ANCIENT CARVED STONE. 



may be a « monogram for IT =iterum, tlie tall I being crossed or 

 tbe T elongated ; and suggest, as the most probable solution con- 

 sistent -witli this view, that the sun and moon are used, as the 

 heads representing them are on a unique coin of Postumus, described 

 by Eckhel, vii. p. 441, with the following comment : — Solem et 

 Lunam ceternitatis esse symbola satis hactenus vidimus. In prcesente 

 numo aliam allegoriam constituunt, nimirum prceclaris suis factis in- 

 clarescere Posturmom, et esse late cons2ncuum ceque ac solem et lunam 

 astra lucentissima. Postumus held the office of Governor of Gaul, 

 to which he had been appointed by Valerian, when he took 

 the imperial title, and he entered on his second Consulship in that 

 Province. According to this view, the sun, moon and monogram 

 stand for Postumus Augustus, Consul for the second time, i. e., 

 A.D. 259. This solution has the additional recommendation of ac- 

 counting in some degree for the use of symbols, for in that year 

 Valerian and Gallienus were really the Emperors, and ^milianus 

 and Bassus the Consuls, whilst Postumus was but a usurper of only 

 one year's standing, not sufficiently firmly established to warrant the 

 safety of recognizing him in the dignities that he had assumed. The 

 1st cohort of Dacians in Britain adopted the title Postwmiana, as we 

 know from altars found at Burdoswald,=^JH^,6o5r/«/^;^a, in Cumber- 

 land (see Lapidarium Septentrionale, nn. 359, 360), but no year is 

 given for this adoption, and T suspect that the epithet was not 

 publicly used before at least A.D. 262, when Postumus celebrated 

 his ludi quinquennales and took the title Germanicus Maximus. 



According to this view, then, the objects carved on this stone may 

 be regarded as symbolical of some such inscx'iption as — POSTVMO' 

 AVG- COS- n- COH- ira- GALLORVM. But, as I have not 

 yet touched the question whether it is a cross or not, I must now 

 take up this subject. First of all, a distinction must be made be- 

 tween Pre-Christian and Christian crosses. Of the former there are 

 several examples on stones found in Britain (see Lapidarium, Sep- 

 tentrionale, nn. 237, 366, 546, 547, 553), but, so far as I know, no 

 instance, except '^one that is very doubtful, has been found there of 

 the Egyptian tau (t). 



^ Monograms, of even three or four letters, are common in inscriptions. 



''In an article on "the Pre-Christian Cross," in the Edinburgh Review for 

 January, 1870, it is stated that "a solitary instance of its use, as a sepulchral 

 symbol, has been discovered, if we are not mistaken, in our own country. See 

 Archffi. Journal, vol. i., p. 412, fig. 4." 



