Provenance and location

Ancient city: Roma
Modern city: Rome (Italy)
Province: Urbs
Diocese: Italiciana
Regional prefecture: (not regional before 326 AD)
Provenance: Statue base with inscription chiselled on the front face, found in the Roman Forum in 1899, «re-used as building material in an Early Medieval structure in front of the Curia» (Machado in LSA 1364).
Current location: Roma, Roman Forum, in front of the Curia, to the right of the entrance staircase, Sopr. For.-Pal. inv. 12444
Ancient location: public space

Type and material of the support and text layout

Text category

Honorary inscription for the emperor Maximianus

Latin text

Critical edition

The text is based on the M. Bang edition (CIL 06, 36947), supplemented by Porena’s conjectures. For I. Grossi (EDR 135609) the inscription was totally erased after being chiselled.

3: [compo]ṭị: Bang and other editors.
5: [P(io)]: Bang.
5-6: semper [Augu]sto: Machado LSA 1346; I. Grossi EDR 135609. Bang was sure whether Augusto was written in the middle of the sixth line.
8: ṿṿ(iri) ẹẹ(gregii): Bang (who was able to read only the first E); G. Alföldy, A. Scheithauer CIL 06, p. 4354; Machado LSA 1364. vv(iri) ee[mm(inentissimi)]: PLRE I; Sartre 2000; Porena 2003, p. 104 nt 2.

Text was seen and verified (where possible) by Porena 1999.

Translations

English

“To the extender of the Roman empire, to the prince endowed with all the virtues, to our master Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus, Pius Felix always Augustus, [- - -]nus and [- - -]mus the [very eminent praetorian prefects] devoted to his spirit and majesty.”

French

“À l’auteur de l’extension de l’Empire romain, au prince doué de toutes les vertus, à notre seigneur Marcus Aurelius Valérius Maximianus, Pie Heureux toujours Auguste, [- - -]nus et [- - -]mus les [très éminents préfets du prétoire] dévoués à sa divinité et à sa majesté.”

Italian

“All’autore dell’espansione dell’impero romano, al principe dotato di tutte le virtù, al nostro signore Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus, Pio Felice sempre Augusto, [- - -]nus e [- - -]mus gli e[minentissimi prefetti del pretorio] devoti al nume e alla maestà sue.”

The inscription and its prefects: critical commentary, updating, overviews

The base of the statue is compact, but it has been severely damaged by building reuses on all its surfaces. The text inscribed in the epigraphic field is heavily eroded, but not erased after chiselling. Maximianus’ onomastics was readable by the publishers Gatti (in 1899) and Bang (in 1933), and this was still the case in 1999. Thus we can exclude that the inscription was erased in order to delete the memory of the Augustus Herculius. The surface of the epigraphic field has not been lowered to engrave a new inscription over ours.

The monuments of the Tetrarchs, especially those of the Vicennalia in the Roman Forum, would have remained intact in their place (Marlowe 2015; Kalas 2015, 23-45). Furthermore Maximianus was responsible for the reconstruction of the Diocletianic Curia after the terrible fire of 284 AD. The memory of the two Augusti was preserved in the area in front of the senate: it is very likely that our base with its statue remained in situ. The crisis between Herculius and his son Maxentius in 308 AD, and with his son-in-law Constantine in 310 AD, does not seem to have affected the placement of Maximianus’ monument (on the location of our inscribed monument see Bauer 1996, pp. 16-19; 102; 401).

About the text: at lines 2/3 after the expression omnium virtutum, Bang hypothesized the adjective compos, due to he reads the letters TI at line 3; however, such an expression is never attested in epigraphy. Vice versa omnium virtutum principi is the epithet of the emperors Pertinax in CIL 11, 03873 = ILS 0409 and Probus in CIL 02-14, 00020 = ILS 0597. At line 6, the centered position of the cognomen Augustus, seen by Bang, is perfectly suited to the layout of the epigraphy of the time.

The examination of the photograph and my personal autopsy suggest that on line 9, before the word devoti, some letters were originally chiselled, and some vertical and horizontal strokes remain. Taking into account the difficulties in the reading, it seems – but caution is a must – possible to discern the letters RAET; these could be what remains of the abbreviation of the office [pr(aefecti) or praeff(ecti) p]ṛạẹṭ(orio).

The authors of the PLRE (I, ..mus, p. 1000) have supposed that the dedication to Maximian Augustus was raised by the two leading praetorian prefects of the whole empire, although T.D. Barnes makes no attempt to identify them (1982, p. 136 and nt. 51; Barnes 1996, p. 547 nt. 84). The abbreviation of the rank at line 8, VV EE, could be integrated: vv(iri) ee[mm(inentissimi) praeff(ecti) or pr(aefecti) praet(orio)]. Several elements would support such a proposal. The dedication was raised collegially by two officials holding the same office; from the remains of the formula we must assume that this office was normally exercised in pairs. In fact, there does not seem to be enough space in the epigraphic field to contain the indication of two different positions that may have been held by the dedicators and not even for a position that is more extensive. The rank of the officials, the same for both, can only be integrated with vv(iri) ee[gregii], or with vv(iri) ee[minentissimi], the latter being the prerogative of praetorian prefects in the Tetrarchic Age. No egregiate function was collegial; no dedications to emperors – or other type of inscriptions in Rome – by two or more egregii have been observed. We know of single viri egregii in inscriptions from the Roman Forum, but they are not dedicants of statue bases for emperors (CIL 06, 02132 = ILS 4928; CIL 06, 02134 = CIL 06, 32419; CIL 06, 02136 = CIL 06, 32405; CIL 06, 02137 = ILS 4936; they are fictores Virginum Vestalium, cf. now Lindner 2015, pp. 64, 135). To restore vv(iri) ee(gregii) is difficult, since it seems unlikely that in the late 3rd Century, when the perfectissimatus extended to most equestrian offices, simple viri egregii would raise monuments to an Augustus in such a prestigious place, not only in the Roman Forum itself, but in the area between the Curia and the Comitium, which had just been restored. The axis between the Curia, the Basilica Aemilia and the stretch of the Via Sacra towards the Velia was populated in the 4th Century with statues made by dignitaries for the emperors (Bauer 2012; Machado 2006 and 2019, pp. 95-123). Dedications made in Rome by pairs of praetorian prefects (eminentissimi) prior to our inscription are not unknown: CIL 06, 01009 (cf. p. 4315) = ILS 2012 (140 AD); CIL 06, 01611 = CIL 06, 31831 (241 AD); CIL 06, 02388a fr. 5 = CIL 06, 32600 = EDR 122374 (3rd Century AD); CIL 06, 31352 = CIL 06, 40710 (second half of the 3rd Century AD).

The ancient political centre of Rome still appears to be the most suitable place to erect a monument decreed by praetorian prefects. In fact, we know of two dedications to Maxentius placed by his praetorian prefect right in the Forum in 310/311 AD: one is now next to the Basilica Emilia (CIL 06, 40726 = PPRET 05), a few meters from our inscription to Maximianus, the other one was found ‘summa via sacra’ near the Basilica of Maxentius (CIL 06, 36949 = PPRET 04). Other inscriptions made by praetorian prefects for late roman emperors were displayed in the Roman Forum during late antiquity, and by emperors to a single prefect too. After these three statue bases of the Tetrarchic period, we can find in the area of the Basilica Emilia: a fragmentary dedication in honour of a 4th Century Augustus by a praetorian prefect whose name is lost (CIL 06, 36678 = CIL 06, 36990 = Panciera 1996a, nr. 195 = EDR 071778); a statue base for the emperor Valens made by Placidus Severus (PLRE I, Severus 28, pp. 836-837) a vicarius urbis, agens vices praefecti praetorio in about 364/365 (CIL 06, 36956 = ILS 8948 = LSA 1373 = EDR 071728). In other parts of the Roman Forum, not far from the basilica Aemilia, inscriptions in honour of praetorian prefects were found: from the area near the Column of Phocas comes the monument in honour of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus praetorian prefect of Italy and Illyricum, erected in 384 AD (CIL 06, 01779a = CIL 06, 31929 = PPRET 78); from the zone in front of the Curia, near our base in honour of Maximianus Herculius, comes the statue base in honour of Petronius Maximus praetorian prefect of Italia Illyricum Africa, put up in 433/437 AD by Theodosius II and Valentinian III Augusti (Panciera 1996b = CIL 06, 41398 = LSA 1525 = EDR 093620); from an indeterminate space in the Roman Forum comes a fragmentary inscription in honour of an anonymous praetorian prefect, dated in the first half of the 5th Century AD (CIL 06, 41346 = PPRET 96). Other potential fragmentary dedications of dignitaries of the late 3rd Century AD (prefects ?) to emperors from the area of the Curia and the Basilica Aemilia exist: CIL 06, 40707 (to Aurelianus), CIL 06, 40751 (to Probus). The north-eastern side of the Roman Forum between late 3rd and mid 5th Century hosted monuments related to praetorian prefects, namely between the Curia and the Basilica Aemilia. We can therefore hypothesize that what remains of the inscription CIL 06, 36947 might well be a prefectural dedication in the Roman Forum, put up on the orders of the two leading praetorian prefects of the whole empire to Maximianus Augustus alone, probably for an event or an anniversary that concerned him. At the end of the military campaign in Africa (297-298 AD), in late 298 AD Maximianus Herculius stayed in Rome, where he began construction of the Baths of Diocletian (Chastagnol 1980-1981); in 299 AD (oct./dec.) his Quindecennalia began: the prefectural monument for Herculius in the Roman Forum may have been built in this period. The epithet propagator and the praise of his virtus were appropriate in the context of Maximianus’ recent victories.

This lead to the identity of the two praetorian prefects is to be found on lines 7-8, and consists of the final parts of the cognomina. We know four colleges of praetorian prefects of Diocletianus and Maximianus (only the Augusti had one prefect each), complete with their rank (cf. Porena 2003, pp. 103-152):

 

284?-286 AD    Diocletianus Aristobulus and/then Hannibalianus vv.eemm.

286-291 AD      Diocletianus Hannibalianus v.em. (inscr. of Oescus, PPRET 01)

         Maximianus Asclepiodotus v.em.

In 292 AD      Hannibalianus et Asclepiodotus were ordinary consuls and became vv.cc.

         (two prefects clarissimi in CIL 06, 01125 = ILS 0619, in 293/296 AD)

292-294/96 AD    Diocletianus Hannibalianus v.c. (then prefect of Rome in 297 AD)

         Maximianus Asclepiodotus v.c.

294/96-297/98 AD  Maximianus Asclepiodotus v.c. (as prefect he defeated the usurper Adlectus in 296/97 AD)

         Diocletianus Hermogenianus v.em. (inscr. of Brescia, PPRET 02)

297/98?-305 AD  Diocletianus Hermogenianus v.em. (he never became v.c.)

         Maximianus ? v.em. (two prefects eminentissimi in CIL 14, 04455, in 297/305 AD)

 

It seems likely that our inscription from the Roman Forum, pertains to two praetorian prefects belonging to the last phase of the Tetrarchy, between 298 and 305 AD. The first could be [Hermogenia]nus, prefect of Diocletianus; the second could be the prefect appointed by Maximianus after the departure of Asclepiodotus (there was no prefect ordinary consul between 293 and 305 AD, therefore after Hannibalianus and Asclepiodotus there were only prefects of eminentissimus rank). In 2000 M. Sartre proposed that the first praetorian prefect of our inscription was Aurelius Rufinus (2000, 989-990 = AE 2000, 1540; in print IGLS 16, 0708). His reconstruction is based on a reading of the sixth line of an inscription from Teyma (Arabia), commemorating the restoration of castra in 296 AD – Aur(elio) Rufino p(raefecto) pr(aetorio) Ori[entis] – but that reading was then rejected by Sartre himself (2007, 163 = AE 2007, 1619). The position of Rufinus’ name after that of the Governor of Arabia and the mention of the Prefecture of the East before Constantine’s reform hinder this interpretation.

Bibliography

Barnes T.D., The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine, Cambridge Mass.-London 1982.

Barnes T.D., Emperors, Panegyrics, Prefects, Provinces and Palaces (284-317), JRA, 9, 1996, 532-552.

Bauer F.A., Stadt, Platz und Denkmal in der Spätantike. Untersuchungen zur Ausstattung des öffentlichen Raums in den spätantiken Städten Rom, Konstantinopel und Ephesos, Mainz 1996.

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Chastagnol A., Maximien Hercule à Rome, BSAF 1980-1981, 183-191 (= Id., Aspects de l’antiquité tardive, Roma 1994, 303-307).

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Lindner M., Portraits of the Vestal Virgins, Priestesses of Ancient Rome Portraits of the Vestal Virgins, Priestesses of Ancient Rome, Ann Arbor 2015.

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Panciera S., Il precettore di Valentiniano III, in Stella C., Valvo A. (a cura di), Studi in onore di Albino Garzetti, Brescia 1996 (b), 277-297 (= Panciera S., Petronio Massimo precettore di Valentiniano III, in Id., Epigrafi, epigrafia, epigrafisti. Scritti vari editi e inediti (1956-2005) con note complementari e indici, Roma 2006, 1153-1166).

Porena P., Le origini della prefettura del pretorio tardoantica, Roma 2003.

Sartre M., Gouverneurs d’Arabie anciens et nouveaux: textes inédits, in Paci G. (a cura di), Ἐπιγραφαί. Miscellanea epigrafica in onore di Lidio Gasperini, II, Tivoli 2000, 971-990 (= AE 2000, 1540).

Sartre M., L’armée romaine et la défense de la Syrie du Sud. Questions de méthode et nouveau document, in Lewin A.S., Pellegrini P. (eds.), The Late Roman Army in the Near East from Diocletian to the Arab Conquest. Proceedings of a Colloquium held at Potenza, Acerenza and Matera, Italy (May 2005), Oxford 2007, 263-273 (= AE 2007, 1619).

Praetorian prefects and epigraphic habit