Roman Inscriptions of Britain
Welcome to the home of RIB online
This website hosts Volume One of The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, R.G. Collingwood's and R.P. Wright's magisterial edition of 2,401 monumental inscriptions from Britain found prior to 1955. It also incorporates all Addenda and Corrigenda published in the 1995 reprint of RIB (edited by R.S.O. Tomlin) and the annual survey of inscriptions published in Britannia since.
Preface (2014)
Editorial Policy
This online edition of RIB aims to faithfully reproduce the printed edition and the relevant addenda and corrigenda published in Journal of Roman Studies and Britannia. We have endeavoured to make as few editorial interventions as possible, apart from the correction of typographical errors and the modifications necessary to incorporate the addenda and corrigenda. In particular:
- Addenda have been interleaved or appended, as appropriate (e.g., 1045, 1051). Addenda from the 1995 reprint are indicated by the notation ‘[RIB + add.]’. Addenda from Britannia since 1995 are similarly notated with their respective volume numbers and page references.
- Corrigenda have been silently applied.
- Last known locations of inscriptions have been updated where more recent information has been obtained.
- Measurements have been converted from English imperial to metric, except where quoted. However, conversion of Roman measures to English feet (e.g., from passus or pedes) are unchanged.
- Certain personal names have been regularized: Lywhd, Lluyd (sp?).
- Instances of consonantal u have been changed to v.
- Instances of ‘(centuria/o)’ and ‘(milliaria)’ have been converted to respective symbols (𐆛 and ↀ) (e.g., 143, 977).
- Newer readings characterized as ‘read’ or ‘better’ in the Addenda published with the 1995 reprint of RIB have been incorporated into transcripts.
- References to "Mr. (now Professor) …" changed to "Professor …" (etc.)
- Per Addendum (see note to RIB 152), all translations of numen as ‘deity’ have been changed to ‘divinity’, e.g., instances of ‘deities of the emperor’ are now ‘divinities of the emperor’.
- Certain museum or other holding institution names have been updated (e.g., Carlisle Museum is now Tullie House Museum).
- There have been numerous reorganizations of modern political boundaries in Britain in the nearly fifty years since RIB was first published. Accordingly, all geographical references have been updated to reflect these changes. E.g., the former county of Westmorland has been subsumed into Cumbria (formerly Cumberland), the Ridings of Yorkshire have been re-organized into their respective modern counties, Jarrow has been moved from County Durham to Tyne & Wear, etc.
- Other geographical changes are as follows:
- Wales now has its own section.
- The Hadrian's Wall sector from Great Chesters to Birdoswald, which spans the counties of Cumbria and Northumberland has been partitioned to facilitate the grouping of inscriptions by county.
- Chesterholm has been re-named as Vindolanda.
- Sites along the Antonine Wall have been re-organized and new sites (viz., Castlehill, Hutcheson Hill, Kirkintilloch, and Old Kilpatrick) have been created. RIB 2186 has been moved to Cadder.
- Carlisle, Corbridge, Vindolanda, and South Shields are now grouped under Hadrians Wall, consistent with the scheme adopted by RIB III.
- RIB 359, 363, 371-375, and 377 have been moved from Caerleon to the new site of Great Bulmore.
- The site of Dolaucothi has been re-named to Pumsaint (as in RIB iii).