Roman Tombstone

This is the reconstructed tombstone of Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus. His name shows him to have been a member of the Gallic aristocracy, but we know more about him from the Roman historian Tacitus (Annals XIV 38-39), an unusual instance where we can link a documented person to a burial monument. Nero (reigned AD 54-68) appointed Classsicianus as the procurator (finance minister) of Britain after the revolt of the Iceni led by Queen Boudica in AD 60-61. His job was to correct the financial abuses that had been an important cause of the rebellion.

In late Roman times (fourth century AD), pieces of the tombstone were re-used in the hurried construction of one of the bastions that protected the walls of Roman London. The first surviving pieces came to light in 1852; further sections were discovered in 1885, when an underground railway was cut through the site, and in 1935.

DIS [M]ANIBVS [C(AI) IVL(I) C(AI) F(ILI) F]AB(IATRIBV) ALPINI CLASSICIANI PROC(VRATORIS) PROVINC(IAE) BRIT[ANNIAE] IVLIA INDI FILIA PACATA I[NDIANA] VXOR [F(ECIT)]

To the spirit of the departed Gaius Julius, son of Gaius, of the Fabian voting tribe, Alpinus Classicianus … procurator of the province of Britannia. Julia Pacata, daughter of Indus, I…, his wife set this up.
(RIB 12).

In the British Museum.
October 2008.