Description:
balustrade blocks of grey limestone
(each approx. w:
1.80 x h:
0.50 x d:
0.50) from two apparently identical monumental inscriptions.
Eleven blocks were found in 1930, of which three only are still visible;
the others are now buried under alluvial deposit and the text of these latter is known only from a drawing made in 1932 and
in part
from a photograph in the Superintendency archives.
a) Blocks still visible.
b) Blocks no longer visible, but photographed.
Text: Inscribed on the surviving faces.
Letters: Lapidary capitals: line l, 0.165; line 2, 0.14; line 3, 0.11.
Date: CE 61-62: GODOT (titulature)
Findspot:
Lepcis Magna:
Harbour area, near the junction of the Port and the Colonnaded Street,
on the North West bank of Wadi Lebdah.
Original location: Unknown
Last recorded location:
Findspot
Interpretive
Neroni Claudio diui Claudi f(ilio) Germa[nici] nep(oti) Ti(beri) Caesaris pronep(oti) diui Aug(usti) ab[ne]poti Caesari Aug(usto)
Germanico [p]ontif(ici) max(imo) trib(unicia) pot(estate) VIII [imp(eratori) ---] co(n)s(uli) IIII p(atri) p(atriae)
Ser(uius) Cornelius Ser(ui) f(ilius) Lem(onia tribu) Orfitu[s c. 8] quaestor diui Claud[i pr(aetor) u]ṛb(anus) co(n)s(ul) pontif(ex) sodalis Augustalis proco(n)s(ul) patronus [d]edicauit P(ublio)
Silio Celere [legato ---]
[---] columnas et super columnia et super ostia in tribus [c. 15 It]hymbaḷ Arinis f(ilius) Sabinus Tapapius flamen diui Aug(usti) sufetu [--- fa]ciendas cura[uit] idemque curaṭor pecuniae publicae eas port[icus ---]
Diplomatic
NERONICLAUDIODIUICLAUDIFGERMA[....]NEPTICAESARISPRONEPDIUIAUGAB[..]POTICAESARIAUGGERMANICO[.]ONTIFMAXTRIBPOTVIII[....---]COSIIIIPP
SERCORNELIUSSERFLEMORFITU[.········]QUAESTORDIUICLAUD[....].BCOSPONTIFSODALISAUGUSTALISPROCOSPATRONUS[.]EDICAUITPSILIOCELERE[......---]
[---]COLUMNASETSUPERCOLUMNIAETSUPEROSTIAINTRIBUS[···············..]HYMBA.ARINISFSABINUSTAPAPIUSFLAMENDIUIAUGSUFETU[---..]CIENDASCURA[...]IDEMQUECURA.ORPECUNIAEPUBLICAEEASPORT[....---]
; supercolumnia et superostia Degrassi A., 1954 : on the stone there are in fact stops between super et columnia, and between super and ostia.
English translation
Translation by: J. M. Reynolds
To Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, son of deified Claudius, grandson of Germanicus, great grandson of Tiberius Caesar,
great great grandson of deified Augustus, chief priest, holding tribunician power for the eighth time, acclaimed victor ?
times, consul four times, father of the country; Servius Cornelius Orfitus, son of Servius, of the Roman voting tribe Lemonia,
[---] quaestor of the deified Claudius, urban praetor, consul, priest, sodalis (Roman priest) of the cult of the Augusti, proconsul, patron, dedicated (scil. it), Publius Silvius Celer [---] his legate [---] Ithymbal Sabinus Tapapius, son of Arin, flamen (local priest) of the deified Augustus, sufete [---], saw to the erection of the columns and the apertures above them and above these openings, in three [---], and also as curator of public funds [---] those porticoes [---]
Bibliography: Degrassi N., 1945 11, n. 2 (1. 3 only); Degrassi A., 1954 ; IRT, 1952, 341, whence IRT, 2009, 341, whence EDH 059275; for BSR images see BSR Digital Collections.
Images
Fig. 1. Ward-Perkins, 1946 (Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR 46.XXI.36)
Fig. 2. Ward-Perkins, 1946 (Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR 46.XX.37)
Fig. 3. Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. CLM 303)
