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DESCEIPTIONS OF CRANIA.
coffin, containing the romaiûs of a cliild, " Simplicia Florontina," was also fonnd in the immediate
neighbourhood.
The cofRn we have to describe is 6 feet 10 inches long, and 2 feet 3 inches deep externally.
The skeleton of a horse was lying close to it. The coffin contained an entire adult skeleton.
In consequence of its having been broken in removal when found, the inscription is imperfect
as regards two or three words. The letters, however, are so beautifully cut, that it is impossible,
we are informed, to mistake those which remain. The following is the inscription as it now
appears :—
MEI....AL-THEODOEI
ANI.. OMENT VIXIT ANN
XXX.V-M-VI-EMI-THEO
DO.A-MATER-EC
That this inscription is the memorial of Theodorianus, by his mother Theodora, is sufficiently
clear, and the principal difficulty is confined to two words ; the first of the inscription, and the
EMI in the third Une. It seems most probable that both of these are prainomina, the first that
of Theodorianus, the other of Theodora ; though what these names have been, it is perhaps not
possible to say. OMEN(T), Mr. Wenbeloved has shown, was most probably NOMEN(T), and
this the abridged form of Nomentani*. Nomentum, a small city of ancient Latiumt, celebrated
under the Emperors for its wine and as a rural resort from the metropolis, was probably
the native place of Theodorianus. The operoulim of the sarcophagus does not appear to have
been preserved. It probably bore on its edge the letters D.M., the dedication to the Divine
Manes of the dead, usual with the Romans, before their conversion to Christianity. The inscription
is probably to be thus read:—DiisManibus. Mei...al.TheodorianiNomentanivixit annis
xxxiv, mensibus vi. Emi. Theodora mater efficiendum curavit.
As to the date of this sarcophagus, we may perhaps conclude that it belongs to the third
century of our era, rather than to an earlier or much later period of the Roman sway in Britain.
At this time, the practice of cremation seems very much to have given way to the burial of the
entire body ; whilst the arts had not so much declined, but that an inscription as weU executed
as this may be referred to this period. Eburacum was long the head-quarters of the Sixth
Legion, and, though not stated in the inscription, Theodorianus was very probably an officer of
the " Legio Sexta, Victrix. Pia. Eidelis," which came into this country with Hadrian, A.D. 117>
and which, we learn from an inscription, found at Gastlecary in 1841, consisted of soldiers from
Italy, Sicily, and Noricum|. The only other inscribed Roman coffins hitherto found at York,
are those of the Sevir, "Marcus Verecundus Diogenes, a citizen of the Bituriges Cubi§," of a
centurion of the Sixth Legion, "AureUus Superus," and of " Simplicia Elorentina," the daughter
of " Eelicius Simplex," an officer of the same legion. Altogether the external evidence is in
favour of the remains found in this coffin being those of a Roman citizen and soldier, a native of
* "Ebxiracum or York under the Romans," by the Rev.
Charles 'WellbeloTed, 1842, p. 109. We have procured an accurate
rubbing of the inscription, which shows distinctly the
ligulate letter T in the word OMENT. This seems to have
been overlooked by Mr. "Wellbeloved, whose explanation however
it confirms.
f Nomentum is sometimes reckoned as belonging to the Sabine
territory, but the evidence in favour of its Latian origin
appears to preponderate. See Smith's " Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Geography."
X Stuart, "Caledonia Romana," 1852, p. 349.
§ See "Eburacum," p. 101 ; and a paper, in the "Proceedings
of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society," by the Rev.
John Kenrick, M.A., vol. i. p. 52, for a learned dissertation
on this important inscription.
(2)
ANCIENT ROMAN—YORK {BBUHACUM).
Italy, and of the ancient Latin territory in the immediate neighboui-hood of Rome itself The
Greek names of Theodorianus and Theodora may possibly be accepted as implying in part a
Grecian descent. The name Theodorianus appears to be a cognomen or agnomen, derived from
that of his mother; who may have been descended from an Hellenic family of the south of Italy,
or Magna Grsecia. On the paternal side, it is to be concluded that he was of purely Latin or
Roman descent. The cranium at least, as we shall see, presents none of the characteristics
usually attributed to the Greek type.
The skull of Theodorianus is indeed a very fine example of the ancient Roman cranium:
it is unusuaUy capacious, and its dimensions are much above the average in almost every
direction. The forehead, though of somewhat low elevation, is remarkable for breadth, which is
indeed the characteristic of the whole calvarium, and of the skull generally. The upper surface
presents an oval outline, Mly as long or longer than the average, but having an unusual transverse
development. Crania of this form have been described, by our coUeague, Mr. J. B. Davis
under the term platy-cephaUc, or those distinguished by a horizontal expansion of the vertical
region, rather than by length, or shortness, or elevation of the calvarium; in other terms, by the
flatness and breadth of the roof of the skuU. The parietal region is M l and rounded, but is not
marked by any special prominence of the tuberosities, though the greatest breadth of the skull
IS m then- situation, and in the posterior thii-d of the parietal region. The temporal fossie are
large, and the ridge for the attachment of the muscles strongly marked; and thus when viewed
from above or below, notwithstanding its gi-eat general breadth, the skull appears relatively
narrower m the coronal region, than is usual in well-developed modem Eui-opean crania. The
squamous plates of the temporals are of medium size; the mastoids unusuaUy large, broad and
promment, particularly when viewed from the base of the skuU. The occipital bone is fuU and
promment, especiaUy in its upper haE, which overiaps the united parietals. The transverse
ridge IS very strongly marked. There is a smaJl par-occipital process on each side. The skuU is
very thick; an accidental fracture and loss of substance on the left side of the frontal, probably
occasioned m opening the coffin, enables us to measure the thickness, which is four-tenths of an
inch m the centre of the parietals, and nearly five-tenths, or half an inch, in the thickest parts
of the frontal: the internal surface of this latter bone is evidently the seat of a somewhat
exuberant ossification. This, and the premature obUteration of the sutures, especiaUy obvious
m the sagittal and lower part of the coronal, may perhaps be regarded as the result of injuries to
the head, possibly received in battle. The frontal sinuses and the glabeUa are ftiU and large
The nasal bones are imusuaUy large and broad, and with a finely aquiUne profile They are
supported by the broad nasal processes of the superior maxUlary. The lachrymal bones and
canals are also large. The face generaUy is square and broad. The large upper maxiUaries
are somewhat unduly prominent in the situation of the alveolar process, especially the premaxiUai
y portion, and this, with the excessive projection of the sockets of the canines gives an
angular and somewhat prognathic character to the face (hardly seen and not to be fully
shown m the engraving), which detracts, in some degi-ee, from the fine character of the rest
of the SkuU. The upper front teeth decidedly overlap the lower. The bony palate is wide and
deep. The lai-ge and wide lower jaw has the ascending processes (rami) somewhat vertical
and rectangular, though this character is less marked than is common in ancient British crania
of early adult age. There are fourteen teeth in each jaw, very regular and of fuU size: the
8.
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