Local Government in Roman Britain

Abstract

A DOCUMENT of importance in its bearing on the organization of local government in Roman Britain has been brought to light in the course of the fifth season's excavation on the site of the Roman town of Brough, which has just closed. The investigation of this site, which is situated on the north bank of the Humber, commanding the crossing of the river by the Lincoln-York road, is being carried out by the Brough Excavation Committee under the direction of Mr. Philip Corder and the Rev. T. Romans. The present season's work has been directed to laying bare one of the four towers of rectangular form, twenty-five feet wide by ten feet deep, which were added to the front wall of fortification, possibly early in the fourth century. The most important find of the season was an inscribed slab, 2 ft. 3 in. high by, originally, about four feet long (The Times, August 27). Mr. Eric Birley reports on the inscription that it commemorates the provision of a stage at his own expense by Marcus Ulpius lanuarius, Ædile of the village of Petuaria, in honour of the Imperial family of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161) and of the spirits of the deified emperors. This inscription confirms the name Petuaria, and is one of the few known instances of the epigraphic confirmation of Romano-British names.