History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2) by Walters et al.

Isauricae, fornace Peculiaris servi._ (_b_) _Opus doliare ex praedis duorum Augustorum nostrorum, figlinis Domitianis minoribus, Fulvi Primitivi._ During the greater part of the third century chronological indications are absent, but about the time of Diocletian the practice of signatures is revived. The inscriptions, however, differ now from the earlier ones, not only in the forms of the letters and of the stamp, but also in style; they are less regular in form, and present several peculiarities. The expressions _opus doliare_ and _ex figlinis_ are now no longer found, and in place of the latter _officina_ is invariable. Many of the _officinae_ are the same as in the former period, but new ones, such as the Britannica, Claudia, Gemella, and Jobia, occur, the latter with the _cognomen_ Diocletiana. _Officina_ is sometimes used twice over, for the pottery and for the workshop. In place of _praedia_ we have such expressions as _statio_, _rationes_, or _possessiones_. Formulae are introduced in an abbreviated form which give the method of administration or character of the estates: as R · S · P, _ratio summae patrimonii or privatae_; S · P · C, _stationis patrimonii Caesaris_; S · R for _summae rei or stationis Romanae_; S · P for _summae privatae_ or _stationis patrimonii_; S · R · F for _sacrae rationis fisci_; or simply S for _stationis_ or _summarum_.[2545] Apparently several _stationes_ might be united in one _officina_, or several _officinae_ in one _administratio_; the number of the _statio_ is given in some instances. The name of the _statio_ may be replaced by that of the potter; or merely the _administratio_ is given, as OFF · PRIVATA. Besides the names of master, lessee, and potter, that of the _negotiator_ is sometimes mentioned. We also find the _portus_ or depôt in which the _tegulae_ were stored for distribution, as PORTU LICINI,[2546] or the name of the building for which they were destined, as PORTVS AVGVSTI,[2547] CASTRIS PRAETORI(_s_) AVG(_usti_) N(_ostri_), HORREIS POSTVMIANIS.[2548] Some tiles dug up in Lambeth Hill, London, on the site of the Post Office, now in the British and Guildhall Museums,[2549] were impressed with the letters P · P · BR · LON or PR · BR · LON (Fig. 196), which have been interpreted as _publicani provinciae Britanniae Londinienses_.[2550] [Illustration: FIG. 196. INSCRIBED TILE FROM LONDON.] Tiles made for military purposes are exceedingly common in the later period, and the stamps probably had a double use. In the first place, they show that they were made by the soldiers, from which we learn that in the legions, as in a modern army, there were many men acquainted with handicrafts. Secondly, they prevented theft or removal of the tiles, and served as a “broad arrow” to denote public property. They are not, of course, found in Rome, where there was no necessity for the legions to make bricks or tiles; here the camp seems to have been supplied by private individuals. Of special interest are the inscriptions stamped on tiles which relate to the military divisions stationed throughout the provinces of the vast empire. These are found in soldiers’ graves (see above, p. 351), as well as in their camps and quarters; they contain the names and titles of the legions, and mark the extent of Roman conquest. Thus the route of the thirty legions through Germany has been traced; and in Britain an examination and comparison of such tiles shows the distribution of military force and the migrations of different legions from one quarter to another. The stamps are in the form of long labels (_tesserae_), circles, or crescents, occasionally surrounded by a wreath, or else in the shape of a foot, an ivy-leaf, or a vase; the letters are in relief, sharply impressed, as if from a metal die. The names and titles of the legions are given either in initials or in contractions, as LEG · II · P(_arthicae_), and so on (see above, p. 351); sometimes the potter’s name is added, with FIGVLVS or FECIT.[2551] The tiles of the first legion have been found at Mainz and Nimeguen; those of the second, or Parthian, at Darmstadt, Ems, Hooldorn, Caerleon, and the Lake of Nemi[2552]; of the third, in Scotland; of the fourth, at Mainz; of the fifth, in Scotland, and at Baden, Cleves, Xanten, and Nimeguen; of the sixth, at Nimeguen, Neuss, Aix-la-Chapelle, Darmstadt, and Windisch; the seventh, at Aix-la-Chapelle and Xanten; the eighth, at Mainz, Baden, and elsewhere; the ninth, at Baden and York; the tenth, at Nimeguen, Hooldorn, Vienna, and Jerusalem; the twentieth, at Chester[2553]; and so on down to the thirtieth.[2554] At Bonn tiles have been found of the _Legio Cisrhenana_ on the left bank of the Rhine, and of the _Legio Transrhenana_ on the right bank. Cohorts have also left their names on tiles: the second Asturian at Acsica on the Roman Wall[2555]; the fourth (_Breucorum_), at Huddersfield[2556]; the fourth Vindelician, at Frankfurt, Mainz, and Wiesbaden[2557]; the Ulpian Pannonian at Buda-Pesth.[2558] The _vexillationes_, whose main body was at Nimeguen, are similarly recorded; a British _vexillatio_ was attached to the army at Hooldorn[2559] and Nismes, and another to that of Lower Germany, as instanced by tiles inscribed VEX · EX · G · INF (_vexillatio exercitus Germaniae inferioris_), found at Utrecht and Nimeguen in the Netherlands, and at Xanten in Germany.[2560] Tiles of the British fleet, CL(_assis_) BR(_itannica_), have been found at Boulogne, Lympne, and Dover.[2561]