Description: Octagonal altar of grey limestone, comprising three separate pieces:
a square, moulded plinth (w:
0.77 x h:
0.77 x d:
0.28) with a circular socket in the centre of the upper face;
an octagonal shaft, from face to opposite face; w:
0.45 x h:
0.80), moulded at the foot and mortised into the socket of the plinth;
and an octagonal cornice-block, now much damaged (h:
0.30), of which h:
0.55, below the mouldings, is flush with, and forms part of, the face of the shaft below.
Text: Inscribed on three faces of the octagonal shaft, on the front and right- hand faces in Latin, and on the left- hand face
in Neo-Punic.
Texts b) and c) are closely related to 347, inscribed on the parapet which bounds the platform.
a) On the front (die, w:
0.19 x h:
0.68). line 1, carved on the upper block, is missing, and line 2,3 and 6 overlap on to the adjacent face.
b) On the right- hand face (die,w:
0.185 x h:
0.33; about half of the text missing).
c) On the left- hand face, Neo-Punic 32. The Neo-Punic text is a faithful transcription of the Latin of 318 and 347.
Letters: a) Capitals with incipient Rustic forms: 0.05-0.045.b) Capitals with incipient Rustic forms: 0.035-0.018.c) Neo-Punic
Date: Probably CE 92 (prosopography)
Findspot:
Lepcis Magna: Regio V:
The plinth was found in position in the Theatre,
near the centre of the raised limestone paving of the Orchestra, and the shaft and cornice, dispersed in late antiquity,
have been recomposed in position.
Original location: Findspot
Last recorded location:
Findspot
English translation
Translation by: J. M. Reynolds
a. Sacred to [---] Augustus; Asprenas, proconsul, dedicated (scil. this)
b. [---] adorner of his country, lover of concord, the first person whom the town council and the people allowed to wear the broad band permanently, on account of his merit and those of his ancestors. He organised the making of the altar and the paved base at his own expense.
English translation
Translation by: Caroline Barron
c. [Tiberius Claudius Sestius, of the Quirina voting tribe] son of Tiberius Claudius Sestius prefect of the cult, flamen of the divine Vespasian, sufete, perpetual flamen, lover of the fatherland, lover of the sons of people, adorner of the fatherland saviour of the sons of the people, lover of complete knowledge, to whom, for the first time, the elders of Lepcis and the people of Lepcis, for the achievements of his fathers and for his own achievements, they gave him the right to wear the purple for his whole life. An altar and podium made, according to the work to be done, at his own expense.
Commentary
a: L. Nonius Asprenas: PIR, N 127, https://pir.bbaw.de/id/9645
b) line 1. Ti. Claudius Sestius, see 347. The surviving text is identical with that of 347, dated in 92, with the exception of the order of the words in line 9.
c: Discussion of the Neo-Punic text: Levi della Vida (1971), 460-461; Amadasi Guzzo (1979), 27-35; Jongeling, K. 1983, ‘Neo-punische-latijnse inscripties uit Lepcis Magna (Libye)’ in , 413; Garbini (1987), 12; Fontana (2001), 165; Jongeling (2008), Labdah N19; Cooley (2012), 253; Wilson (2012), 297-299.
Bibliography: Caputo, 1939, 83-91, pls. I, II, whence AE 1949.159,160, whence Levi Della Vida, 1949 404-406; discussed, Caputo, 1949a, 214-215, whence AE 1951.83; a and b: IRT, 1952, 318, whence IRT, 2009, 318, whence EDH 027741 c: Amadasi Guzzo, 1980 31-32; Levi Della Vida, 1987 27 Jongeling-Kerr, 2005 22; Jongeling, 2008 Labdah N19; for BSR images see BSR Digital Collections..
Images
Fig. 1. Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DLM 259 Leica)
Fig. 2. Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DLM 260 Leica)
Fig. 3. Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DLM 261 Leica)
Fig. 4. Ward-Perkins, 1948 (Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR 48.XXI.25)