ISVRIVM BRIGANTVM

Romano-British Tribal City

Aldborough, North Yorkshire

NGRef: SE406664 OSMap: LR99 Type: Tribal Civitas (Brigantes).
Roads
NNW (24) to CATARACTONIVM (Catterick, North Yorkshire) Possible road: E (25) to DERVENTIO (Malton, North Yorkshire) via Wath SW (23) to VERBEIA (Ilkley, West Yorkshire) SE (15) to EBVRACVM (York, North Yorkshire) S (14) to Newton Kyme (North Yorkshire)

Below the Selgovae and Otalini¹ are the Brigantes² extending to both seas,
among whom are the following towns:
... Calatum 19*00 57°45 Isurium 20*00 57°40 Rigodunum 18*00 57°30 ...

1. Both tribes in south-eastern Scotland; the Novantae occupied the south-western peninsula.
2. The Brigantes tribe were the most populous in Northern Britain; their Romanized commercial and administrative centre was established here at Aldborough.
3. There are nine πολεις ("poleis" - 'cities') attributed to the tribe by Ptolemy and Aldborough appears in the middle of the list; the three towns listed here are, in order, Calacum/Burrow in Lonsdale in Lancashire, Isurium/Aldborough in North Yorkshire, and Rigodunum/Castleshaw in Greater Manchester.

The town appears in three separate itinera in the late-second century list of Roman road-stations the Antonine Itinerary. The first mention occurs in Iter I, which details the journey along Dere Street between Bremenium (High Rochester, Northumberland) beyond Hadrian's Wall to the port of Praesidium (Bridlington, Humberside). In this itinerary the name Isurium is listed 24 miles from Cataractonium (Catterick, North Yorkshire) and 17 miles from the Roman colony at Eburacum (York, North Yorkshire); these details are repeated in the Second Itinerary, which lists the road-stations between the Roman fort at Blatobulgium (Birrens, Dumfries & Galloway) and the Channel Port at Rutupiae (Richborough, Kent).

The Fifth Itinerary lists the route between Londinium (London) and Luguvalium (Carlisle, Cumbria). In this itinerary the name Isubrigantum appears 17 miles from Eburacum and again, 24 miles from Cataractonium but the road stations appear in reverse order to those in itinera I & II.

There are four inscriptions on stone recorded in the R.I.B. for Aldborough; a single altarstone (RIB 708 supra), a damaged dedicatory text (RIB 710a infra), also two tombstones, one of which is undamaged (RIB 710 infra), but the other is fragmentary and reads: ... AVR... VIX ... ET AN... NO ... AN I ... "..." (RIB 709; tombstone).

1. This translation is tentatively based on the expansion: G[aius] M[aritus] P[ius] F[idelis] CVR[avit].

1. There were several Roman emperors with this name; none, to my knowledge, were also surnamed Magnus.

Roman Milestones from the Aldborough Area

1. The primary inscription on this stone has been almost entirely obliterated to make space for the later text, all that remains of the original is the trailing title ... AVG "[...] Augustus.".
2. These are the full names of the emperor Decius, who became Augustus (i.e. emperor) in Septemper or October AD249 after defeating Philip the Arab in battle at Beroea in Macedonia. He was himself killed in battle against the Goths at Abrittus in Moesia, June 251.
3. I am unable to deduce an expansion or translation of the trailing letters of this inscription, XX G S. It is possible that it records the overland distance to another Romano-British town, but this is by no means certain.

1. Both of these honorific pillars record the name of emperor Decius (see note#2 for RIB 2276 above).