The Bridgeness Slab is a Roman distance slab created around 142 CE marking a portion of the

Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as ''Vallum Antonini'', was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twe ...

built by the Second Legion. It is regarded as the most detailed and best preserved of the Scottish distance slabs. The sandstone tablet was found at Bridgeness in

Bo'ness Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Falki ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1868 on a promontory close to Harbour Road. The original is in the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, while a replica is near the site of its discovery.

History

The slab was erected 142 CE to mark the completion of a section of the

. It was uncovered during excavations in 1868 on land owned by Henry Mowbray Cadell, whose son Dr

Henry Cadell Dr Henry Moubray Cadell of Grange, DL FRSE LLD (1860 – 10 April 1934) was a Scottish geologist and geographer, noted for his work on the Moine Thrust, the oil-shale fields of West Lothian, and his experiments in mountain building published i ...

was an eyewitness of its discovery. Cadell offered it to the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usua ...

for display in the

if they would provide a copy for display locally. The first on-site replica includes only the centre panel of the original. A second replica, including the side panels, was unveiled by Bo'ness Community Council and

Falkirk Council Falkirk (; sco, Fawkirk; gd, An Eaglais Bhreac) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one ...

on 7 September 2012 at in Kinningars Park, Bridgeness, Bo'ness. The replica was based on the original as was an older copy of the stone now in the

Hunterian Museum The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

. The Bo'ness replica was made using digital laser scanning since silicone or other moulds risked damaging the slab.

Description

The inscription in the centre panel reads "''Imp CaesTito Aelio / Hadri Antonino Aug Pio p p legII Aug / per m p ĪĪĪĪ DCLII / FEC''", which when expanded reads as "''Imp(eratori) Caes(ari) Tito Aelio Hadri(ano) Antonino/ Aug(usto) Pio p(atri) p(atriae) leg(io) II Aug(usta) per m(ilia) p(assuum) IIII(milia)DCLII fec(it)''". In English this translates as "For the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, Father of his Country, the Second Augustan Legion completed

he Wall He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

over a distance of 4652

pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

s". In addition to the Latin inscription the original has sculpted panels. On the left is a victorious, Roman cavalryman with four naked Britons: one being trampled holding a shield, one running with a spear in his back, one sitting in apparent despair, and one of whom is bound and beheaded. It has been suggested that the last act was a show of contempt for Gallo-Briton head veneration. The propaganda, particularly Roman depiction of natives is consistent with other slabs like the ones from Balmuildy and

Westerwood Westerwood is an area in the north-east of Cumbernauld in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Historically it was the site of a Roman Fort of which a video reconstruction has been produced. In the past two decades, new housing developments have been bu ...

. On the right panel is a depiction of the

suovetaurilia The or was one of the most sacred and traditional rites of Roman religion: the sacrifice of a pig (), a sheep () and a bull () to the deity Mars to bless and purify land (). Summary There were two kinds: * ("suckling suovetaurilia") of a ma ...

, a ceremony undertaken before important campaigns or in this case before the wall was built. The arch top of a temple is depicted. Four soldiers are shown, one carrying the

vexillum The ''vexillum'' (; plural ''vexilla'') was a flag-like object used as a military standard by units in the Ancient Roman army. Use in Roman army The word ''vexillum'' is a derivative of the Latin word, ''velum'', meaning a sail, which con ...

, or cavalry flag, of the Second Legion. A man in a toga, possibly Aulus Claudius Charax- commander of the Second Legion, is depicted pouring a libation on an altar as a preliminary to sacrificing a bull, a pig and a sheep. The sounds of the slaughter may have been drowned out by the musical instruments which are shown being played. The inscription records the building of 4652 paces of the Antonine Wall. Washing revealed faint traces of pigments, mainly red, have survived on the original stone suggesting that it was once highly coloured.

Similar slabs

The slab is reminiscent of one from

Summerston Summerston is a residential area of Glasgow, Scotland. With most of the housing constructed in the 1970s, it is situated in the far north of the city and is considered to be part of the larger Maryhill district, but has a different postcode; oth ...

, now in the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, which was also made by the Second Legion and which similarly depicts a helmeted horseman and naked captives. Other distance slabs by the Second Legion have been mapped with RTI and include one from

Balmuildy Balmuildy is the site of a Roman fort on the Antonine Wall in Scotland. It is one of only two forts on the Antonine Wall to have been found with stone ramparts; the other is Castlecary. A digital reconstruction of the fort has been created. Loc ...

and another from

Duntocher Duntocher (Scottish Gaelic: ''Dùn Tòchair'' or ''Druim Tòchair'') is a village in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It has an estimated population of 6,850. The etymology of the name of the village indicates that its name means "the fort on the c ...

. Both of these items are now kept in the Hunterian Museum.

References

Sources

* *

Citations

External links

Antonine Wall (Image 2431)
from ''Imago'', the Roman Society's centenary image bank {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgeness Slab Bo'ness Roman archaeology Antonine Wall Roman legions in Britain Collections of the National Museums of Scotland