231. Dedication to Liber Pater

Description:
Moulded base carved in one block with an Attic base (w: 0.44 x h: 0.72 x d: 0.44) of coarse grey limestone. 
Text:
Inscribed on one face (die, w: 0.32 x h: 0.36). 
Letters:
Rustic capitals: 0.025-0.04  
Date:
Unknown  
Findspot:
Oea: An Arab house in the Tripoli Oasis. Found re-used. 
Original Location:
Unknown 
Last recorded location:
Tripoli Castle. 
Bibliography:
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, VIII:10488 = VIII:11001; Atti dell'Academia Nazionale dei Lincei : Rendiconti della Classe di Scienze morali e storiche, XXIX:376 ff.: L'Année Epigraphique (Revue des Publications épigraphiques relatives à l'Antiquité romaine: annual supplement to Rev. Arch.), 1922:110, Africa Italiana (Rivista di Storia e d'Arte a cura del Ministero delle Colonie) 8 vols., Bergamo, 1927-1940, VII:80 ff., fig. 16; L'Année Epigraphique (Revue des Publications épigraphiques relatives à l'Antiquité romaine: annual supplement to Rev. Arch.), 1942- 3:3. Jean Guey, Rev. Afr., XCVI: 32, cited byA. Degrassi, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libia, Roma (Ministero dell'Africa Italiana), vol. I, 1950, III (1954). This edition taken from J. M. Reynolds and J. B. Ward-Perkins, The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania, Rome: British School at Rome, 1952; including revisions from J. M. Reynolds, 'Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: A Supplement', Proceedings of the British School at Rome 23 (1955), 124-147 
Text constituted from:
Transcription (Reynolds, Ward-Perkins) 
Liber Pater s[a]nctissime
arcem [hanc q]uị p̣ossides
[e]t ad s[acram a]ram
u[r]bis [·· c. 8··]ugis
5 et hi[c ·· c. 4··] uotum dico
dentes duos Lucae bouis
LIBERPATERS[··]NCTISSIME
ARCEM[·······]V··OSSIDES
[··]TADS[········]RAM
V[··]BIS[·· c. 8··]VGIS
5ETHI[···· c. 4··]VOTVMDICO
DENTESDVOSLVCAEBOVIS

(Jean Guey regards the text as a verse in Iambic dimeters and restores as follows:)

LIBERPA[··]ER[···]NCTISSIME
ARCEM[···········]OSSIDES
ETADS[·············]RAM
V[··]BIS[·············]VGIS
5ETHI[·······]VOTVMDICO
DENTESDVOSLVCASBOVIS
<ab>
<lb n="1" />
Liber
Pater
s
<supplied reason="lost" >
a
</supplied>
nctissime
<lb n="2" />
arcem
<supplied reason="lost" >
hanc
</supplied>
<supplied reason="lost" >
q
</supplied>
u
<unclear reason="" >
i
</unclear>
<unclear reason="" >
p
</unclear>
ossides
<lb n="3" />
<supplied reason="lost" >
e
</supplied>
t
ad
s
<supplied reason="lost" >
acram
</supplied>
<supplied reason="lost" >
a
</supplied>
ram
<lb n="4" />
u
<supplied reason="lost" >
r
</supplied>
bis
<gap reason="lost" extent="8" unit="character" precision="circa" />
ugis
<lb n="5" />
et
hi
<supplied reason="lost" >
c
</supplied>
<gap reason="lost" extent="4" unit="character" precision="circa" />
uotum
dico
<lb n="6" />
dentes
duos
Lucae
bouis
</ab>
<note>
Jean Guey regards the text as a verse in Iambic dimeters and restores as follows:
</note>
<lg>
<l n="1" >
<lb n="1" />
Liber pa
<supplied reason="lost" >
t
</supplied>
er
<supplied reason="lost" >
sa
</supplied>
nctissime
</l>
<l n="2" >
<lb n="2" />
arcem
<supplied reason="lost" >
meam qui p
</supplied>
ossides
</l>
<l n="3" >
<lb n="3" />
et ad s
<supplied reason="lost" >
acellum uoue
</supplied>
ram
</l>
<l n="4" >
<lb n="4" />
u
<supplied reason="lost" >
r
</supplied>
bis
<supplied reason="lost" >
tuum et coni
</supplied>
ugis
</l>
<l n="5" >
<lb n="5" />
et hi
<supplied reason="lost" >
c tibi
</supplied>
uotum dico
</l>
<l n="6" >
<lb n="6" />
dentes duos Lucas bouis
</l>
</lg>

Reconstructed Text

(Jean Guey regards the text as a verse in Iambic dimeters and restores as follows:)

Liber pa[t]er [sa]nctissime
arcem [meam qui p]ossides
et ad s[acellum uoue]ram
u[r]bis [tuum et coni]ugis
5et hi[c tibi] uotum dico
dentes duos Lucas bouis

Translation:

Most holy Father Liber, who are the master of my citadel, I had vowed at your shrine ?in the city [?also for my wife] and here I dedicate to you what I promised, two elephant tusks.

Commentary:

Line 6 Lucae bouis is an elephant; also in 295, line 11.

The restorations proposed in ll. 2 and 4 are acceptable on epigraphic grounds and surviving traces of letters are compatible. They are more difficult in l. 3 where there seems to be insufficient space for s[acellum], and l. 5 where there appear to be traces of S after HI[C]

Photographs:

Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DTV 676 Leica)
 Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DTV 676 Leica)

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