Roman Altar Stone - Caerwent Parish Church - Wales. - Ancient Roman Civilization on Waymarking.com

As you step through the porch door of St. Stephen’s and St. Tathan’s, Caerwent Parish Church, you will notice two ancient stones, with latin inscriptions. The larger stone refered to as the Paulinus stone.

Also a smaller stone set in an alcove, The subject of this posting. This stone is believed to be an Altar Stone dedicated to the God, Mars Ocelus. The Altar stone is thought to belong to a Roman military officer.

The inscription reads:

'DEO MARTI OCELO AEL AGVSTINVS OP VSLM' Translates to:

'For the god Martius Ocelus, Aelius Augustinus the Optio, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.'

"Mars Ocelus would appear to be a conflation of the Roman war god Mars with a Celtic or Germanic warrior god named Ocelus. The name may mean 'Mars the Ocelenian', in reference to a demigod/hero of the Ocelenses tribe from Lusitania, named the Lancienses by Pliny (iv.22). Alternately the name may be a conflation with the ancient philosopher Ocellus of Lucania and should perhaps be read as 'Mars the Philosopher'. There is another stone dedicated to Mars Ocelus at Carlisle (RIB 949), dated to the 3rd century. Another stone bearing these names has been found here at Caerwent (vide RIB 309 infra).
2.An optio was a senior N.C.O. in the Roman military, second in command to the centurion. However, the letters OP in this inscription may, for example, be expanded op[itulavit] 'he brought aid to', or simply op[eram] 'this work'; both phrases implying that Augustinus was perhaps responsible for renovation of part of the temple or its precinct." Text Source: (visit link)


"Caerwent Church Home of St. Tathyw.
The parish church of St. Stephen at Caerwent was originally dedicated to St. Tathyw, its founder, who was later confused with St. Tathan and then St. Stephen. Both have feast days on 26th December.
When St. Tathyw arrived in the Kingdom of Gwent in the later 5th century, King Caradog had his palace at the old Roman town of Caerwent, but he gave the whole place up to Tathyw for the foundation of a monastery. Tathyw built this in the ruins south of the old Roman basilica which may have formed Caradog's palace. He could have adapted an old Pagan temple. Although all trace of Tathyw's first church is now hidden beneath the present building, there was certainly a large Christian cemetery surrounding it from, at least, the 5th century. This was discovered through excavation in 1910." text source: (visit link)

"St. Stephen’s and St. Tathan’s is your local parish Church in Caerwent. We worship Christ in the Anglican tradition, welcoming members and parishioners of all ages, visitors to our historic village in south-east Monmouthshire — and those who are simply curious about the Christian faith. We are a parish in the Diocese of Monmouth (Church in Wales) and one of four in the Caerwent Parish Group. The Church is usually open from 10.00(ish) to dusk. " Text Source: (visit link)

Most Relevant Historical Period: Roman Empire > 27 B.C. Admission Fee: Free Opening days/times: The Church is usually open from 10.00(ish) to dusk, you are warmly invited to come and see us any day, for prayer, for a quiet place, for sanctuary, or simply for a look around. Web Site: [Web Link] Condition: Partly intact or reconstructed

Visit Instructions:
A complete sentence or two or an uploaded photo taken by the waymarker will be required in the log to confirm that the logger is participating in the hobby in good faith. Logs of only a few words like "Visited it" without an original photo are subject to deletion.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   01/15/2015 veritas vita visited it