Isca
ISCA the name of two towns in Britain. The criticism of certain difficulties connected with their identification is given under MURIDUNUM. Here it is assumed that one is Exeter, the other Caerleon-on-Usk.
1.ISCA== Ex -eter, mentioned by Ptolemy (Ptol. 2.3.30). In the 12th and 15th Itineraries this appears as Isca Dumnoniorum, 15 miles from Muridunum. The word Dumnoniorum shows that Devonshire is the county in which it is to be sought. Name for name, Ex eter suggests itself. Nevertheless, Horsley gives Uxela as the Roman name for Exeter, and placed Isca D. at Chiselboro. After remarking on Isaca, that it is universally supposed to be the river Exe in Devonshire,a nd that Isacae ostia must, therefore, be Exmouth, h e adds, Isca Dumnoniorum has been universally taken for Exeter; I have placed it near Chiselboro and South Petherton, near the borders of Somersetshire( p. 371). His objections (p. 462) lie in the difficulty of fixing Muridunum (q. v.); but, beyond this, he considers himself free to claim Uxela (q. v.) as Exeter. For considering Isca Dumnoniorum to be Exeter, he sees no better reason than general opinion and some seeming affinity of names.Y et the affinity of namesh as been laid great stress on in the case of Isacae ostia. The Isca of Ptolemy must be about 20 or 30 miles north-east of the mouth of the Exe, on which river Exeter stands, This reaches to the Ax. H ence he suggests Ilchester as Isca Dumn.; but, as he admits that that town has a claim to be considered Ischalis (q. v.), he also admits that some of the localities about Hampden Hill (where there are the remains of a Roman camp), South Petherton (where Roman coins have been found), and Chiselboro (not far from the Axe), have better claims. Hence, in his map, Uxela == Exeter, and Isca D. == Chiselboro. Assuming that some, if not all, these difficulties are explained under UXELA and: MURIDUNUM, the positive evidence in favour of Exeter is something more than mere opinion and similarity of name.
(1) The. form Isca is nearer to Ex than Ax, and that Isaca == Exe is admitted. The Ux- in Ux -ela may better== Ax.
(2) There, is no doubt as to the other Isca == Caerleon-on-Usk. Now, Roger Hoveden, who wrote whilst the Cornish was a, spoken language, states that the name of Exeter was the same as that of Caerleon, in British, i. e. Caerwisc == civitas aquae.
(3) The statement of Horsley, that he could never hear of any military way leading to or fromE xeter, misleads. In Polwhele (p. 182) we have a most distinct notice of the road rom Seaton, and, nine miles from Exeter, the locality called Street -way Head; the name street == road (when not through a town or village) being strong evidence of the way being Roman. Tesselated pavements and the foundations of Roman walls have been found at Exeter, as well as other remains, showing that it was not only a Roman town, but a Roman town of importance, as it continued to be in the Saxon times, and as it had probably been in the British.
2.ISCA LEGIONIS == Caerleon-on-Usk, is mentioned in the 12th Itinerary, i. e. in the one where Isca Dumnoniorum occurs. The only town given by Ptolemy to the Silures, the population of the parts to which Isca (.sometimes called by later writers Isca Silurum) belongs, is Bullaeum. This = Burrium of the Itinerary, 8 Roman miles from Isca (== Usk, about 6 English miles from Caerleon. ) Hence, Isca may have been a military station of comparatively recent date. But there is a further complication. It is the Devonshire Isca to which Ptolemy gives the Second Legion (Λεγίων δευτέρα Σεβαστὴ). This,r emarks Horsley (and, perhaps, with truth), on the part of Ptolemy, is, in my opinion, the only manifest and material error committed by him in this part of England( p. 462).
Again: several inscriptions from the Wall (per lineam Valli) show that, when that was built, the second Legion was on the Scottish border, taking part in the work; the previous history of the legion being, that it came into Britain under the reign of Claudius, commanded by Vespasian. (Tac. Hist. 3.44.) On the other hand, an inscription mentioned by Horsley, but now lost (p. 78), indicates their presence at Caerleon in the time of Severus. As the Itinerary places them there also, we, must suppose that this was their quarters until the times approaching the evacuation of Britain. When the Notitia was made, they were at Rutupiae (Richboro): PRAEPOSITUS LEGIONIS II. AUGUST. RUTUPIS.
The Roman remains found at Caerleon are considerable. A late excavation for the parts about the Castle Mound gave the remains of a Roman villa, along with those of a medieval castle, built, to a great extent, out of the materials of the former. In some cases the stucco preserved its colour. There was abundance of pottery,--Samian ware, ornamented with figures of combatant gladiators, keys, bowls, bronze ornaments, and implements. At Pil Bach, near Caerleon, tesselated pavements have been found, along with the following inscription:--DIIS MAN1BVS TADIA VELLAVIVS. VIXIT ANNOS SEXAGINTA QVINQVE. ET TADIVS EXUPERTVS FILIVS VIXIT ANNOS TRIGINTA SEPTEM. DEFVNTVS (sic). EXPEDITIONE GERMANICA. TADIA EXUPERATA FILIA MATRI ET PATRI PIISSIMA SECVS TVMVLVM PATRIS POSVIT. Others, of less length, to the number of twenty, have also been found in the neighbourhood. (See Archaeologia Cambrensis; Journal of British Archaeological Association (passim); and Delineations of Roman Antiquities found at Caerleon, J. E. Lee.) [R.G.L]
ISCA river. [ISACA]
(1) A town of the Damnonii or Dumnonii in Britain, now Axminster or Exeter.
(2) A town of the British Silures, now Caerleon.
The base fortress of Legio II Augusta, which had participated in the invasion of Britain, A.D. 43; founded by Julius Frontinus during the conquest of Wales (Tac. Agric. 17) in 74-75. Now a village on the river Usk, 4.8 km upstream of Newport (Mon.), Caerleon has been extensively excavated since 1926. Most of the plan can be reconstructed, but only the amphitheater and a centurial barrack in the W corner, together with parts of the adjacent defenses, are visible today.
The fortress occupies a position very similar to that of Legio XX V. V. at Chester—at the roots of the Welsh peninsula, on a navigable estuary for ease of supply, but above danger of flooding. Between them, the two fortresses maintained the military occupation of Wales, and some of the auxiliary forts at important valley junctions provide evidence of a legionary connection (brick stamps, inscriptions). The tactical position of Caerleon is particularly good since it lies in a wide bend of the Usk and is additionally protected by a small tributary on the E. To the NW rises a hill crowned by a hate Iron Age hill-fort. Running water was carried by 20 cm head pipes from an unknown source.
The fortress is a rectangular enclosure with rounded corners, oriented NW-SE and 90 by 18 m. an area of 20.6 ha. The defenses first consisted of a clay bank formed of upcast from a single ditch 9 m wide; the rampart was strengthened with timbering, but nothing is known of the gateways and turrets of the initial period. In the 2d c. the bank was cut back, and a wall (still in parts visible) built, with a double gateway in each side; there were internal turrets at intervals of ca. 45 m. Extensive rebuilding at the S corner of the wall may be related to damage sustained during a revolt of the Silures while the legion was supporting Albinus in Gaul, in 196-197.
The interior is divided into three lateral zones by the via principalis (between the NE and SW gates) and the via quintana. In the center of the middle, or administrative zone stood the headquarters (principia): it is mostly under the present church, but part of the basilica (64.8 x 26.85 m internally) was excavated in 1968-69. The roof was supported by lofty colonnades of Bath stone, in front of the N row of which there had been inscribed plinths for statues, two of bronze (only scraps remain): cf. the statues erected in a similar position at Lambaesis. The building was dismantled at the end of the 3d c. On its right side, three of the five houses for primi ordines centurions, together with parts of the corresponding 10 barracks for the milhiary first cohort, have been excavated. On the left side, parts of six barracks for a quingenary cohort are known, together with stabling for the 120 equites, or scouts, of the legion. Behind the principia lay the palace of the legate (praetorium), with an internal oval court as at Xanten, but approached through a large basilica for public audience. On the right side of the praetorium is a great basilica exercitatoria, for drill in wet weather; adjacent are some rows of magazines. The nature of buildings in an insula farther SW are as yet unknown. On the left side of the pinetorium is a large courtyard building identified as workshops, consisting of large halls or stores; residential accommodation projects into the courtyard. The contents of an insula farther NE are unknown.
The retentura is entirely given over to centurial barracks arranged longitudinally and accommodating two quingenary cohorts; 12 barracks, on either side of the decumanus, led to the NW gate. The barracks measured ca. 72 by 12 m, about a third allocated to the centurion and the rest divided into 12 double cubicles for the men.
The praetentura is bisected by the via praetoria leading from the SE gate to the headquarters. Inside the SE defenses another long range of 24 barracks completes the accommodation for the 10 cohorts of the legion. The remaining ground on the SW side of the praetentura has not been much explored; it is likely that granaries occupy part of it. On the NE side, recent excavation has revealed parts of the hospital and the large internal baths, both of which were demolished about the end of the 3d c. The hospital consists of rows of small wards arranged around three sides of a square court, with a second concentric range within; a large operating theater projected into the court from the fourth and SE side. The baths comprised a large basilica (63.3 x 23.4 m) opening from the via principalis, a frigidarium with several piscinae, and heated accommodation, the most important elements of which (calidarium, etc.) are inaccessible. On the SW lay a palaestra with porticos on three sides, containing a pool (40.5 x 5.4 x ca. 1.2 m) reminiscent of the palaestra of Herculaneum.
The entire block of internal buildings is divided from the defenses by a wide street. Various turrets had cookhouses built in front of their ground-floor entrances and numerous rampart magazines are known. Latrines have been excavated in the S and W corners and probably existed on the E and N. Some of the principal buildings were erected in stone from the beginning, but the barracks and the hospital were first built of timber on cobble footings. The stone replacements are of 2d c. date, and there was widespread rebuilding and repair in the early 3d c.
The environs of the fortress include elements of a small vicus cannabarum on the SW, which seems never to have reached urban proportions, perhaps because the cantonal capital of the Silures (Venta Silurum) was not far distant. Shops, a mansio (?), and other buildings are known, while temples of Mithras, Jupiter Dolichenus, and Diana are epigraphically attested. The area is divided by a continuation of the main street down to the Usk, where 3d c. wharves have been excavated; the civil settlement is separated from the fortress, NW of this road, by a walled parade ground (ca. 150 x 207 m), and on the SE side by the amphitheater (80.1 x 66.6 m; the arena, 55.2 x 40.95 m). The structure is partly set into the ground, the upcast being revetted by stout walling as a basis for the wooden seating. There are four principal entrances, two on the short axis with boxes above, and four subsidiary ones; all, except the two that led directly into the arena, had dens at the level of the arena. A large bath house is adjacent, and another is known on the SE side of the fortress. On the S side of the Usk and along roads leading W and NE there were cemeteries, including at least two mausolea belonging to burial clubs; cremation was the predominant rite.
The finds are housed in the Legionary Museum of Caerleon (branch of the National Museum of Wales) and at the National Museum in Cardiff.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. E. Lee, Isca Silurum (1862) I; G. C. Boon & C. Williams, Plan of Caerleon (1967) with bibl.MP; Boon, Isca: the Roman Legionary Fortress at Caerleon, Mon. (1972) MPI
See also excavation reports: JRS 16ff (1926ff) summariesPI; Archaeologia 78 (1928) amphitheaterMPI; Archaeologia Cambrensis 84ff (1929ff) MPI; Monmouthshire Antiquary 1 (1961-64) PI.
G. C. BOON