Latin Inscriptions

Over 940 Latin sundial inscriptions with translations, most re-translated and some corrected, from Margaret Gatty's collection. Available as an ebook. Thoroughly corrected for the 2018 edition. Available at https://www.amazon.com/Sundial-Latin-Thoughts-Light-Dark-ebook/dp/B00WTF4D6Q .

The present chapter is devoted to the analysis of syntactic peculiarities found in the corpus of Latin tabellae defixionum, especially the use of the names of cursed persons in the nominative or accusative. In this kind of epi-graphic material related to magical practices, we find Vulgar Latin spelling and morphosyntactic features as well as deviations in the syntactic structures, which are variously combined and interfere with one another. These peculiarities are often caused by specific rules that are based on the magical character of the texts and their use during cursing rituals. The education of the practitioners may also have played a role. The main goal of this chapter is to provide some possible explanations for the deviations in Latin syntax and the strong tendency to use the proper names of the cursed persons in the nominative, apparently without any regard to the syntactic requirements of the predicate. In the first part of the chapter (Section 1), a basic description, a taxonomy, and cursing "rules" are provided; in the second part (Sections 2-2.3), the syntax of the curse texts is discussed-the occurrence of the nominative and the accusative in name lists as well as irregularities caused by Vulgar Latin development. Finally, I discuss the tendency to isolate proper names, sometimes also in the layout of the tablets, likely occasioned by "magical" requirements (Sections 2.4-2.7).

Ce premier tome recense les incriptions latines et étrangères du Poitou c'est à dire des départements de la Vienne, des Deux-Sèvres et de la Vendée, par période et par commune. Il donne les traductions et les restitutions éventuelles, édition ADANE, 2007.

Mosaics with inscriptions from the territory of Croatia appear at many prominent sites but also at lesser known
ones, a fact confirmed by more recent finds (Orlić by Knin, Baška). These are mostly floor mosaics with the exception
of that from Poreč, and are a part of the great artistic tradition of antiquity a mode of expression in numerous
variations of medallions although we tend to look upon them merely as productions of applied art in interior
architectural decoration. The architectural heritage of mosaical inscriptions on the territory of Croatia gives the
possibility of studying the structure of the society, professions, paleography and a series of other questions. But
sometimes the conclusions can be one-sided if the archaeological context of the area of origin is not taken into
consideration. Roman floor mosaics with accompanying inscriptions are rare on our territory (Nin, Solin), while
the number from the early Christian period is far greater. These appear at Poreč, Pula, Betika by Barbariga, Rijeka,
Baška, Nin, Orlić by Knin, Solin and Grohote on the island of Šolta.
Mosaic inscriptions discern many examples of donations of ecclesiastic and other persons who took part in the
creation of the mosaic. Prominent donors are mentioned, as well as those barely announced or fully anonymous.
Our inscriptions are by and large of sepulchral or votive character. The remaining mosaics with inscriptions bear
names of persons. These are names of persons that appear on the early Christian mosaics, such as names of male
and female saints, bishops and archdeacons. There are also inscriptions that speak of the building of the basilica,
and a mosaic with an inscription whose text is taken from the Bible. The mosaic inscriptions mostly repeat, while
the only novelty is found in Poreč, in the case of a wall mosaic. For the mosaic inscriptions we can ascertain in
most cases that there was a specific formula in the composition of the inscription. Donors are mentioned, as well as
their title and their contribution for the production of the mosaic. All the inscriptions were produced in the mosaic
technique with a more or less similar or different content. The inscriptions written, or more precisely composed,
in Latin as well as Greek scripts, were rendered like those in stone. The inscriptions in capital letters with a strong
cursive character belong chronologically to the 1st cent., the end of the 3rd and to the 4th cent., while in the 2nd cent.
and the first half of the 3rd cent. they are only exceptionally encountered. Errors in the inscriptions appear from the
mid-3rd cent., which is particularly characteristic for Christian inscriptions.
By careful ordering the usual formulae were put to the fore, that is, the intention was to express specific information
about the person mentioned in the inscription in a single row. Abbreviations, punctuation and vulgar forms
were probably the same in the model and in the inscription, while the changes that occurred can be followed, with
certain characteristics for individual periods, from the 1st to the 6th cent.

La recente, importante edizione della stele di Cornelio Gallo a Philae, oltre a raggiungere conclusioni pressoché definitive su questioni specifiche suscitate dal prezioso monumento, sgombrando il campo da radicati pregiudizi, rinnova il dibattito mai interrotto sulle ragioni della disgrazia e della morte di Gallo, escludendo che nella stele vi siano tracce di suoi reati. Anche il riesame delle fonti e la considerazione della cronologia dei fatti permettono di escludere qualsiasi presenza nella stele e nelle sue iscrizioni di colpe di Gallo contro Ottaviano.

Aus den nördlichen römischen Provinzen Germanien, Noricum, Raetia und Pannonia, die sich südlich entlang der großen Flüsse Rhein und Donau ausbreiteten, sind zahlreiche Fluchtafeln auf uns gekommen, die interessante eigenständige Merkmale im Vergleich mit den restlichen Gebieten des römischen Reiches aufweisen und oft viel Gemeinsames haben, obwohl sie weit entfernt voneinander gefunden wurden. Die zahlreichsten Funde kommen aus Germania. Die Fluchtafeln aus Germania bezeugen eine ziemlich rasche und abwechslungsreiche Verbreitung des gemein mittelmeerischen Verfluchungsgutes bis in die nördlichen Grenzgebiete des römischen Reiches. Dies gilt auch für die leider wenigen Belege aus Noricum, Raetia und Pannonia.

The Latin alphabet that is engraved together with the many Lepontian inscriptions on the boulder CMS 1 (Carona, Bergamo), is the fifth found in Northern Italy in a non-Roman milieu: the other four are recorded in Este (one on a bronze tablet) and in Valcamonica (three engraved on rocks). They all can be compared for the presence of the e in the form of two parallel vertical lines and, if they are complete, for their ending with the letter x. The Carona alphabet shows mixed characters: most of the letters follows the standard Latin alphabet, but a and p are written in the Lugano alphabet (Lepontic). Epichoric
alphabets are absent in the Golasecca cultural area, while in the Paeloveneti and Camunnian ones they are frequent in ritual contexts, as sanctuaries and engraved rocks. The relation between alphabets and worship places has a long tradition in the Semitic milieu, from where it was transmitted, together with writing, to the Greek world and then to the Etruscan-Italic one. This connection seems to never last, for Latin alphabets inscribed on marble slabs are a recurrent character of the Jupiter Dolichenus sanctuaries, during the Roman imperial age.
At any rate alphabets are not models for the teaching of writing, but an expression of religious devotion. In fact,
the sequence of the alphabet letters is symbolically linked to the cycle of the seasons and to the demand of fecundity,
fertility, rebirth, blessing and protection. The alphabet of Carona reconnects to these symbolic values, given the
context of the boulder on which is engraved. This rock should have been the focus of a small natural sanctuary,
in relation with the water springs that surround it and the proximity to the Valsecca pass.

This paper presents a new edition of a boundary stone between Capua (on Crete) and Knossos. I identify the post of Publius Messius Campanus as procurator Campaniae rather than procurator Caesaris. The appearance of the procurator Campaniae on Crete is linked to a dispute between the colony of Capua and a private citizen called Plotius Plebeius. This new reading has several important historical consequences: first, it is the earliest attestation of a procurator Campaniae (and the first outside Italy); second, it offers a new interpretation of the juridical category of Knossian lands as part of the ager vectigalis of the Italian colony of Capua in the form of a praefectura Campana or Capuensis; third, it proposes a reinterpretation of the process of arbitration between a public entity (Capua) and a private owner.

English Synopsis and Update:

This essay discusses an exceptional Roman legionary helmet in a type of brass (orichalcum) of the so-called “Imperial-Gallic Type I,” which had at the time of publication been in the Axel Guttmann collection, for which reason it was originally named the “Guttmann Helmet.”  Following Guttmann’s death in 2001, the helmet was sold (in 2005) to a private collector in New York. Its present whereabouts is unknown.

This helmet is of great significance because it is not only a very fine piece of military equipment but also an important historical document with four sets of paired names rendered with a fine pointed punch on its neck-guard. These inscriptions are most unusual because they appear to document both the names of the helmet’s owners and presumably the names of the four centurions under whom the owners served. It can be established that there were at least two owners because of the two different nomina, Iulius and Iunius, mentioned in the inscription. If the first owner were a member of the Iulius clan, then at some point a L. Iunius Sabinus came into possession of the helmet (possibly by purchasing or taking it from a fallen soldier).  The new owner then added his own name and that of his commanding centurion.  Later, when his commanding officer changed, he recorded the new centurion’s name and added his own name below.  When his commanding centurion changed a third time, L. Iunius Sabinus merely repeated the process.  Presumably, he recorded his name three times to avoid confusion with the helmet’s former owner, whose abbreviated name reads C. Iulius Pro and whose name had already been inscribed below that of his own centurion. In any case, the inscriptions indicate that the helmet was passed down from one Roman soldier to another. Based on the concentration in the Balkan region of the centurian’s name Calventius in the inscriptions, it is possible to establish that the helmet, which was found in the Balkans, possibly once belonged to at least two soldiers who served on the Balkan frontier (that is, in the ancient provinces of Pannonia (the northern part of the former Yugoslavia), Dalmatia [= Illyricum], Moesia Superior, and Dacia (E. Romania). 

Given the dating of the original manufacture of the helmet to the last quarter of the first century A.D., the original owner of this helmet may have served at the time of the Emperor Domitian (81-96 A.D.). In this period the barbarian peoples of Dacia and Pannonia were becoming more restless and troublesome.  Battles were fought with both the Dacians and Pannonians throughout most of Domitian’s Principate.  But the final victory over the Dacians did not come until Trajan’s great campaigns during the period of ca. 101-107 A.D.  The Column of Trajan in Rome, in fact, shows scenes in which legionary infantrymen who fought in these campaigns wear helmets similar to the “Guttmann Helmet.”  In view of the helmet’s likely Balkan provenance and the fact that there were at least two owners of the helmet since its manufacture in the last quarter of the first century A.D., it is very likely that the last owner of this helmet was a soldier who participated in the campaigns of Domitian and/or Trajan against the Dacians and Pannonians and that this individual may have lost his life in this frontier area.

The inscription of Gaius Orchivius Amemptus from Poljud in Split (CIL III, 2082), a member of the family of an imperial slave and dispensator, is analysed. The inscription is considered from the epigraphic, prosopographic and onomastic standpoints. Conclusions are drawn on its dating, provenance and the circumstances of its origins within the context of Roman-era imperial estates on the Split peninsula based on the ager publicus.

There is a rather dense network of Roman (indicated) amphitheatres in the Eastern Adriatic seaboard which testify to the civilizational level of individual Roman cities. However, a relatively small number of these Roman cities have been archeologically researched, and among them there is an even smaller number of preserved structures that inherited these inscriptions, which directly pertains to the aforementioned Roman amphitheatres.* Therefore, this work shall only encompass those epigraphic monuments which testified to public construction
in the deep past, based on the example of Eastern Adriatic Roman
amphitheatres (inscriptiones publicae). This epigraphic material has been thematically and topographically classified according to the relevant archaeological sites. This material will also be of exceptional importance to the chronological attribution of certain amphitheatre in the Eastern Adriatic seaboard. Nevertheless, indicated amphitheatres such as those in the Roman colonies of Iader and Aequum and the legion camp Tilurium will not be considered in this work, since there is no entirely firm basis for a precise dating of the structures because they are under-researched.** According to the data available to this author, thus far no inscriptions have been found in the area of the Pola amphitheatre from the era of Roman rule that would speak
to the architectural aspect of this structure.

Present paper intends to explore the process of the transformation of the case system as evidenced in the inscriptions of the Roman provinces Africa Proconsularis and Numidia. First the peculiarities of the transformation of the case system in African Latin in the pre-Christian and Christian periods will be analysed. Then the African distributional patterns of case system changes will be compared to those of other regions of the Empire selected for the survey including Spain, Gaul (including Germany), Italy, Illyricum, and the city of Rome. Finally, the results of the present analysis, especially those regarding the dialectological positioning of Ro-man Africa, will be compared with the results of the investigation of Gaeng 1992 regarding the later, Christian period.

Une inscription latine inédite découverte en Tunisie, fait connaitre le nom complet d’un proconsul d’Afrique proconsulaire peu étudié qui est Flavius Polybius (fin IVe siècle). Il s’agit bien évidemment du même personnage cité dans deux autres documents (l’inscription de Henchir Ben Hassen et le passage de saint Ambroise). La dédicace témoigne de sa surveillance de travaux urbains. On note aussi la présence conjointe de la formule splendor et de la formule Gratia pour qualifier un monument public, qui sans être absolument inédite, est rarissime.

In this brief paper a group of Roman finds from the Museum of Elazığ in eastern Turkey will be presented. This museum has a large collection of archaeological items, especially from the rescue excavations at höyüks in the area of Keban dam construction in 1960s and 1970s. The number of objects belonging to the Roman period is c. 100, except numismatic finds. One of the most important find of the museum is a Latin inscription from A.D. 64/65 on Gn. Domitius Corbula and the Parthian war (published in Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. 1, no. 232), with the translation "Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Imperator, Pontifex Maximus, in his 11th year of Tribunician Power, Consul four times, Imperator nine times, Father of His Country. By Cnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Legatus Augusti pro praetore and Titus Aurelius Fulvus, Legate of Augustus of Legio III Gallica.".