Altar to Jupiter Found in Cumbria

The BBC reports that an altar to the Roman god Jupiter has been discovered - in excellent condition, no less - at a dig near Maryport. Dated to the 2nd or 3rd Century AD, it was inscribed to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, on behalf of Titus Attius Tutor, commander of the First Cohort of Baetasian. The site is that of a Roman fort built around the first century c.e., and then rebuilt around the time of the Emperor Hadrian.

The altar will be placed in the Senhouse Museum, home of seventeen other altars discovered in the 1800s. The museum displays the largest group of Roman military altar stones and inscriptions from any site in Britain and unique examples of Romano-British religious sculpture.

Jupiter was the king of the Roman pantheon, much like the Greek Zeus. He was the brother of Neptune and Pluto, and the three of them presided over the realms of earth, sea and sky.

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