an altar. Suppose also that this same cohort has been likewise 

 stationed at Bovvness, its presence there being testified to simply 

 by a statement in a book or ofificial list. Suppose further, that 

 after a lapse of say fifteen hundred years, the site of each place has 

 become totally unknown. An antiquarian, however, reading the 

 book or list, is desirous of finding out where Bowness was situated, 

 but all his attempts fail — etymology, sound, probability, all are of 

 no use in solving the difficulty. But a time comes when, probably 

 accidentally, the altar is found at Maryport. At once there is 

 agreement with the book ; the two things are put together, and 

 the inference is drawn that the site of Bowness has at last been 

 discovered. But it is manifest that the inference is clearly 

 erroneous. 



May it not, then, be the case that the Roman altars discovered 

 at Maryport point erroneously to the name Axelodunum ? Surely 

 something more tangible than this is necessary in order that the 

 chain of evidence may be complete. But, in saying this much, we 

 must allow that all writers do not credit the mere finding of altars, 

 even though backed up by the authority of the Notitia, as sufficient 

 to settle definitely the name of a station. An examination of the 

 list of authorities mentioned above will show that the great majority 

 of them wrote before "the great find" of altars at Maryport in 

 1870. In this case it will be well to examine what new factors 

 were introduced by this "find," in order to determine whether such 

 should necessitate a reversal of the opinions expressed by them, 

 inasmuch as those who give their authority in favour of Axelodunum, 

 have chiefly written since 1870. 



In the first place, let it be granted that the number of altars 

 dedicated is not the chief factor, but rather the number of officers 

 or cohorts dedicating. One altar is of equal value with twenty, 

 if all bear the same name. We then come to this : — Previous to 

 1870 there were found four Spanish altars, bearing the names of 

 four different commanders. The aggregate value of these altars 

 would therefore be four. In 1870 there were found amongst other 

 altars, &c., eleven Spanish altars dedicated by five officers, three 

 of whom were the same as on the altars found previous to 1870. 



