Base and column for statue of Phocas, emperor. Rome, Forum. 608.
PROVENANCE AND LOCATION
City:
Roma
Province:
Roma
Region:
Rome (including Ostia and Portus)
Details:
Forum Romanum
Current Location:
Forum Romanum
OBJECT
Object:
Base, for gilded statue
Material:
Unknown
Re-Use?
Yes
Form:
Column
Height(cm):
Width(cm):
Depth(cm):
Language:
Latin
Text Type:
Prose
SUBJECT
Honorand:
Phocas
Position:
Emperors
Gender:
Male
Awarder:
Smaragdus, exarch
Position:
High Imperial Office-Holders
DATE
Earliest:
608
Latest :
608
MAIN REFERENCE
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum; , VI, 1200 (+p. 3778 and 4335)
Verduchi, P., "Columna Phocae", in E. M. Steinby (ed.), Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, vol. 1, Rome 1993, p. 307
INSCRIPTION
Text:
Optimo, clementiss[imo piissi]moque / principi, domino n(ostro) F[ocae, imperat]ori / perpetuo, a d(e)o coronato, [t]riumphatori, / semper Augusto, /(5) Smaragdus, ex praepos(ito) sacri Palatii / ac patricius et exarchus Italiae, / devotus eius clementiae, / pro innumerabilibus pietatis eius / beneficiis et pro quiete /(10) procurata Ital(lia) ac conservata libertate, / hanc sta[tuam maiesta]tis eius, / auri splend[ore fulge]ntem, huic / sublimi colu[m]na[e ad] perennem / ipsius gloriam imposuit ac dedicavit, /(15) die prima mensis Augusti, indict(ione) und(ecima), / p(ost) c(onsulatum) pietatis eius anno quinto.
Trans:
To the greatest, most merciful and most pious ruler, our lord Phocas, perpetual emperor, crowned by God, triumphant, forever Augustus. Smaragdus, former prefect of the imperial bedchamber (praepositus sacri cubiculi), patrician and exarch (exarchus) of Italy, devoted to his clemency, because of the innumerable good deeds of his (= the emperor's) piety, and because of the peace gained for Italy and the preservation of freedom, placed and dedicated to his eternal glory this statue of his majesty, gleaming in the splendour of gold, on this tall column; [dedicated] on the first day of the month of August, in the eleventh indiction, in the fifth year after his piety's consulship .
