CIMRM 809 - Inscription on broken altar. Isca (Carleon), Britain

"An altar was found in one of the sets of baths just outside the legionary fortress at Caerleon dedicated by a soldier of the Second legion."¹

The National Roman Legion Museum at Caerleon plaque states: "To the invicible Mithras, the well deserving, [...]s Justus, [...] of the Second Augustan Legion, set this up." The Mithraeum would have stood outside the fortress, but its site has yet to be located.

TMMM entry

472. Isca (Caerleon). CIL, VII, 99. Ara rotunda fracta, alta ped. 3 dig. 8 1/2, litteris bonis saeculi puto secundi exeuntis. [Deo sa]ncto | [Mi]thrae | . . . s Iustus | [c(enturio) leg]ionis II aug(ustae) | [l(ibens)] m(erito) f(ecit). Il faut sans doute lire l.1 au lieu de NCTO les lettres VICTO, et compléter Deo invicto Mithrae.

CIMRM entry

809 Ara rotunda fracta, alta ped. 3 dig. 8 1/2 litteris bonis puto secundi exeuntis. CIL VII 99; MMM II No. 472. [Deo in]victo / [Mi]thrae / ... s Iustus / c[(enturio) leg]ionis II aug(ustae) / [l(ibens)] m(erito) f(ecit). invicto: interpretation by R. P. Wright who is preparing a new work "The Roman Inscriptions of Britain", and was willing to supply us with the most accurate information regarding the Mithras-inscriptions.

I.e.: "To the unconquered god Mithras ...s Justus, centurion of the II Legion Augusta, dedicates this freely as is right."

John Edward Lee, Isca silurum, or, An illustrated catalogue of the Museum of Antiquities at Caerleon, Longman, 1862, p.11-12:

PLATE IV. fig. 2. - This inscription was figured in the Journal of the Institute, vol. viii. p. 158. The stone which bears it has the appearance of part of a column: it measures in height 3 ft. 8 1/2 in.; diameter of shaft 18 2/3 in.; diameter of the widest part of the capital, which is somewhat concave above, 28 inches. The top or capital, is partially hollowed out; so that the stone has probably been an altar, though, as Dr. Smith has observed in his Dictionary of Antiquities, round altars were not so common as square ones. The letters are, unfortunately, rather indistinct, the stone having suffered much from the weather; but the following letters in certain lights are very discernible :- ** NCTO ** THRAE ** S FUSTU **** MF. The first words seem to have been Sancto Mithrae, but they may, as Mr. Way appears to think, have been in the usual formula, Invicto Mithrae; and there can be no doubt of its having been erected to Mithras, thus affording a fresh illustration of the prevalence of the worship of this deity, even in these remote parts of the Roman world -. Found in the castle villa. J. J. Jun.

(J.J. is John Jenkins).

From: Lapidarium Walliae (1876-9), p.213 and plate 91, no. 3.:

PLATE XCI. FIG. 3. (Lee, Isca Sil., Pl. IV. Fig. 2; Hübner, Inscr. Brit., p. 38.) This stone, which was found in the Castle Villa at Caerleon,. has the appearance of a portion of a column, and was probably used as an altar. It measures 3 feet 8.5 inches high, the diameter of the shaft being 18 inches and of the top 23 inches. The letters are unfortunately rather indistinct and weathered, but the following may be discerned:- **NCTO **THRAE **S FUSTU*** C. II. AVG. M F. The first words seem to have been Sancto Mithrae, but they may, as Mr. Way suggested, have been in the usual formula, Invicto Mithrae, or Deo Sancto Mithrae .. S IVSTVS C. II. AVG., as also read by Hübner; and there can be no doubt of its having been erected to Mithras, thus affording a fresh illustration of the prevalence of the worship of this deity even in these remote parts of the Roman world. (See hereon Hodgson in Arch. Aeliana, ii. 263; Hodgson's Northumberland, iii. 190; Bruce, Roman Wall, p. 407; and Journ. Arch. Institute, viii. p. 159.)