IRCyr   Inscriptions of Roman Cyrenaica

M.215. Military funerary inscription

Description: Tapered marble stele with mouldings above (w: 0.41-0.37 x h: 1.06 x d: 0.26).
Text: Inscribed on the upper part of the face.
Letters: Well-cut; lunate forms; proably mid second century CE; 0.03.

Date: Second century CE

Findspot: Gebel Akhdar: West of Cyrene: Wadi Bu Nabeh, near Bu Darag; found in 1993 lying in the grass at the southern end of the Wadi.
Original location: Probably standing in front of a tomb cut into the rock-face of the Wadi bank.
Last recorded location: Findspot

Interpretive

Λ(ούκιος) ((stop)) Φούφιος ((stop))
[Σέ]κονδος ( vac. )
ὀετράνος ((stop)) λεγ(ιῶνος)
α´ Εἰταλικῆς
( vac. ) ἐτῶν ((stop)) ξ´

Diplomatic

Λ ΦΟΥΦΙΟΣ
[..]ΚΟΝΔΟΣ      
ΟΕΤΡΑΝΟΣ ΛΕΓ
ΑΕΙΤΑΛΙΚΗΣ
      ΕΤΩΝ Ξ

Apparatus

1: Stop after praenomen
4: Superscript bar above A

English translation

Translation source: Mohamed-Reynolds, 2002

Lucius Fufius Secundus, veteran of Legion Prima Italica, aged 60.

French translation

Translation source: AE

Lucius Fufius Secundus, vétéran de la legio I Italica, âgé de 60 ans.

English translation

Translation by: Charlotte Roueché

L(oukios) Phouphios Sekondos (i.e. L(ucius) Fufius Secundus), veteran of Legion Prima Italica, aged 60.

Commentary

The Legio I Italica has no known connection with Cyrenaica; either Fufius was a native Cyrenaean who had returned home after service or he belonged to the 3,000 veterans sent to the Cyrenaica by Trajan after the Jewish revolt of 115-117 CE; this contingent must have been drawn from several legions, and may have included men from the Danubian Legio I Italica. Dobias-Lalou (loc.cit.) points out that τηε transliterations of the Latin terms used here - ὀέτρανος and Φούφιος - may suggest a relatively early date after the formation of the legion in 66 CE.

Bibliography: Mohamed-Reynolds, 2002, 3 whence AE 2002.1648, SEG 52.1843; Reynolds, 2006, 1907, whence AE 2006.1649, mentioned Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique2007.564 .
Text constituted from: Transcription (Reynolds).

Images

None available (2020).