Marcus Caelius
52–53+1⁄2)
Kalkriese, Germania
Publius Caelius (brother)
Thiaminus Caelius (freedman)
Privatus Caelius (freedman)
Marcus Caelius (c. March 45 BC – c. September AD 9) was the senior centurion (Primus pilus) in XVIII Roman Legion who was killed in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.[1] He is known from his cenotaph, which was discovered in 1620 in Birten (now a part of Xanten), Germany.[2] Caelius is depicted wearing his military uniform, with phalerae (a type of military decoration), armillae (a type of bracelet), and a corona civica (an award for saving a fellow citizen's life), while in his right hand, he holds a vitis (carried by all centurions). On either side of his image are his freedmen (non-combatant servants), Privatus and Thiaminus; both of whom perished in the battle.
The tombstone's lower left corner is damaged, but enough survives to determine that the text below the image once read:
M[ARCO] CAELIO T[ITI] F[ILIO] LEM[ONIA TRIBV] BON[ONIA]
P[RIMVS] O[RDO] LEG[IONIS] XIIX ANN[ORVM] LIII S[EMISSIS]
[CE]CIDIT BELLO VARIANO OSSA
[HVC] INFERRE LICEBIT P[UBLIVS] CAELIVS T[ITI] F[ILIVS]
LEM[ONIA TRIBV] FRATER FECIT
English translation:
To Marcus Caelius, son of Titus, of the Lemonian district, from Bologna,
first centurion of the eighteenth legion. 53+1⁄2 years old.
He fell in the Varian War.
His freedman's bones may be interred here. Publius Caelius, son of Titus,
of the Lemonian district, his brother, erected (this monument)."[2]
The tombstone can today be found in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn.[3]