| Corpus Refs: | Huebner/1876:50 Macalister/1945:344 Nash-Williams/1950:73 Rhys/1905:46 |
| Site: | YFLL1 |
| Discovery: | first mentioned, 1777 Strange, I. |
| History: | CISP: First mentioned and drawn by I. Strange in Archaeologia, 4, 1777, 8. Westwood/1876, 64--65: `A strange inscription upon a tall stone (as represented by Strange in the Archaeologia, vol. iv. tab. 1, fig. 3, and in Gough's Camden, ii. pl. 14, fig. 3, copied in Jones's `Brecknockshire', ii. pl. 12, fig. 2, without any attempt at its elucidation) led me to hunt for the Maen Madoc ...The Maen Madoc stands at about half a mile along and close to the south side of the Sarn Helen...My figure is made from a sketch taken on the spot, corrected by my rubbing, which has been reduced by the camera'. Macalister/1945, 331: `It is...standing wedged into the middle of a sort of floor of stones rammed together. This has been proved by recent excavation to be of about the middle of the nineteenth century, or a little earlier...as in 1805, the time of Jones's Brecknockshire, the stone was `thrown down'. In its situation on a lonely moorland this stone is an impressive monument, but the inscription gives no justification for its local name `Maen Madoc''. |
| Geology: | Macalister/1945, 331: `red sandstone'. Nash-Williams/1950, 82: `Local Old Red sandstone'. |
| Dimensions: | 3.35 x 0.69 x 0.33 (converted from Macalister/1945) |
| Setting: | in ground |
| Location: | earliest Macalister/1945, 331: `On the south side of the ancient road called Sarn Helen, which is here practically a disused cart-track through the moor. The stone is about half a mile from the junction of Sarn Helen with the Devynock-Ystrad Fellte road, and something over a mile S. of Maen Llia'. Nash-Williams/1950, 73: `Stands about 1 mile along and close to the south side of the Roman road Sarn Helen'. |
| Form: | plain Westwood/1876, 65: `It is a tall rude stone, 11 feet high, 2 1/2 wide, and 1 1/4 thick, inclining southwards'. Anon/1901, 68: `The stone measures 11 ft. high by 2 ft. 6 ins. wide, and about 1 ft. 3 ins. thick'. Macalister/1945, 331, calls it `a pillar', and suggests that it might be a reused prehistoric megalith. Nash-Williams/1950, 82: `Roughly quadrangular pillar-stone'. |
| Condition: | complete , good |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | none |
| Decorations: | other Macalister/1945, 331: `broad, rather shallow grooves, on one of the narrower faces of the stone looking west...On the northern face of the stone there is the figure of an anchor, but this is evidently a modern graffito'. |
| Westwood, J.O. (1876): | {D}ERV{A}C{I}F/ILIV{S} | IV{S}{T}{I}ICI{A}CIT Expansion: DERVACI FILIVS IVSTI IC IACIT Westwood/1876 65 concise discussion |
| Rhys, J. (1905): | {D}ERV{A}C{I}F/ILIV{S} | IV{S}{T}{I}ICI{A}CIT Expansion: DERVACI FILIVS IVSTI IC IACIT Translation: The burial place of Dervac (PN): here lies the son of Justus (PN). Rhys/1905 75 reading only |
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | {D}ERV{A}C{I}F/ILIV{S} | IV{S}{T}{I}ICI{A}CIT Expansion: DERVACI FILIVS IVSTI IC IACIT Macalister/1945 331 concise discussion |
| Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950): | {D}ERV{A}C{I}F/ILIV{S} | IV{S}{T}{I}ICI{A}CIT Expansion: DERVACI FILIVS IVSTI [H]IC IACIT Translation: (The stone) of Dervacus (PN), son of Justus (PN). He lies here. Nash-Williams/1950 82 concise discussion |
| Orientation: | vertical down |
| Position: | W ; narrow ; n/a ; undecorated Macalister/1945, 331: `The letters are...in broad, rather shallow grooves, on one of the narrower faces on the stone, looking West: they run upward, in two lines'. Nash-Williams/1950, 82: `Latin inscription (Fig. 58) in two lines reading vertically downwards'. |
| Incision: | inc Macalister/1945, 331: `rubbed out'. Nash-Williams/1950, 82: `coarsely and clumsily picked'. |
| Date: | 400 - 533 (Nash-Williams/1950) 650 - 700 (Rhys/1905) Rhys/1905, 75: `Huebner places this epigraph in his third group, that is to say the seventh or the eighth century: I should be inclined to say that this dates from the former, let us say the close of the seventh century'. 500 - 533 (Jackson/1953) |
| Language: | Latin (rcaps) |
| Ling. Notes: | Westwood/1876, 65: `the H is wanting in the next word HIC, and the last word is misspelt IACIT as usual'. Rhys/1905, 74--75, discusses the metre of the inscription which he lists as a curtailed hexameter. |
| Palaeography: | Westwood/1876, 65: `The first letter D is reversed, the A with the bottom right-hand stroke horizontal, both the A's turned upside down, the I at the end of the first word horizontal, and evidently indicating the nominative case, to agree with the next word FILIUS, in which the F and I are conjoined, both the L's with the first stroke obliquely slanting, the terminal s reversed and of the capital form: the third letter of the second line, which I had regarded as L, disagrees with the two L's in the preceding word, and agrees with the last letter S in the first line; the following letter, which I had considered as a prostrate I, notwithstanding the short unconnected vertical stroke, is most probably a reversed T, as suggested by Prof Rhys; the next character is a prostrate I (completing the word IVSTI)'. Anon/1901, 68: `very rude capitals, several of which are reversed, reads vertically upwards'. Rhys/1905, 74: `very debased capitals...the lettering is very queer; for not only are d ands reversed, but a and t are upside down; fi make the usual ligature'. Macalister/1945, 331: `The unskilled stone-cutter has evidently become confused by the task of cutting upon a vertical face, and has, in consequence, inverted some of them'. Nash-Williams/1950, 82: `Debased Roman capitals, coarsely and clumsily picked. Some of the letters are reversed (D, S) or inverted (A, T). R in l. 1 has an open (?) bow and short tail. FI is conjoined. The final I's are horizontal'. |
| Legibility: | good CISP: All recent authorities agree on a reading which implies that the inscription is legible. |
| Lines: | 2 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |