523. ?Building inscription by a proconsul

Description:
Three blocks, one complete, one damaged (together, total length, 1.97) and one fragmentary block of grey limestone. It has the same cornice-moulding as 537. See also 353.  
Text:
Inscribed on one face. 
Letters:
Lapidary capitals: l.1, 0.065; l.2, 0.055; l.3, 0.05. 
Date:
Early second century (context, prosopography: see below). 
Findspot:
Lepcis Magna: Arch of Trajan. From an inscription which stood on the North East face of the arch, corresponding to 537 on the South West. 
Original Location:
Findspot 
Last recorded location:
Findspot 
Bibliography:
Romanelli, Africa Italiana (Rivista di Storia e d'Arte a cura del Ministero delle Colonie) 8 vols., Bergamo, 1927-1940 VII:104 ff., fig. 12; L'Année Epigraphique (Revue des Publications épigraphiques relatives à l'Antiquité romaine: annual supplement to Rev. Arch.) 1948:4. This edition taken from J. M. Reynolds and J. B. Ward-Perkins, The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania, Rome: British School at Rome, 1952.  
Text constituted from:
Transcription (Reynolds, Ward-Perkins) 
C(aius) Cornelius Rarus Sextius Na[·· ? ··] co(n)s(ul) XV[uir]
sacris faciu[ndis·· ? ··]
proco(n)s(ul) prou[inc(iae) Africae ·· ? ··]
CCORNELIVSRARVSSEXTIVSNA[·· ? ··]COSXV[····]
SACRISFACIV[······· ? ··]
PROCOSPROV[·················· ? ··]
<ab>
<lb n="1" />
<expan>
<abbr>
C
</abbr>
<ex>
aius
</ex>
</expan>
Cornelius
Rarus
Sextius
Na
<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character" />
<expan>
<abbr>
co
</abbr>
<ex>
n
</ex>
<abbr>
s
</abbr>
<ex>
ul
</ex>
</expan>
<num value="15" >
XV
</num>
<supplied reason="lost" >
uir
</supplied>
<lb n="2" />
sacris
faciu
<supplied reason="lost" >
ndis
</supplied>
<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character" />
<lb n="3" />
<expan>
<abbr>
proco
</abbr>
<ex>
n
</ex>
<abbr>
s
</abbr>
<ex>
ul
</ex>
</expan>
<expan>
<abbr>
prou
<supplied reason="lost" >
inc
</supplied>
</abbr>
<supplied reason="lost" >
<ex>
iae
</ex>
</supplied>
</expan>
<supplied reason="lost" >
Africae
</supplied>
<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character" />
</ab>

Translation:

Caius Cornelius Rarus Sextius Na[·· ? ··], consul, member of the committee of fifteen for sacred activities, [·· ? ··], proconsul of the province [of Africa [·· ? ··]]

Commentary:

Since the inscriptions on the SW face (353, 537) appear to refer to the dedication of the arch, Romanelli, op. cit., suggests that this inscription may have mentioned the beginning of its construction. If so, the proconsulate of Cornelius Rarus is presumably to be dated shortly before that of Q. Pomponius Rufus (109-110, see 353 and 537).

Photographs:

Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. CLM 931)
 Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. CLM 931)

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