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Gentleman's Magazine 1860 part 1 p.347
[Banks]burn, near Lanercost, was discovered, which also
mentions the Ala Petriana. The inscription may be read:-
I[VNIVS] BRVTVS
DEC[VRIO] AL[AE] PET[RIANAE].
'Junius Brutus, a decurion (commander of ten men) of the
Petriana cavalry.'
Lastly, we have in the Notitia list, after the
mention of the Tribune of the first AElian Cohort of Dacians
at Amboglanna, the following entry:-
Praefectus Alae Petrianae Petrianis.
From this circumstance it has been inferred that Walton
House, the station next west from Amboglanna, is the
Petriana of the Notitia.
Unfortunately we have met with no stony record of Ala
Petriana at Walton House, though we have three of the Second
Cohort of the Tungri, and one of the Fourth Cohort of the
Gauls.
By comparing the stones found at the various stations with
the Notitia list, the names of the stations on the
Wall between Wallsend and Birdoswald have been ascertained
with certainty; westward of this, all is involved in
comparative doubt. Had this stone been found at Walton
House, it would have gone far to confirm the reasonings of
antiquaries that this was Petriana. In all probablity this
ala had not then taken up its position upon the Wall.
The Wall at the time this slab was cut was probably only in
the process of erection. The letters are clearly cut and
well formed; no ligatures are introduced; even the letters
composing the diphthongs are not tied together. The style of
the lettering indicates an early date, probably not later
than the Riveling rescript in the time of Hadrian.
If, as it seems probable from the size and character of the
slab, it was attached to a building erected by the Prefect
of the Ala, we may infer that this body of troops were at
this time resident in Roman Carlisle. Had the inscription
occurred on an altar, it might have been made when they were
only resting there for a brief space.
list, In no other inscription found in Britain except this
are we informed that the Ala Petriana was entitled to the
epithet of Augustus; that it consisted of a thousand men;
that it was composed solely of Roman citizens; and for the
first time the epithet Torquata occurs, as applied either to
this body of troops or any other in Britain. As the troop
was in Britain when Hadrian was, it may have received the
epithet of Augusta for some deed of valour done in his
presence. It seems too, to have consisted of 1,000 strong.
It must have been much reduced in size before it took up its
qtrs in the Walton House station, which has an area of only
2 3/4 acres. It was at this time only recruited from the
ranks of persons who, like the Apostle Paul, could boast of
being Roman citizens. In the lower periods of the Empire
this rule was probably departed from; though, indeed, the
privilege was then so widely diffused as to become of little
value. The epithet torquatus has not before been
found in Britain as applied to any body of troops. It was a
distinction of great rarity. In Ortelius's collection of
Roman inscriptions the term only once occurs, and then,
strangely enouigh, it occurs as applied to this same body of
troops. It is an inscription which was found in Italy, and
was erected to commemorate the merits of Caius Camurius
Clemens, who, along with several other important commands,
is said to have been "Prefect for the Administration of
Justice of the Emperor Caesar Trajanus Augustus, and Prefect
of the Ala Petriana, a military troop, consisting of Roman
citizens, and twice
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