Solders, Medals and Military Insignia on Tombstones from Viminacium

Abstract

The soldiers, medals and military insignia on tombstones from Viminacium are known by eight stelae and one sarcophagus. The igure of a soldier depicted on one of the tombstones was a person of rank. The inscription tells us that the monument was made in honour of c. cornelius Rufus, decurio and augur of Viminacium. The soldier shown on the sarcophagus is of lower rank. military medals are shown as a wreath with taenia in the upper niches of ive of the tombstones. The wreath is depicted not alone, but with a rosette or a smaller wreath in the middle. Three of these tombstones belong to soldiers, of whom the irst was a beneiciarius, the second a tesserarius, and the third a regular soldier of legion Vii claudia. The other two monuments with wreaths were erected in honour of veterans of the same legion. On only one stele were the military insignia (signa) of legion Vii claudia presented, with an eagle and the head of a bull. The monument belongs to a legion veteran who had the function of signifer, standard-bearer. a scene from the deceased’s life is presented in the niche of a stele, aspeculator of legion Vii claudia. The earliest monuments are from the irst half and the end of the 2nd century, while most of them are from the 2nd to 3rd centuries. although not numerous, the monuments of soldiers and veterans, as well as their decorations or ranks, offer evidence of their lives and accomplishments immortalised in stone.