Roman military tombstones

Of a sample of 531 tombstones from the Roman period[1] it was found that a trend exists whereby the age at death is rounded to the nearest five or ten, but this is not a uniform pattern.

INFERRE LICEBIT P[vblivs] CAELIVS T[iti] F[ilivs] LEM[onia tribv] FRATER FECIT To Marcus Caelius, son of Titus, of the Lemonian district, from Bologna, first centurion of the eighteenth legion.

Several tombstones of auxiliary cavalrymen depict them in a killing-scene, riding high over a defeated (usually Gallic styled) foe.

Instead of a relief showing him mid-kill, Insus rides tall over a prone enemy whilst holding the severed head of his victim in a victorious pose.

He holds the vitis, the cane held by a centurion, and wears a crown of oak – a symbol that he had saved another's life at some point.