Name:	Funerary Stele of Regina
Picture:
Description:	From South Shields (Arbeia), South Shields Museum. H. 1.06m. Regina seated on a high-backed chair within a typical Palmyrene setting. She wears a long-sleeved tunic and cloak, necklace and bracelet. Her left hand rests on a locked casket, and at her right is a basket of wool. A distaff is in her right hand, resting in her lap. The casket, wool basket and distaff are typical accoutrements of a Palmyrene woman on grave stelai. Inscription: D(is) M(anibus) Regina liberta et coniuge (sic) Barates Palmyrenus natione Catuallauna an(norum) XXX. ('In memory of Regina, his freedwoman and wife, of the tribe Catevallaunian, aged 30, Barates of Palmyra'.)
Date:	Third century A.D.
Discussion:	Probably the work of a Palmyrene sculptor, which would account not only for the style of the stele but also for the slightly shaky grasp of Latin. Barates' own stele was also discovered; he was standard maker for the legion stationed at Arbeia at that time. See Toynbee 1962: no. 87, p. 160, pl. 85.