DiscussionBase for statue of Lucius Aemilius Quintus, envoy and priest (previously used for LSA-2191). Lepcis Magna (Tripolitania). 383-388. INSCRIPTIONIn ten lines: Quintii fl(aminis) p(er)p(etui) sac(erdotalis). / Ob meritum labo/ris et legationis / perfectae, /(5) L(ucio) Aemilio Quinto, fl(amini) p(er)p(etuo), / sacerdotali, / ordo splendidis/simus civitatis / Lepcimagnensium /(10) dedit. '(Statue of) Quintus, perpetual flamen and priest. On account of the merit of his labour and of the mission (legatio) completed, to Lucius Aemilius Quintus, perpetual flamen and priest. The most splendid council (ordo) of the city of Leptis Magna has given [this].' Letter height 4 cm. DESCRIPTION Monolithic base of Pentelic marble, with mouldings at top and bottom; H 125, W 65, D 65 cm. The front and lateral faces are decorated with a moulded frame. On the left side (originally the front side, see next paragraph) is carved the inscription LSA-2191; on the back face, a flower with five leaves stands proud in relief. The right side (the original back face) is finished with a point. On the top face, there are two large cavities for fixing the feet of a bronze statue directed towards the left side (the original front); at the right edge (the original rear) there are two small round holes which probably belong to some support of that statue. Our inscription is the most recent of three successive uses of the base. In the original use an inscription was carved onto the front face. In a first re-use, the original inscription was erased and the one to Lucius Domintius Iustus Aemilianus Consentius (LSA-2191), still extant, was carved over it, probably in the tetrarchic period. Nearly a century later, our inscription was carved on the original right lateral face of the base, thereby erasing a flower similar to the one still extant on the opposite face. While the use of a lateral face for the re-use of a base would usually involve a 90 degree re-orientation, in this case it seems possible that the bronze statue, now directed towards the left, was used together with our new inscription (for discussion of this phenomenon, see Tantillo & Bigi 2010 ch. 8.2.2, particularly p. 271). PROVENANCE AND CURRENT LOCATION The inscription was found in the eastern colonnade of the Severan forum. Like other bases in this particular location (LSA-2149, LSA-2178, LSA-2200, LSA-2202, LSA-2204), it is standing on the original pavement and therefore in situ. HONORAND, AWARDER AND DATE The honorand, Lucius Aemilius Quintus, is known from two other inscriptions, in Sabratha (LSA-2880) and Gigthis (LSA-2332). Both record the mission that was also the reason for the erection of our inscription (legationis perfectae, lines 3-4). The Gigthis inscription names the emperors Valentinian II (Augustus 375-92), Theodosius I (Augustus 379-95), Arcadius (Augustus 383-408) and Maximus (Augustus 383-8) and thereby provides the date of our inscription: 383/8 (see below, ‘Further Discussion’). Quintus was a provincial notable who achieved imperial aid for the province through his mission (miserias communes sacris auribus intimabit et remedium meruit - ‘ he made the common miseries known to the sacred (imperial) ears and achieved a remedy’, Sabratha). None of the inscriptions is explicit about the province's troubles; however, it is likely that they allude to the incursions of the barbarian tribe of the Austuriani, which continued to menace Tripolitania. None of the three cities that set up statues to Quintus claims him as its fellow citizen; it is therefore probable that he was a native of none of them. In Oea, Aemilii are testified to among the most established families (Aurigemma 1940, 135). The inscription was set up by the council (ordo) of Lepcis Magna (lines 7-9), but probably in agreement with a provincial initiative, since both the dedications in Gigthis and Sabratha claim that the statues to Quintus had been decreed by the provincial assembly. FURTHER DISCUSSION Our inscription is by far the latest statue dedication to a provincial notable in Lepcis Magna, set up more than a generation after the habit of setting up statues to local men had effectively ceased in the late Constantinian period (Tantillo & Bigi 2010 ch. 5.6.3). Main ReferenceTantillo, I. and F. Bigi (eds.), Leptis Magna. Una città e le sue iscrizioni in epoca tardoromana, Cassino 2010, 433-5, no. 60, figs. 7.14, 10.68, pl. XVIReynolds, 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. 588 Discussion ReferencesAurigemma, S, Due iscrizioni tripolitane, Africa Italiana 7, 1940, 134-40, Linkhttp://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/irt2009/IRT588.html |
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