Arbeia

Arbeia
County Durham
Reconstructed gateway
Type:	Roman fort
Location
Grid reference:	NZ365679
Location:	55°0’14"N, 1°25’48"W
History
Information

Arbeia was a large Roman fort in what is now South Shields in the north-east of County Durham. The ages have left the Romans' work in ruin, but it has been partially reconstructed.

The fort was first excavated in the 1870s and all modern buildings on the site were cleared in the 1970s. It is managed by the local museums body as Arbeia Roman Fort and Museum.

Original fort

The fort stands on the Lawe Top, overlooking the River Tyne. Founded around 120, it later became the maritime supply fort for Hadrian's Wall, and contains the only permanent stone-built granaries yet found in Britain. It was occupied until the Romans left Britain in the 5th century.

A possible meaning for "Arbeia" is "fort of the Arab troops", suggesting that part of its garrison at one time was a squadron of Mesopotamian boatmen from the Tigris. From archaeological evidence, such as the gravestone of Victor, described below, it is known that a squadron of Spanish cavalry, the First Asturian, was stationed there. It was common for forts to be manned by units originally from elsewhere in the empire.

Museum

Two monuments in the museum at Arbeia testify to the cosmopolitan nature of its shifting population. One commemorates Regina, a British woman of the Catuvellauni tribe (approximately modern Hertfordshire). She was first the slave, then the freedwoman and wife of Barates, a merchant from Palmyra (now part of Syria) who, evidently missing her greatly, set up a gravestone after she died at the age of 30. (Barates himself is buried at the nearby fort of Coria: Corbridge.) The second commemorates Victor, another former slave, freed by Numerianus of the Ala I Asturum, who also arranged his funeral ("piantissime": with all devotion) when Victor died at the age of 20. The stone records that Victor was "of the Moorish nation".

The museum also holds an altarpiece to a previously unknown god and a tablet with the name of the Emperor Alexander Severus (died 235) chiselled off.

Wall painting at Arbeia

Reconstruction

A Roman gatehouse, barracks and Commanding Officer's house have been reconstructed on their original foundations. The gatehouse holds many displays related to the history of the fort, and its upper levels provide an overview of the archaeological site.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Arbeia)

• Arbeia Roman Fort & Museum
• Tyne and Wear Museums