Explore highlights   Height: 1.520 m  P&EE 1969 7-1 3  Room 49:
Roman Britain       Roman Britain, 2nd or 3rd century AD
from the Roman fort at Maryport, Cumbria      An Algerian town
councillor serving as a Roman army officer in northern Britain
This large and highly-decorated altar, made of Cumbrian red
sandstone, was one of the earliest antiquarian finds from
Britain: it was discovered shortly before 1587 in the north-west
corner of the fort at Maryport, where it had probably been re-
used in a late-Roman building.      It was dedicated by Gaius
Cornelius Peregrinus, tribunus (military commander) of the
auxiliary garrison at Maryport. He came from Saldae (now Bejaia,
Algeria) in North Africa, where he was a decurion (town
councillor). Ritual objects have been carved on the sides and
back of the altar: they include an axe and a knife used in the
slaughter of sacrificial animals, and a flagon and dish used for
pouring liquid offerings.      The main inscription translates
'To the Genius of the place,