LINDUM
LINDUM (
Λίνδον).
1.
A town in Britain; the modern
Lincoln. Ptolemy (
2.3.20) assigns Lindum and Rage, or Ratae, to the district of the Coritani.
In the list of the anonymous Geographer of Ravenna it appears as Lindum Colonia; in the Itinerary of Antoninus, simply as Lindum. Among the prelates who attended the Synod of Arles, A.D. 314, was “Adelfius de civitate colonia Londinensium,” which we must read Lindinensium, for at the same council London was represented by Restitutus; and that Lincoln was a colony may be accepted from the authority cited above, and also from the form in which the word occurs in Beda (
Hist. Eccles. 2.16, “Civitas Lindocolina.” ) Lindum occurs in Antoninus in the iter from Londinium to the great Wall; in that from Eburacum to Londinium ; and in another from Londinium, in which it is the terminus.
The Roman remains extant at Lincoln are among the most important and interesting in this country.
It is perhaps the only town in England which preserves one of the original Roman gateways in use at the present day.
This is the Newport Gate, which is wholly of Roman masonry, as is also the narrow side entrance for foot passengers. Originally there were two of the latter, but one is walled up in a modern building. Another of the Roman gateways was discovered, a few years since, near the castle.
There is also a long extent of the Roman sewer remaining at Lincoln, and a considerable number of inscriptions, chiefly sepulchral. The Mint Wall, as it is called, is a side wall of a Roman edifice, apparently of a public description. From the course of the remains of the external walls, the Romans seem to have found it necessary to extend the circumvallation of Lindum.
2.
A town of the Damnii, in the northern part of Britain, placed by Ptolemy (
2.3.9) a little to the north of the Clyde. Horsley suggests
Kirkintilloch, on the Wall of Antoninus Pius, as the site of this Lindum. [
C.R.S]
