Latinus Stone
Squared
pillar stone erected around 450 AD, which is the oldest surviving Christian memorial in Scotland.
It
was erected to Latinus and his little daughter, and may have stood in the nearby early Christian cemetery.
The memorial is built in a Roman style and Latinus has a Roman name, although his ancestor has a local
Celtic name.
The inscription translates as
We praise
you, the Lord! Latinus, descendant of Barravados, aged 35, and his daughter, aged 4, made a sign here.
There are traces of the Christian chi-rho symbol above the lettering.
This is carved in the early, six-armed Constantinian form, indicating the stone’s early date and its
close connections to the Roman world.
This stone was later re-used in
the walls of the medieval cathedral, and was rediscovered in 1890.
Period: 400 - 700 AD
Material: fg grey turbidite siltstone (greywacke)
Dimensions: 1570 x 520 x 220mm
Accession number: WHP.EC.01 (W1)