Tab.Vindol. III, 628 is a letter of an auxiliary decurion of cohors VIIII Batavorum that begins with the greeting ‘Masclus Ceriali regi suo’. A.R. Birley tentatively suggested that the title held a literal force, while Bowman and Thomas interpreted the word as meaning ‘patron’ on the basis of OLD s.v. 8 and a parallel with P. Mich. 8.472 = CEL 147, a letter, also from a military context, from ‘Claudius Tiberianus Longino Prisco domin[o] et regi suo’. This article examines the Batavian and military contexts of these interpretations alongside other epigraphic examples of rex as ‘patron’.

This paper contains the first attempt to illustrate Montans decorated bowls unconfused with the products of other factories. The Rossignol manuscript reveals that many Montans moulds and bowls have degenerate styles which are similar to bowls found in second-century contexts in Britain. In conclusion, the Hofmann system for the identification of master stylists is recommended for the study of South Gaulish decorated bowls.

Crocus was an authentic historical fgure. His infuence at the court of Constantius I may be explained in a number of ways, the most plausible being that he provided signifcant military assistance as leader of an unusually large force of warriors from the interior of Germania, not local Alamanni.

The publication of the RurLand (Rural Landscape in North-East Gaul) project has provided an opportunity to compare methodologies and results with those of The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain project. Two themes, which draw out the asymmetrical development of settlement in the two regions, are examined: the very different impacts of the Roman conquests of Gaul and of Britain on settlement numbers and settlement continuity, and the development of the agricultural economy and its relationship with the frontiers of Britain and Germany, as reflected in the growth and decline of villa estates in Britain and Gaul.

Before the transmission of the first ‘live’ Time Team television programme on 23 August 1997, the existence of a Roman villa near Chalkhill Barn in the parish of Turkdean, 12 miles north-east of Cirencester and 2 miles from the Fosse Way, was hardly known to the archaeological community (FIG. 1). That a Roman building did exist in this location had, however, been suspected for a number of years by the landowner, the late Mr Wilf Mustoe. Distinctive linear parchmarks suggestive of buildings had been clearly visible at ground level in the grass pasture each dry summer, and in 1976 Mr Mustoe made a measured sketch plan of them on the back of an envelope. Subsequently the sketch was drawn up into a scale plan entitled ‘Roman villa’ by Simon Goddard, a relation. There was little knowledge of the site outside of Mr Mustoe's family until it was independently ‘discovered’ by local archaeologist Roger Box in August 1996 whilst fortuitously flying over the site in a helicopter. In the evening light Mr Box instantly recognised the parchmarks of an unmistakable Roman villa and took a series of photographs (FIG. 2). Mr Box showed his photographs to Mr Mustoe, and with his agreement wrote to Time Team suggesting that this would be an excellent site for a television programme. Arrangements were duly set in place and the evidence of the cropmarks was confirmed by a trial geophysical survey in March 1997.

The very attractive bronze figure of a horse, found in 1971 under the floor of a house in the Vindolanda vicus, has understandably become an emblem of the site on publications of the Vindolanda Trust.