Description: Four blocks of red granite, moulded above, from the facing of an altar or podium
(a-c: w:
0.85 x h:
0.96 x d:
0.42;
d: w:
0.91 x h:
0.95).
Text:
Inscribed on one face. There are small and quite rough Greek letters cut on the side faces.
Letters: Probably Augustan - first century CE; 0.13-0.15.
Date: Probably Augustan to first century CE
Findspot:
Apollonia:
a and b in 1953,
Byzantine buildings west of the East Church;
c in 1958, in the Atrium of the West Church;
d recorded in 1904.
Original location: All probably came originally from the Temple underlying the East Church
Last recorded location:
Findspots.
English translation
Translation by: Joyce M. Reynolds
(a-c): Lucius Corona Pro[- . . . ], son of Lucius, [pro]consul, saw to the construction.
(d): Not usefully translatable.
Commentary
There are also a number of similar blocks, uninscribed, but presumably from the same monument. Each complete block so far examined has small and quite rough Greek letters cut on the side faces. Montet believed that these were intended as a guide to the assembly of the monument and since the left side of a is marked with Β and the right side of b with Ο, he refused to associate these two blocks, although they were found side by side. It is clear from the fact that the right side of c, which is certainly the last block of the inscription, is marked with H, that the letters, whatever their intention, were not used as assembly guides and are irrelevant to the reconstruction of the text.
(a-c): Not otherwise known (PIR supplement); the nomen is of Etruscan origin and very rare; there may have been a cognomen (Proculus), but not necessarily at the likely date.
(d): Possibly from the titles of an emperor ...pontifex maxim]us trib(unicia) [potestate... but since this would involve a long text and a very large monument, it is possible that the proconsul's senatorial cursus was given in full and that the text at this point should be restored Pro[cul]us trib(unus) [militum ... The alternative, trib(unus) [pl(ebis) is harder to associate with the preceding VS since it should not have been the first post of his career.
Bibliography: a-b: Montet, 1954, 262-3; d: Van Buren, 1908, 34; a-d: Reynolds, 1976, 26, whence AE 1977.844, whence EDH 020890. For the findspot and origin see Goodchild, 1959, 84. ; Mentioned Kenrick, 2013, 276
Text constituted from: From previous publications (Reynolds)
Images
Fig. 1. a and b (Joyce Reynolds, I. 56)
Fig. 2. a and b, side view (Joyce Reynolds, I. 61.2)