CIMRM 836 - Inscription. Lanchester, Britain

There is a reference to a "neat small altar, bought at the sale of Mr. J. R. Wilson's effects, and said to have been found at the Station near Lanchester" in the catalogue of the Society of Antiquaries in Newcastle, p.98.

There is discussion of the two altars from Lanchester in Vermaseren, Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire Romain, Brill, 1965, p.41, which is not accessible to me but begins: "Two altars from Lanchester (LONGOVICIUM) have also been identified as Mithraic, although in neither case is the attribution certain. The inscription on one [6], first recorded by Horsley [7], has been accepted as a dedication Deo Invicto on the basis of Hübner's reading, while that on the other [8], interpreted as referring to Cautopates [9], may well have no connection with the ..." (Same paper appears in "The Oriental cults in Roman Britain" Volume 6, ed. Eve Harris &c, Brill, 1965, p.41.

This monument is RIB 1082¹, = RIB 650 + E.E. IX p.571 = ILS 4257.

From: The Antiquaries Journal vol. 54, p.59: "6. From Lanchester; now in the Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne. RIB 1082; LS 675; Cat. Ant. 74, no. 68; Daniels, AA⁴ xl, 107(c) re provenance. H. 12 in., W. 7 in., T. 5 1/2 in. Coarse sandstone. Dedication: to Mithras, to Cautopates, to the invincible sun god. ..."

CIMRM entry

LONGOVICIVM 836. Arula alta ped. I, lata dig. 7. Lanchester. CIL VII 1344c; MMM II No. 473. Deo M(ithrae) / C(auto)p(ati) S(oli) i(nvicto). CIL VII 650; MMM II 484 is an erroneous duplication of the above (Wright). "I am not yet fully convinced that it is a Mithraic inscription".

I.e. a small altar, 1 foot high, 7 inches wide. Lanchester.