Provenance
Discovery: Discovered during an archaeological excavation of the Late Iron Age oppidum and roman town Calleva Atrebatum in 1893 by Fox, the stone was found placed upsidedown at the bottom of a well by the west end of the southern corridor of House 1, Insula IX (West 2009).
Findspot: Silchester Roman Town, Hampshire, England (National Grid Reference: SU 6838 6255)
Current repository: England Reading Museum (inv. no. 1995.1.24)
Last recorded location(s): Now in Reading Museum. The stone is not on display, but stored in the Reading Museum storage facility.
Support
Historic Environment Record ID: Hob UID: 24336
Object type: Reused column
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 0.60 × W 0.36 × D 0.36 m
Condition: A Roman column bearing a two-line ogham inscription. Described by Macalister (1945, 473) as ‘like the finial of a large balustrade’, the cone-shaped pillar widens upwards and narrows towards the top. The top of the pillar has broken off, damaging the inscription, particularly, at the end of the first name, the beginning of the second line, as well as the latter portion of the ogham text. However, Macalister (1945, 473) maintained that ‘there can be no doubt whatever about the reading, so far as it is preserved’. The stone was repurposed as a memorial by an Irish family which ‘may have settled on the site in the post-Roman interval’ (Macalister 1945, 475).
Inscription
Text field: Since the repurposed Roman column did not have any angular edges, the inscription was written ‘on two vertical lines provided for the purpose’ (Macalister 1945, 473). The two artificial stemlines run vertically up the face of the stone (West 2009).
Letters: The ogham inscription appears to have been scored. Macalister (1945, 473) described the ogham inscription as ‘scratched’ and ‘roughly’ cut.
Edition
Ogham text: ᚓᚁᚔᚉᚐᚈᚑᚁ̣[.. ? ..
Transcription: EBICATOḄ[.. ? ..] [.. ? ..]ḤI MUCO[---]
Critical apparatus:
- Macalister (1945, 473-474) read: EBICATO[S MAQ]I MUCO[… and remarked that the ‘last three scores of the S of EBICATOS’ have been carried away by the fracture at the top of the stone. Additionally, the ‘M, A, and part of the Q at the beginning of the second line are flaked away’ and the vowel notches at the end of MUCOI as well as the scores of the following name are lost (Macalister 1945, 474). 2. Handley (2000, 11) read: TEBICATO[S] | [MAQ]IMUC[— 3. The name Tebicatos appears to be British (Brythonic) rather than Irish (Goidelic). Although the initial element Teb- is of uncertain meaning, it is paralleled in the name of Tibatto, leader of the Bacaudae in Farther Gaul, who led a rebellion in 435-437; and it may also be related to the medial element in the names Vortipor and Votiporigis. The final element -catos means ‘battle” (Old Irish cath, Old Welsh cat), and is attested in names such as Ambicatos ‘having battle around himself’, son of Rocatos (ANDRS/1), and Ambigatos, king of the Bituriges in central Gaul. Perhaps Tebicatos was an Irish immigrant who adopted a British name (or Brythonifed his original name) or perhaps he was the member of an Irish family who was born in Silchester and so had a British name (Babelstone 2009).
Translation
Ogham: “Of Tebicatos, son of the descendant of …”
Commentary
Macalister (1945, 473) noted that the inscription is ‘not a mere graffito: the formal statement of the name in the genitive case links it to the rest of the Ogham sepulchral literature’. Additionally, Macalister (1945, 475) ascertained that ‘“the date of the stone cannot be fixed by the objects which were in association with it”’. However, a ‘“re-excavation of the site in 1998-2000 unearthed some fragments of oak at the bottom of the well, which have been radiocarbon-dated to 130-380 and 320-540, giving a probable date for the closing of the well of about 350-425. Archaeologists working on the Silchester site believe that the depositing of the Ogham-inscribed stone in the well marked both the sealing of the well, and the end of occupation of the associated building. They further suggest that the stone was used as a mark of ownership of the associated late Roman dwelling by an Irish immigrant named Tebicatos”’ (West 2009).
References
- Macalister 1945, 473-475, no. 496
- West 2009-11-12,