Sculpture, funerary monument

Hexagonal column with one face inscribed, a dowel hole on top (? to retain a statue of the deceased: a head, perhaps of this statue, was found with the tombstone, along with the torso of Hercules, 3365/1 and 3365/2). Inscribed D(IS) M(ANIBUS)/ CL(AUDIAE) MARTI/ NAE AN(NORUM) XIX/ANENCLE/ TUS/ PROVINC(IALIS)/ CONIVGI/ PIENTISSMAE/ H(IC) S(ITA) E(ST). 'To the spirits of the departed (and) to Claudia Martina, aged 19; Anencletus, slave of the province (set this up) to his most devoted wife; she lies here.' The hexagonal pedestal is decorated along the front top by two swags joining in the centre to create two semi-circular niches and finishing in scrolls to the left and right. The character and style of the lettering suggested to Roach Smith ‘an early date’, perhaps Hadrianic or Antonine, though the compilers of the Royal Commission volume suggested it may be even earlier, perhaps late first century. The hexagonal shape is rare for a funerary monument in the North-Western provinces, and the impressive size and shape of the block is curious in comparison with the plain carving and average lettering. This block may be a reused statue base, the inscription postdating the original carving. The quality of the base compared to the slave status of the donor is also interesting. As provincialis or servus provinciae, Anencletus served the provincial council in London responsible for maintaining the Imperial cult, though provincialis may simply have noted his origins: the 1908 Guildhall Museum catalogue treats Provincialis as a cognomen. Claudia Martina is the youngest wife known from an inscription in Britain, and marriage between her as a free born woman and Anencletus, possibly a slave, is curious.