire. These objects provide an extraordinary insight into the lives of these fallen soldiers and how they were honoured. But these memorials don’t just provide information about the tomb’s deceased occupant. They can tell us so much more. About variation in tombstone designs, about the larger military community stationed on that frontier and about the importance of memory for these soldiers. To talk through this astonishing topic, Tristan was delighted to be joined by Ewan Coopey, from Macquarie University in Sydney. A Roman tombstone fanatic, Ewan has done a lot of research into funerary monuments on Roman frontiers, particularly regarding those belonging to Legio VII, based in Dalmatia.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and today's podcast
0:09.1	we are talking about tombstones. We are talking about the tombstones of Roman soldiers
0:14.7	situated on far flung frontiers of the Roman Empire, from northern Britain to Syria.
0:22.0	Now joining me to talk through this amazing topic, looking into the tombstones, their
0:26.1	variety and their shape, their size, what's inscribed upon them, what they can tell us
0:31.4	about the unit stationed on that frontier and so much more. To talk through this topic
0:36.5	I was delighted to get on the show, UNCUPE from Macquarie University in Sydney. UNE is
0:42.6	a rising talent, he is a tombstone fanatic in the nicest way possible. This was a great
0:50.6	chat, it was great to get you in on the show and without further ado, here he is.
0:54.2	UNE is great to have you on the show. Thanks great to be here. Now we're talking about Roman
1:04.1	military tombstones and these seem to me astonishing pieces of archaeological and epigraphic evidence
1:10.2	that can tell us so much about the identities of fallen Roman soldiers that we'd otherwise
1:16.2	never have heard about it too. I couldn't agree more, I think that's why I'm so attracted to
1:21.6	military tombstones and tombstones in general. I think the great archaeologist of Valerie Hope
1:26.2	mentioned that for once we seem to have an insight into the everyday individual,
1:31.0	be it mainly from a often a socio-economic status of a high degree, we also see some
1:36.9	freedmen as well. So it's really an entry point into a strut-wise society we don't usually get
1:41.8	to look at. Absolutely, I can really see the appeal of looking at someone like that,
1:46.2	the ordinary soldiers as it were. But first of all, no such thing as a city question,
1:50.8	particularly from someone like myself, what are Roman military tombstones? That's a great question.
1:57.4	On a basic level they are very similar to the regular Roman funerary tombstone. They are often
2:04.2	an inscribed rectangular stone slab or stela or stela in the plural, with simple or complex motifs
	...

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