r 



IS 



'ollowed, but it is a plan that would necessitate a state of peace in 

 this particular neighbourhood, for naturally a cohort would not be 

 withdrawn from a threatened position, and especially one of such 

 manifest importance. That this was not the case we shall shortly 

 attempt to prove. 



It has also been suggested that the altars were buried in a fit of 

 religious zeal, and that the garrison, having embraced Christianity, 

 buried what before had been dear to them. Unfortunately for this 

 supposition, we are entirely without proof that the garrison ever 

 did embrace the Christian religion. 



The most likely supposition that appears to me is that a part of 

 the garrison might be withdrawn under conditions already stated, 

 and that " the enemy " taking courage because of the weakened 

 state of the garrison, made a determined attack on the camp, and 

 was successful in driving the defenders out of their position. Seeing 

 defeat inevitable, we may suppose that they would take precautions 

 to hide their altars, or, at any rate, so many of them as they had 

 time to conceal, in the hopes that, on their return with their com- 

 rades in arms, they would once again restore the altars to their 

 original positions. 



Of course, there may have been no withdrawal oi part of the 

 forces, as the whole cohort may have been driven out by the enemy, 

 but this is not very probable, considering the natural strength of 

 the position and the strength of the garrison, for the ist Cohort 

 was a double one consisting probably of nine hundred and sixty 

 men. 



Two points observed during excavations made in 1870 apparently 

 favour the supposition that there had been a disaster before the altars 

 were buried. In the first place, the altars had been placed in the pits 

 with care, i.e. — some design seems to have been followed in their 

 burial, for in no case was an inscription placed uppermost. And again, 

 they seem to have been gathered together from the surrounding 

 temples and buried in the smallest possible compass. Had they 

 merely wished to get rid of them, as though they had finished with 

 them or that they were leaving the station for good, much the 

 easier plan would have been to place them in the ground where 



