IRCyr   Inscriptions of Roman Cyrenaica

C.429. Boundary marker

Description: Brown limestone stele (w: 0.64 x h: 1.58 x d: 0.50).
Text: Inscribed on two faces, both chipped along the edges and broken below, Latin on one face and Greek on the other face, to the left.
Letters: No measurements: the two first lines of a in larger letters; Leaves for stops in a, marking abbreviations and numbers.

Date: 71 CE, second half

Findspot: Cyrene: City wall in the area of the Polveriera, not far from C.428, C.430; found in 1915.
Original location: Unknown
Last recorded location: Cyrene Museum

Interpretive

a
[I]mp(erator) Caesar
Vespasianus
Aug(ustus) pont(ifex) max(imus)
tribunic(ia) pot(estate) III
5 [I]mp(erator) VIII p(ater) p(atriae) co(n)s(ul)
[I]II desig(natus) IIII per Q(uintum)
[P]aconium Ag[r]ip-
[p]inum legatum
su[um] Populo R(omano)
10[Ptolom]aeuṃ res-
[titui]t
b
[Αὐ]τοκράτω[ρ]
[Κα]ῖσαρ Οὐεσ-
[π]ασιανός
[ἀ]ρχιερεὺς μέ-
5[γισ]τος δημαρχ[ι-]
[κῆς] ἐξουσίας τ̣[ὸ]
[γ´ Αὐ]τοκράτωρ (sic)
[τὸ] η´ πατὴρ πα[τ-]
ρίδος ὕπατος
10 [τὸ] γ´ δεδειγμέ-
[νος] τὸ δ´ διὰ Κ(οΐντου)
[Π]ακονίου Ἀγρι[π-]
[π]είνου ἰδίου [π-]
[ρ]εσβευτοῦ Δ(ήμῳ) Ῥ(ωμαίων)
15 [τὸ] Π[τυ]λυμαῖο[ν]
[ἀπ]εκ[ατ]έστησε[ν]

Diplomatic

a
[.]MPCAESAR
VESPASIANUS
AUGPONTMAX
TRIBUNICPOTIII
5[.]MPVIIIPPCOS
[.]IIDESIGIIIIPERQ
[.]ACONIUMAG[.]IP
[.]INUMLEGATUM
SU[..]POPULOR
10[......]AEU.RES
[.....]T
b
[..]ΤΟΚΡΑΤΩ[.]
[..]ΙΣΑΡΟΥΕΣ
[.]ΑΣΙΑΝΟΣ
[.]ΡΧΙΕΡΕΥΣΜΕ
5[...]ΤΟΣΔΗΜΑΡΧ[.-]
[...]ΕΞΟΥΣΙΑΣ.[.]
[...]ΤΟΚΡΑΤΩΡ(sic)
[..]ΗΠΑΤΗΡΠΑ[.-]
ΡΙΔΟΣΥΠΑΤΟΣ
10[..]ΓΔΕΔΕΙΓΜΕ
[...]ΤΟΔΔΙΑΚ
[.]ΑΚΟΝΙΟΥΑΓΡΙ[.-]
[.]ΕΙΝΟΥΙΔΙΟΥ[.-]
[.]ΕΣΒΕΥΤΟΥΔΡ
15[..]Π[..]ΛΥΜΑΙΟ[.]
[..]ΕΚ[..]ΕΣΤΗΣΕ[.]

English translation

Translation by: Charlotte Roueché

a: (Latin) Emperor Caesar Vespasian Augustus, pontifex maximus, holding tribunician power for the third time, acclaimed imperator for the eighth time, father of the fatherland, consul three times, designated for a fourth time, through his personal envoy Q(uintus) Paconius Agrippinus restored the [Ptolem]aion to the Roman People.

b: (Greek) Emperor Caesar Vespasian, pontifex maximus, holding tribunician power for the third time, acclaimed imperator for the eighth time, father of the fatherland, consul three times, designated for a fourth time, through his personal envoy Q(uintus) Paconius Agrippinus restored the Ptolemaion to the Roman People.

Commentary

Face chipped along the edges and broken below

Presumably re-used but indicating an estate near the walls in the area, cf. C.428.

Vespasian was trib. Pot. III from 1st Jan 71 - 31st Dec 71 and cos IIII from 1st Jan 72; the stele therefore was erected in the second half of 71.

Q. Paconius Agrippinus, for whom see PIR2 P 0027, was active in Cyrenaica under Vespasian, 71-74 CE: see C.147, C.428, C.429, C.430, C.438, C.747, M.68, M.165, M.229, M.230, M.232, M.238, M.239, P.397.

a, line 10, b, line 15: On Ptolomaeum/Πτυλυμαῖον, also in C.428, see C. Dobias-Lalou, art.cit.: the name must describe one of the royal estates claimed for the Populus Romanus.

Bibliography: Ghislanzoni, 1916a, 165, with illustration, figs. 1, 2, pp. 166, 167, whence SEG 9.165, PHI 324016, AE 1919.91-92, whence EDH HD026844; see also Ferri, 1923, 12, n. 11.
Text constituted from: Transcription; the reading has been supplemented from the photographs (Reynolds).

Images

None available (2020).


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