If you have a moment to spare in Colchester, visit the wonderful museum in the Castle which stands on the grounds of the ancient Roman Forum. One of the most remarkable findings displayed there is the tombstone of Longinus, a cavalaryman of the First Suqadron of Thracians. It is beautiful tombstone, carved in the standard cavalry image: a calm, upright rider mounted on a well-controlled horse, which neatly steps over a fallen barbrian. The iconography represents not only Longinus’s specific identity as a cavalryman, but the mythic representation of the rider conquering death, triumphant over evil. Here we have the first example in Britain of the image that will develop, in a Christian context, into the familiar picture of St George and the Dragon.
