Description: Rectangular block of gray-blue marble bearing on the rear of upper side two half feet-shaped
cavities and a canal for pouring melted metal; this block was thus part of an originally deeper block or monument, at least
in its later use
(w:
1.02 x h:
0.29 x d:
0.67). Used for IGCyr 91800 and reused in the Roman period.
Text: Inscribed on the face, initially with IGCyr 91800,
apparently in three lines; the first two lines were then erased, and replaced, in the shallow rasura, with lines 1-2 below.
Letters: 0.025, similar to the earlier script.
Date: ca. 75 BCE
Findspot:
Cyrene:
re-used in a wall closing to the North the so-called Hall of the Orthostats
when its former façade was incorporated in the fourth century into the tower that blocked the Street of Battos;
found by Adams in 2003.
Original location: Findspot
Last recorded location:
Findspot: seen by C. Dobias-Lalou in 2010.
English translation
Translation by: Charlotte Roueché
The Cyrenaeans honoured Dekmos Iounios Broutos (i.e. Decimus Junius Brutus), son of Dekmos (i.e. Decimus), their patron.
Commentary
The lettering is very similar to that of the marble base dedicated by the Cyrenaians to C. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus in 67 BCE or shortly later, C.280; the honorand, Decimus Junius Brutus, is probably one of the consuls of 77 BCE; see DPRR Iuni 2023; the base may reflect a trend in placating the rising power of Rome in the transitional phase of Cyrenaica’s incorporation into the control of the Senate, Α.
Bibliography: Adams, 2003 pp. 56/57, 6, and plate 3, on which see Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique, 2005, 623, whence SEG 53.2044, AE 2005.1651.
Text constituted from:
Images
Fig. 1. Face (2010, C.Dobias-Lalou)
Fig. 2. Top surface (2010, C.Dobias-Lalou)