975. ?Milestone. Domitian.

Description:
Column of grey limestone (diam. 0.51 1.73), damaged at the top. 
Text:
Inscribed on the surviving face. 
Letters:
Capitals: l. 1, 0.086; ll. 2, 3, 0.07. 
Date:
A.D. 84-96 (reign, titulature) 
Findspot:
Lepcis Magna: Findspot unrecorded 
Original Location:
Unknown 
Last recorded location:
Now lying among debris immediately west of the Severan Arch. 
Bibliography:
Not previously published. This edition taken from J. M. Reynolds, 'Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: A Supplement', Proceedings of the British School at Rome 23 (1955), 124-147, no. S.3. 
Text constituted from:
Transcription (Reynolds) 
Imp̣(erator) [Caesar]
Domitia[nus] Aug(ustus)
Germa[ni]c[u]s
IM·[·······]
DOMITIA[····]AVG
GERMA[···]C[··]S
<ab>
<lb n="1" />
<expan>
<abbr>
Im
<unclear reason="" >
p
</unclear>
</abbr>
<ex>
erator
</ex>
</expan>
<supplied reason="lost" >
Caesar
</supplied>
<lb n="2" />
Domitia
<supplied reason="lost" >
nus
</supplied>
<expan>
<abbr>
Aug
</abbr>
<ex>
ustus
</ex>
</expan>
<lb n="3" />
Germa
<supplied reason="lost" >
ni
</supplied>
c
<supplied reason="lost" >
u
</supplied>
s
</ab>

Translation:

Emperor Caesar Domitian Augustus Germanicus (nominative case).

Commentary:

The column resembles a milestone; and its present location, which is almost certainly near its findspot, is suited to a stone marking the caput viae of either of two stretches of the coast road (Lepcis Magna - Oea and Lepcis Magna - Tubactis) or of the Eastern Djebel road (see also 930). If it is a milestone, it is the only known evidence of work on the Tripolitanian road system between the reigns of Tiberius and Caracalla (see Goodchild, Roman Roads, p. 7).

l. 3, Germanicus: From 84.

Photographs:
none.

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