as at Gellygaer—by having its walls of greater strength. Sometimes the room ends in an apse as at Kapersburg[1] and Feldberg.[2] Occasionally it merely projects a little beyond the back line, as at Gellygaer or the Saalburg.
The Sacellum
Not infrequently we find beneath the floor, as at Newstead, a sunk compartment or vault, in which was deposited the military treasure. One of the earliest discoveries which gave a clue to the purpose of this vault was made at Bremenium or High Rochester, where an underground receptacle or vault, with a flight of steps leading into it, was found in the rear of the Principia. The entrance at the foot of the stairs was closed by a stone slab which moved in a groove upon iron wheels.[3] In the vault was lying an altar dedicated to the genius of the Emperor and of the standards of the First Cohort of the Varduli and of a numerus of pioneers at Bremenium.[4] This altar must originally have stood in the shrine above, and with it the standards and the imperial images.[5] Many inscriptions upon altars to Jupiter, to Mars, to Victory, and other gods of the army, which must have had a place in these shrines of the standards, might be cited. One from Niederbiber is of special interest: a standard-bearer and an image-bearer dedicate a standard, with its shrine, and a votive tablet of marble, in honour of the deified imperial house and the genius of the standard-bearers and image-bearers.[6] Of the imperial images which must have stood within the shrine we have a trace at the Saalburg in the fragments of a bronze statuette of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. Remains of a similar figure were found in the ruins of the corresponding chamber at Theilenhofen.[7] At Lambaesis sacred images of gold are mentioned in one of the inscriptions.[8]
In all probability the treasure deposited beside the standards included not merely the military pay chest, but also certain monies that were actually the property of the soldiers. According to Vegetius, the latter comprised
1 Der Obergermanische-Raetische Limes, Lief. 27, Kastell Kapersburg.
2 Ibid. Lief. 25, Kastell Feldberg.
3 Bruce, The Roman Wall, p. 318.
4 GENIO D(OM1NI) N(OSTRI) ET SIGNORUM COH(ORT1S) I VARDULL(ORUM) ET N(UMERI) EXPLORATOR(UM) BREM(ENIENSIUM) GOR(DIANORUM) EGNATIUS LVCILIANVS LEG(ATVS) AVG(VST1) CVRANTE CASSIO SABINO TRIB(VNO). C.I.L. vii. 1030.
5 Aquilas et signa Romana Caesarumque imagines adoravit. Suetonius, Caligula, 14. For many other references to Latin texts, see Von Domaszewski, Die Religion des römischen Heeres, p. 9.
6 Von Domaszewski, Op. cit. p. 13.
7 Der Obergermanisch-Raetische Limes, Lief. 24, Kastell Theilenhofen, p. 7.
8 Cagnat, Les deux Camps, p. 37.
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