DiscussionBase for statue of unknown vicar (Antonius Dracontius?). Lepcis Magna (Tripolitania). Probably 364-367. INSCRIPTIONPartly preserved in twelve lines: [- - - - - -] / c(larissimo) v(iro) ag(enti) vic(es) praef(ectorum) praet(orio) per / Africanas provincias / (3) Lepcimagnensis ordo et po/pulus ut incomparabilium be/neficiorum eius memoria eti/am ad posteros mitteretur / praeter kospitalem tesseram / etiam statuam marmoream / constituendam esse duxerunt ut /(10) servati moderatione iudicior(um) eius / ac multis tempestat[ibus -10?]/to+++[- 25? -] / - - - - - - 'To …, of clarissimus rank, acting in the place of the praetorian prefects for the African provinces; the council and the people (ordo et populus) of Lepcis Magna, in order that the memory of his incomparable benefactions be passed down also to future generations, believed that in addition to the tesserae of hospitality also a marble statue had to be set up; they were saved by the moderation of his judgements and on many occasions … .' Letter height 2.5 cm. DESCRIPTION Upper portion of a rectangular base of Pentelic marble; H 40, W 46, D 43 cm. The upper and lower mouldings were separately worked and are today lost. The epigraphic field is surrounded along the margins by a frame of flat bands in low relief. The first line of the inscriptions must have been carved on the lowest band of the crown moulding; a signum was possibly added on the upper moulding. All other sides are decorated with a moulded frame; toolmarks along the margins of the front face show that such a frame was once also on the front face, and was worked back to emlare the epigraphic field for our inscription. The base has been used four times; on each side an inscription was carved. The two lateral sides both display traces of erased inscriptions, one of them probably the original one. The side opposite to our inscription carries the inscription to Aurelius Sempronius Serenus Dulcitius, datable to the late 3rd/ early 4th century (LSA-2198). The last use was for our inscription, probably in the mid/later 4th century (see below, ‘Honorand, Awarder and Date’). The date of the first use of the base cannot precisely determined in the absence of the mouldings; however, it was probably in the early 3rd century because after this period bases with separate mouldings were not produced any more in Leptis Magna. The statue on top of the base was in marble, as is explicitly stated by the inscription (line 8). PROVENANCE AND CURRENT LOCATION The base was first recorded on the Severan forum, at the first taberna north of the apse that links the forum with the Severan Basilica (map I in Tantillo & Bigi 2010). There it is still standing. HONORAND, AWARDER AND DATE The name of the honorand was carved on a separate crown moulding and is today lost (see above, ‘Description’). He was of senatorial (clarissimus) rank and a vicar for the African provinces (line 1); this provides a secure terminus post quem of 318, the year when a vicar of senatorial rank is first testified to in Lepcis Magna (LSA-2171). The abbreviation by which his rank is denoted is very particular and paralleled only by the inscriptions set up to Valentinian I and Valens (LSA-2155, LSA-2156) by the vicar of 364-7 Antonius Dracontius (PLRE I, 271-2 Antonius Dracontius 3; but see also PLRE I, 1015 Anonymus 56, where this relation is not accepted); this is a strong argument to identify our honorand with that vicar. In addition, strong similarities exist between the lettering of our inscription and that of the dedications to Valentinianus and Valens. The honorand and the Lepcimagnenses exchanged the tessera hospitalis, a token which was divided and by which friends could recognize each other. This exchange probably established a relation of patronage between the senator and the city (CIL VI, 1684, 1688, treaties between the family of the Valerii Proculi and African cities); this was possibly recorded in the lost lower portion of the inscription. FURTHER DISCUSSION Antonius Dracontius was vicar of the African provinces when the crisis of the Austurian incursion into the territory of Lepcis Magna was at its peak. He has an poor reputation in Ammianus Marcellinus, according to whom he fostered the interests of the comes Romanus against the provincials. Ammianus, whose picture is perhaps based on an account by Nicomachus Flavianus (LSA-2173), appears to set the interests of the provincials against those of the representatives of the administration in too schematic a way. Main ReferenceTantillo, I. and F. Bigi (eds.), Leptis Magna. Una città e le sue iscrizioni in epoca tardoromana, Cassino 2010, 356-8, no. 26, fig. 10.29, pl. VIIIReynolds, J. M. & J. B. Ward-Perkins, The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania. In collaboration with S. Aurigemma, R. Bartoccini, G. Caputo, R. Goodchild, P. Romanelli, Roma 1952, no. 558 |
Last Statues of Antiquity
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