Imperial dedication
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: Perhaps fourth century CE
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: Creative Commons licence Attribution UK 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/) All reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the URL http://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/

Bibliography

[...] whence [...] 1963.141.3, whence [...] 017188; reprinted, [...], 221-225; mentioned [...], 71

[...]Gratianum uictores ac triumfatores semper Augustos [...]

[...]ius uir perfectissimus pra eses stat uit et[...]

[...]numini maiestati que eorum semper dicatus [...]

[...]maximum dedicauit [...]

Apparatus

Translation

[Line 1]: ?Emperors Valens, Valentinian and Grat]ian victor and trimuphators and always A[ugusti . . . -]ius , man of excellent status, governor, placed their statues and [ . . .

[Line 2]: . . . being devoted] always to their [divinity and majesty . . . ] dedicated ?the greatest[ . . .

Commentary

Kraeling, p. 78, n. 98, saw similarity with the cutting technique used in P.136 (Arcadius and Honorius) and it is also possible to find points of comparison with that of P.137 (perhaps under Valens, Valentinian and Gratian).

a.-c. line 2: There seems to be no attested formula in this position in an imperial title of which [...]num could be part; it should therefore be taken as the end of the name of the last pair or group of emperors and in fact can then only be Gratian in the group Valentinian, Valens and Gratian (367-375) or the younger Valentinian in the group Valens, Gratian and Valentinian (375-378). Gratian is to be preferred in view of the probable activity of the earlier group in the Street of the Monuments (see perhaps P.137, and cf P.122). That implies that the arch was embellished and rededicated during the late fourth century activity in the street to which it gave access; the use of the accusative case for the emperors' names strongly supports Kraeling's proposal that imperial statues were erected on top.

f: From the formula of the type numini maiestatique eorum deuotus, see P.118, 1, line 4.

g: No standard formula fits; the space available, if the inscription ran across the whole width of the attic, would enable the praeses to describe other work besides that on the arch - perhaps e.g. the complete operation in the Street of the Monuments; in that case there may have been a phrase on the lines of porticus opus maximum dedicauit.