Provenance and location

Ancient city: Berytus
Modern city: Beirut (Lebanon)
Province: Phoenicia
Diocese: Oriens
Regional prefecture: Oriens
Provenance: Beirut, found in a garden (see Thomson, Woolsey 1848, p. 587)
Current location: This inscription was brought to the Prussian consulate in Jerusalem before 1862 and built into the walls of the structure (see Waddington 1870, nr. 1847a). The inscription, believed lost, had been seen in the wall of an inhabited building called “house Kamara” (the ancient French and then Prussian consulate) in Jerusalem between Aqabat el-Takiyeh street and Dolorosa Street (see Recio Veganzones 1970, p. 118). In the 1980’s this building became the property of the Custodia di Terra Santa and the inscription was detached from the wall and brought to the Convento della Flagellazione in the Private Archaeological Museum of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, where it is still exhibited today (information kindly provided by Fulvia Ciliberto)
Ancient location: public place

Type and material of the support and text layout

Text category

Honorary inscription for the praet. prefect Domitius Leontius by the ordo of Berytus

Latin text

Critical edition

This edition is based on Recio Veganzones 1970, the last one who transcribed the inscription.

2-3: Leonti[o v(iro) c(larissimo) praefecto Orientis]: Renan 1864, pp. 346-347; Leonti [ . . . ] / praetorio adque o[rd]inario: Waddington 1870, nr. 1847a, ILS 1234, Hall 1999, p. 94; adque o[rdi]inario: Thomson, Woolsey 1848, p. 587, Renan 1864, pp. 346-347, CIL 03, 00167
5: [e]um: Waddington 1870, nr. 1847a , CIL 03, 00167, ILS 1234
9-10: princi/rum: Thomson, Woolsey 1848, p. 587; Berytiorum: all the editors, but on the stone there is a horizontal stroke between Y and T that could be a ligature
11: e[x]: Waddington 1870, nr. 1847a, CIL 03, 00167, ILS 1234; but Waddington 1870 fac-simile read EA: possibly an engraving error due to the initial of the following word (aere).
12: a hole prior to letter chiselling HAB and ITO.

Translations

English

“To [Flavius Domitius] Leontius, praetorian prefect of clarissimus rank and ordinary consul, prompted by his merits which carried him through the single grades of offices to these top heights of distinction, by decrees of the province of Phoenicia having been confirmed by the divine decision of our masters, the eternal princes Constantius and Constans, the council of the Berytians dedicated at their own expense this bronze statue in civilian clothing.”

French

“A [Flavius Domitius] Léontius, clarissime préfet du prétoire et consul ordinaire, promu par ses mérites, qui lui ont permis d’atteindre, à travers les différents rangs des charges, ces postes de très haut niveau, par décision de l’assemblée de la province de Phénicie, ratifiée par la divine sentence de nos seigneurs Constantius et Constans, princes éternels, le conseil de Bérytus a dédié à ses frais cette statue de bronze en tenue civile.”

Italian

“A [Flavius Domitius] Leontius, chiarissimo prefetto pretorio e console ordinario, promosso dai suoi meriti, che gli hanno permesso di raggiungere, attraverso i singoli gradi delle cariche, queste vette delle dignità, per decisione dell’assemblea della provincia della Fenicia, ratificata dalla divina decisione dei nostri signori Costante e Costanzo, eterni principi, il consiglio di Berytus ha dedicato a proprie spese questa statua in bronzo in abiti civili.”

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

The monument was discovered by Thomson in 1848 and «was copied from a large stone which appears to have formed part of a pedestal of a statue found in one of the gardens of Beirut» (see Thomson, Woolsey 1848, p. 587), then before 1862, when Waddington saw our inscription (see Waddington 1870, pp. 441-442), it was already taken from Beirut and brought to the Prussian consulate of Jerusalem in whose walls it was built. The monument was believed lost, nor was there a photograph of it until 1970, when A. Recio Veganzones found and photographed the slab at Jerusalem, in the lower part of the wall of an inhabited building known as the “Kamar house”, the ancient French and Prussian Consulate (part of a group of dwellings between Aqabat et-Takiyeh (Khaski sultan) street number 17 and Dolorosa street, see Recio Veganzones 1970, pp. 118-119; Ciliberto-Ricci 2013, pp. 34-35). In the 1980’s this building became the property of the Custodia di Terra Santa and our inscription was detached from the wall and brought to the Convento della Flagellazione, in the Private Archaeological Museum of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, where it is still exhibited today (information kindly provided by Fulvia Ciliberto; for the monument that flanked the Leontius’ one in the Kamara house and suffered the same detachment from that wall to the Convento della Flagellazione, cf. Ciliberto-Ricci 2013).

The inscription is chiselled on a rectangular grey marble slab broken into two unequal fragments and reduced on the upper middle and right side (it was already reduced when it was at Beirut, but not broken). We agree with Recio Veganzones (1970, p. 123) who thinks there was a first lost line containing the entire onomastics of Leontius.

The inscription chiselled on this slab was attached to an honorific bronze statue base (as always the statue is now lost) and erected to Leontius when he was consul and praetorian prefect of the East. This monument was made by the council (ordo) of Berytus, which took charge of the execution of the decree by the provincial assembly of Phoenicia for the casting of the bronze statue.

In 341/342 AD, Flavius Domitius Leontius (PLRE I, Leontius 20, pp. 502-503; Barnes 1992, pp. 253-254; Moser 2018, pp. 95-96) was attested as praetorian prefect in the college of prefects on the inscription of Traiana, listed in second place after Antonius Marcellinus and before Fabius Titianus (PPRET 22). Then, in 342/344 AD, he appears in first place on the Greek inscription of Delphi, before Fabius Titianus and Baburius Placidus (PPRET 23). The Theodosian Code confirms that he was praetorian prefect from (at least) October 11^th 340 AD (CTh 07, 09, 02) to (at least) July 6^th 344 AD (CTh 13, 04, 03). Then, he also became consul prior in 344 AD with Fl. Bonosus until April and with Fl. Sallustius (who maybe replaced Bonosus) from May until the end of the year (see CLRE, pp. 222-223; cf. Salway 2008, pp. 300-310). Leontius held both the praetorian prefecture and the consulate in 344 AD: the monument from Berytus, that records in full his consulate, has to date to the middle of 344 AD.

The inscription praises the senator for his outstanding climb to such lofty positions: provocantibus eius meritis, quae per singulos honorum grados ad hos eum dignitatum apices provexerunt. Unfortunately, we do not know of any office in his career prior to the praetorian prefecture. Since CTh 09, 01, 07 dated October 11^th 338 AD, citing Leontius as praetorian prefect, overlaps with the prefectural mandate of its predecessor Septimius Acindynys (PLRE I, Acindynus 2, p. 11), the PLRE (I, Leontius 20, pp. 502-503) has supposed a possible vicariate of a diocese.

It is legitimate to question how Leontius’ glorious career might have been connected to the city of Berytus. The city appears quite willing to finance such an expensive monument to the prefect, while the ordo and not the κοινὸν of the province of Phoenicia paid (sumptibus suis). Since there is no reference to an origin or any form of patronage connected to Berytus, Moser suggested that the monument was the result of: a) a Leontius’ sojourn in Berytus; b) some kind of benefit to the city during his prefecture (like that of the prefect Marcellinus, see PPRET 21); c) he had some properties at or near the city and retired there after the end of his prefecture in 344 AD (see Moser 2018, p. 96).

However, Leontius’ acts must have been of some note, since «bronze statues were an outstanding honour that in this period, requiring imperial permission» (sententia divina firmatis dd(ominorum) nn(ostrorum) Constantii et Constantis) (Moser 2018, p. 96; cf. Feissel 1984, pp. 549-550). It cannot be excluded that, perhaps, a special authorization was necessary because the monument was decreed during the year of the consulate of Leontius, before he was discharged from the praetorian prefecture. On the other hand, since several citizens of Berytus, having the same name, would be prominent after him, such as a governor of Phoenicia (PLRE I, Leontius 14, p. 501) and a law professor of the late 5th Century (PLRE II, Leontius 20, p. 672), L. J. Hall suggested that he came from a family that had enjoyed great power not only in Berytus, but also in Phoenicia (see Hall 2004, p. 105).

Our inscription is the last one we know from Berytus in Latin. The city produced more Latin inscriptions than other cities of the Greek-speaking areas (at least 150 Latin inscriptions are found in the city). According to Feissel and also to Hall, this prevalence is directly linked to the status of Berytus as a Roman colony of ancient foundation and as a seat of a distinguished school of Roman law. This massive use of Latin «suggests an ‘audience’ of citizens who would identify with both the linguistic and political implications of ‘Roman’ city life rather than the ‘Greek’ urban structures of other Eastern cities» (see Hall 1999, p. 53; cf. Feissel 2006, pp. 106-107 with nt. 44).

In spite of his high civil functions, the late roman praetorian prefects were traditionally represented with military attributes (see Gehn 2012, pp. 143-144). The council of Berytus therefore specifies that the bronze togatus to be admired above the base is that of a praetorian prefect. For inscriptions indicating that the prefect is to be dressed in civilian clothes cf. Maternus Cynegius (PPRET 75); as regards the clothing style, the inscription of the praetorian prefect of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, M. Bassaeus Rufus, made in Rome in 179/180 AD is important (CIL 06, 41141 = CIL 06, 01599 (pp. 4948-4949) = CIL 06, 31828 = ILS 1326 = EDR 093411).

Bibliography

Barnes T.D., Praetorian Prefects, 337-361, ZPE, 94, 1992, 249-260.

Ciliberto F., Ricci C., Da Beirut a Gerusalemme: un frammento di un sarcofago a ghirlande con tabula iscritta, in Ciliberto F. (a cura di), Tutela, studio, valorizzazione di un patrimonio museale. Atti della Giornata di Studi di Archeologia delle Province Romane, Milano 2013, 33-50.

Feissel D., Notes d’Épigraphie chrétienne VII, BCH, 108, 1984, 545-579.

Feissel D., Les inscriptions dans l’Orient protobyzantin, in Akten des XIV. Internationalen Kongresses für christliche Archäologie (Wien 19-26.9.1999). Frühes Christentum zwischen Rom und Konstantinopel, t. I, Wien-Città del Vaticano 2006, 99-129, pl. 96-100.

Gehn U., Ehrenstatuen in der Spätantike. Chlamydati und Togati, Wiesbaden 2012.

Hall L.J., Latinitas in the Late Antique Greek East: Cultural Assimilation and Ethnic Distinctions, in Byrne S., Cueva E. (eds.), Veritatis Amicitiaeque Causa: Essays in Honor of Anna Lydia Motto and John R. Clark. Chicago 1999, 85-112.

Hall L.J., Roman Berytus: Beirut in Late Antiquity, London-New York 2004.

Moser M., Emperor and Senators in the Reign of Constantius II: Maintaining Imperial Rule between Rome and Constantinople in the Fourth Century A.D., Cambridge 2018.

Recio Veganzones A., Dos inscripciones de Beyrout conservados en Jerusalén, Studium Biblicum Francescanum, Liber Annuus, 20, 1970, 118-137.

Renan E., Mission de Phénice, Paris 1864.

Salway B., Roman Consuls, Imperial Politics, and Egyptian Papyri: The Consulates of 325 and 344 CE, JLA, 1, 2008, 278-310.

Thomson M., Woolsey M., Remarks on Inscriptions, Bibliotheca Sacra and Theological Review, 5, 1848, 586-592.

Waddington W.H., Inscriptiones grecques et latines de la Syrie, Paris 1870.

Praetorian prefects and epigraphic habit