IRCyr   Inscriptions of Roman Cyrenaica

A.25. Boundary marker

Description: Part of a limestone stele, cut down for reuse as the springer of an arch (w: 0.61 x h: 0.51 x d: 0.55).
Text: Inscribed on the surviving face which is badly (perhaps deliberately) worn.
Letters: First century CE; 0.04-0.05.

Date: CE 54-55

Findspot: Apollonia: 'Palace of the Dux', re-used in the central courtyard with the inscription upside down; found in 1960,
Original location: Unknown.
Last recorded location: Findspot.

Interpretive

------
[r]estituit ( vac. 3) [δι]ὰ Λο̣[υκίου]
( vac. 3) Ἀκιλίο[υ] Στρά̣[βωνος]
( vac. 3) τοῦ ἰδί( vac. 1)ου π̣ρ̣[εσβ-]
( vac. 3)[ε]υτοῦ [ὅ]ρ̣ο̣[υς δια-]
5( vac. 3)κατεχ̣ομ̣[ένους]
( vac. 3) [ὑ]πὸ ἰδιωτῶ[ν]
( vac. 3) [Δήμῳ Ῥ]ω̣μ̣α̣ί̣[ων ἀπο-]
( vac. 3)[κα]τ̣έ̣[στησεν]

Diplomatic

------
[.]ESTITUIT      [..]ΑΛ.[.....]
      ΑΚΙΛΙΟ[.]ΣΤΡ.[.....]
      ΤΟΥΙΔΙ  ΟΥ..[...-]
      [.]ΥΤΟΥ[.]..[.....-]
5      ΚΑΤΕ.Ο.[.....]
      [.]ΠΟΙΔΙΩΤΩ[.]
      [.....]....[.....-]
      [..]..[......]

English translation

Translation by: Joyce M. Reynolds

[Presumably the emperor Nero] restored. (End of Latin text) By the action of Loukios Akilios Strabon (i.e. Lucius Acilius Strabo), his personal envoy, he restored to the Roman People the boundaries (i.e. of the estates) which had been occupied by private persons.

Commentary

It is unlikely that the stone came from far away and it implies, therefore, the presence of ager publicus nearby.

A boundary stone from a series defining the limits of estates belonging to the Roman people, set up probably in the first year of Nero's reign, see on A.50. A Latin version of the Greek text given in A.50 preceded what survives here, either above or on another face; most other stones in the series carried a full text of the Greek version, as in A.50, but here only the end is given.

For Acilius Strabo see PIR2 A 0082, and addenda; he was active in Cyrenaica under Claudius and Nero: A.25, A.50, A.68, C.434, C.748, M.125, M.141, M.143, M.153, M.172, M.238, M.251, M.275, and perhaps M.68; for his appointment see on M.141.

Bibliography: Reynolds, 1976, 32 and plate LXVI, whence SEG 27.1131, AE 1977.845, PIR addenda.A.0082
Text constituted from: Transcription (Reynolds).

Images

None available (2020).