318. Fragmentary dedication of an altar
- Description:
- Octagonal altar of grey limestone, comprising three separate pieces: a square, moulded plinth (w: 0.77 x h: 0.77 x d: 0.28) with a circular socket in the centre of the upper face; an octagonal shaft, from face to opposite face; w: 0.45 x h: 0.80), moulded at the foot and mortised into the socket of the plinth; and an octagonal cornice-block, now much damaged (h: 0.30), of which h: 0.55, below the mouldings, is flush with, and forms part of, the face of the shaft below.
- Text:
- Inscribed on three faces of the octagonal shaft, on the front and right- hand faces in Latin, and on the left- hand face in Neo-Punic. Texts b) and c) are closely related to 347, inscribed on the parapet which bounds the platform. a) On the front (die, w: 0.19 x h: 0.68). l. 1, carved on the upper block, is missing, and ll. 2,3 and 6 overlap on to the adjacent face. b) On the right- hand face (die,w: 0.185 x h: 0.33; about half of the text missing). c) On the left- hand face, Neo-Punic 32. The Neo-Punic text is a faithful transcription of the Latin of 318 and 347.
- Letters:
- a) Capitals with incipient Rustic forms: 0.05-0.045. b) Capitals with incipient Rustic forms: 0.035-0.018. c) Neo-Punic
- Date:
- Probably A.D. 92 (context)
- Findspot:
- Lepcis Magna: The plinth was found in position in the Theatre, near the centre of the raised limestone paving of the Orchestra, and the shaft and cornice, dispersed in late antiquity, have been recomposed in position.
- Original Location:
- Findspot
- Last recorded location:
- Findspot
- Bibliography:
- Caputo, Dioniso: Bollettino dell'Instituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico XII:83- 91, pls. I, II; L'Année Epigraphique (Revue des Publications épigraphiques relatives à l'Antiquité romaine: annual supplement to Rev. Arch.) 1949:159,160 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)
2ornaṭọṛ p̣ạṭ[riae]
amator concor-
diae cui primo
5ordo et populus
ob merita maio-
rum eius et ipsius
lato clauo sem-
per uti concessit
10aram et podi(um)
d(e) s(ua) p(ecunia) f(acienda) c(urauit)
(Neo-punic)
2ORNA······[·····]
AMATORCONCOR
DIAECVIPRIMO
5ORDOETPOPVLVS
OBMERITAMAIO
RVMEIVSETIPSIVS
LATOCLAVOSEM
PERVTICONCESSIT
10ARAMETPODI
DSPFC
(Neo-punic)
Translation:
a. Sacred to [·· ? ··] Augustus; Asprenas, proconsul, dedicated (this)
b. [·· ? ··] adorner of his country, lover of concord, the first person whom the town council and the people allowed to wear the broad band permanently, on account of his merit and those of his ancestors. He organised the making of the altar and the paved base at his own expense.
Commentary:
a) l. 4. There is no indication that the altar is earlier than the paving (dated to 92, see 347) on which it stands; Asprenas is therefore presumably to be distinguished from L. Nonius Asprenas, procos. Africae in 82- 3 (346).
b) l. 1. Ti. Claudius Sestius, see 347. The surviving text is identical with that of 347, dated in 92, with the exception of the order of the words in l. 9.
b) l. 9. Referring presumably to the raised limestone paving on which the altar stood.
Photographs:
- Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DLM 259 Leica)
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- Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DLM 260 Leica)
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- Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (Sopr. DLM 261 Leica)
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- Ward-Perkins Archive, BSR (BSR 48.XXI.25)
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