Meet Flavinus, Signifer of the Ala Petriana

No, not one of my characters this time (though he might fit into Eagle of the Sea), but a cavalry soldier whose grave monument survived, because it ended up in Hexham Abbey, probably during Wilfrid's time.

We learn from the inscription below the relief that the slab was erected for one Flavinus, signifer in Candidus' troop of the Ala Petriana. He died age 25, after seven years of service.

A signifer is the standard bearer of a cavalry ala (like the aquilifer is for a legion), and an ala is a horse troop of usually 500 men. The Ala Petriana was recruited in Gaul and took its name from its first commander, Titus Pomponius Petra. It was stationed in Corstopitum since 79 AD and some time after 98 AD moved to Uxelodunum (Stanwix near Carlisle). It had then become an ala milliaria of about 1000 men who were awarded Roman citizenship; but that happened after Flavinus' death.

Flavinus is nickname, probably because his original Gaulish one was unpronouncable, but he was no citizen, or he would have used all three names on the monument. It's derived from flavus = blond, fairhaired; a nickname by which Arminius' brother Flavus who remained in Roman service, is known as well.

Our Flavinus wears a torque which marks him as man of some standing in his tribe. As signifer, he had an elevated position in his troop as well, and added responsibilities like the charge of the regimental funds including the burial fund that paid for his memorial stone.

A victorious rider trampling a fallen enemy underfoot is a common motive on such stones; the naked foe is no example of the actual look of local tribal warriors. We don't know if Flavinus fell in action though he might have taken part in Agricola's campaigns.

The memorial stone would not have stood inside the fort or the settlement, of course. There were gaveyards outside the settlements. A large one has been found in a valley near Augusta Treverorum (Trier), for example. Some of the slabs from that place are now in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, like this magnificient one.

It has been repainted using traces of the old colours still to be found on the monument. In Roman times, all memory stones (and buildings, for that matter) were painted, also Flavinus stone, though we don't know which colours were used on that one. I bet it was red for the plumes on his helmet and gold or silver for the face mask he is wearing beneath the helmet.


(Face mask of a cavalry officer, found at Kalkriese, copyright official website of Kalkriese.)

Face masks were part of the parade uniform for the cavalry. It's not sure whether they were also used in battle. I've seen the Kalkriese one and was surprised how tiny it is - it would fit a teenage boy these days. The Romans on average were smaller than people today.

One may wonder why the men who built Wilfrid's church bothered with such a big stone, it's too unwieldy to be carried several miles just to be used in some wall; after all, it stands 2.64 metres. Since Roman stones with inscriptions have been used in walls, the Latin words might not have meant much to the Saxons involved in the building. It's an assumption, but maybe they took the relief for a variant of St. George and the dragon - a human enemy as symbol for the beast. Or the grotesque face of the naked man looked like the devil to those early Christians. We'll probably never know.

Somehow, Flavinus' stone made it into the 12th century priory, because it was found in the foundations of the east range of the cloister during an excavation in 1881, and is since then displayed in the south transept.