Roman Reliefs - Abbey Gate Street, Colchester, UK
N 51° 53.192 E 000° 53.957
31U E 355427 N 5750503
At the southern end of the pedestrian subway, that passes beneath Southway, there are two reliefs. One is of a Roman centurion and the other is of three Roman coins.
Waymark Code: WMRK4N
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/02/2016
Views: 1
The Roman centurion is Marcus Favonius Facilis and the relief carving is a copy of his tombstone that can be seen in Colchester Castle. The Colchester & Ipswich Museums website has an article about Marcus Favonius Facilis and a photo of his tombstone. The article advises:
Marcus was a centurion serving in the Twentieth Legion based at Colchester. He died a few years after the invasion of Britain and was buried in a cemetery located alongside the main road to London. The style of sculpture represented by the tombstone developed in the Rhineland area of Germany where the Twentieth Legion had been previously based.
The inscription on his tombstone reads:
Marcus Favonius Facilis, son of Marcus, of the Pollina tribe. Centurion of the 20th legion. Verecundus and Novicus, his freedmen, set up. Here he lies.
A red mosaic surrounds the figure and the word "Colonia" is behind the centurion's head. By his feet are what appear to be the walls of Colchester with a gate.
A nearby relief shows three coins each about 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter. The top coin is a copy of a pre-Roman British coin with an ear of corn (the source of the great wealth of the region that attracted the Romans) and the letters CAMU (short for Camulodunum, that is believed to be the British name for Colchester at that time). The middle coin is a copy of a Roman coin in the time of Caludius Ceaser and the lower coin is possibly an Anglo-Saxon period coin.
The carving is thought to be created using concrete.