The bridge on the river Meuse. Reinterpreting a Roman dedicatory inscription Kleos - the Amsterdam Bulletin of Ancient Studies and Archaeology, Berber van der Meulen-van der Veen, Vincent van der Veen

https://www.academia.edu/21795483/The_bridge_on_the_river_Meuse_Reinterpreting_a_Roman_dedicatory_inscription?email_work_card=title&li=0 During the 1990s, excavations were carried out by the former Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek (ROB) at the location of the Late Roman bridge at Cuijk. Three intact bridge piers were discovered consisting of large wooden piles with iron shoes that were driven into the sand and the underlying gravel. On one of these piles an inscription was found. It read ETERNA, which the excavators considered to be a reference to the wish for the bridge's eternal existence. In the first half of this article we argue that it should in fact be considered a personal name, providing an analysis of the inscription itself and comparing it to a number of parallels from various military sites in Germania Inferior. In the second half we take a closer look at the archaeological and epigraphical record in an attempt to answer the questions who this person could have been and what reason he could have had to carve out his name.