Inscription commemorating the works on the Canopus canal (Egypt) carried out by the will of Tatianus praet. prefect
source date: 388/390 AD
edition published: 2021-05-14
availability: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Σπουδῇ Φλαύιου Εὐτολμίου Τατιανοῦ τοῦ λαμπροτάτου καὶ ὑπάρχοντος ἐπάρχου τοῦ ἱεροῦ πραιτωρίου, ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως, ὁ ποταμὸς ἐκκεκάθαρται ἀπὸ θεμελίων ἐπὶ τὰ γʹ στερεά, βάθους πήχεων δέκα, πλάτους πήχεων ἐννέα, μήκους πήχεων δισχιλίων, τουτῷ τῷ ἔργῳ ἐπικείμενου Πουβλίου Ἀρρίου Ἀλεξάνδρου, τοῦ περιβλέπτου κόμητος πρώτου τάγματος καὶ αὐγουσταλίου πάσης τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως.

Edition based on Bernand 1970, p. 341.

“Grazie allo zelo di Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, chiarissimo prefetto del sacro pretorio, ex prefetto della diocesi d’Egitto, il canale è stato ripulito fin dalle fondazioni, nelle tre dimensioni, per dieci cubiti in profondità (m. 5,25), per nove cubiti in larghezza (m. 4,72), per duemila cubiti in lunghezza (m. 1040), sotto la supervisione di Publius Arrius Alexander, spettabile conte del primo ordine e prefetto Augustale dell’intera diocesi di Egitto”

“Thanks to the zeal of Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, of clarissimus rank, prefect of the sacred praetorium, ex prefect of the diocese of Egypt, the canal has been dredged from the foundations, in three dimensions, for ten cubits in depth (m. 5,25), for nine cubits in width (m. 4,72), for two thousand cubits in length (m. 1040), under the supervision of Publius Arrius Alexander, spectabilis count of the first order and prefect Augustalis of the entire diocese of Egypt”

(Bernand 1970, pp. 341-342)

“Par la bienveillance de Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, le clarissime, qui est préfet du saint prétoire, ex-gouverneur du diocèse d’Égypte, le canal se trouve curé depuis les fondations, dans les trois dimensions, sur dix coudées (5 m., 25) de profondeur, neuf coudées (4 m., 72) de largeur, deux mille coudées (1040 m.) de longueur, sous la direction de Publius Arrius Alexander, illustre comte du premier rang et préfet augustal de tout le diocèse d’Égypte”

The text was engraved on a fragment of a white marble slab, which was found near Aboukir or Abu Qir (Egypt, 13 Km North-West of Alexandria; Hairy, Sennoune 2006, p. 276, fig. 1; ancient topography cf. Barrington Atlas 74 C 2). It was found by the French naturalist Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751-1812) in 1778, during his two-year journey through Ottoman Egypt (Sonnini 1799, p. 112; cf. Bernand 1970, p. 340; Hairy, Sennoune 2006, p. 262). The slab was reused as a part of the pavement of a muslim saint’s tomb, the precise location of which is no longer known. By following the indications provided by the discoverer in Voyage dans la Haute et la Basse Egypte (Sonnini 1799, p. 112), Bernand (1970, pp. 343-344) believes that the tomb may have been located on the road connecting Abukir to Kérioun, that is to say, between ancient Alexandria and Chaireon/Schedia. Sonnini (1799) also relates that his companion, a Bedouin sheikh named Hussein, felt few scruples about pulling the inscription up from the tomb’s pavement, nor selling it to him. He states that the slab was stolen, so it is lost and we have no information about its current location. In his edition, Sonnini provides the reader with a description of the slab, which appears to be missing the entirety of its right side; he also furnishes a transcription, French translation and notes. Despite thanking J.B. Gail, professor of Greek literature at the ‘College de France’ in 1792 for his help, both the reading and the interpretation are full of mistakes.

The inscription reveals a gap of five-letters in the first line, as described by Sonnini (1799): «La moitié de la première ligne était effacée; le reste était bien conservé, mais les caractères en étaient assez mal formés». In fact, the text is fragmentary and all the right side of the epigraphic field is lost. Some attempts have been made to re-establish the missing part. After Sonnini’s transcription, the text was published in 1853 by J. Franz in CIG 03, 4693, with a capitalized transcription, a lower case transcription and a small Latin commentary. A little later, C. Wescher (1866, p. 155) reconstructed the first two lines, basing his interpretation on the text chiselled on the statue base from Antinoupolis (PPRET 86), upon which Tatianus is also mentioned. Thanks to Wescher, the name of the praetorian prefect Eutolmius Tatianus, partially illegible, was restored in the first line of the Canopus inscription. This was achieved by comparing the Canopus inscription with the inscription of Antinoupolis in Egypt, that was similar and featured Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus (see PPRET 86). W. Kubitschek (1918, p. 69), in his important study on the inscription from Myra (PPRET 88), which also mentions the prefect Eutolmius Tatianus, has produced the best integration of the missing part of the inscription from Canopus. In 1950 E. Kiessling (SB 05, 8295) published Franz’s 1853 text, without taking into account the restorations of Wescher and Kubitschek, much to Robert’s chagrin (Robert in BE 1952, p. 187, nr. 178). Bernand (1970, pp. 340-346) provides the main edition of our inscription.

The Greek inscription commemorates the repairs carried out on the Canopus canal between 388 and 390 AD. The works were supervised by Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus, the praetorian prefect of the East between 388 and 392 AD (on Tatianus see PLRE I, pp. 876-878 and below; his inscritpions: PPRET 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87 with analysis of his career, 88, 91). The inscription can be dated through the reference to Publius Arrius Alexander, who actually supervised the restoration of the canal near Alexandria. He was praefectus Augustalis under Theodosius I, from the Autumn of 388 to March 390 AD (his titulature is cited in CTh 13, 05, 18 on February 18th 390 AD, and in CI 10, 40, 08 on March 01st 390 AD; cf. PLRE I, p. 42; Seeck 1906, p. 54; Vandersleyen 1962, pp. 22 nr. 57 and 179; Lallemand 1964, p. 70; Agostini 2019, pp. 291-292. His successor Evagrius [PLRE I, p. 286] he is reported to have taken office on June 16th 391 AD, CTh 16, 10, 11). Libanius attests that Alexander was highly esteemed by Tatianus (Lib., Ep. 0871 and Lib., Ep. 0882). The time of Alexander’s prefecture over the Aegyptian dioecesis overlaps with Eutolmius Tatianus’ prefectural career, who, as said, was praetorian prefect of the East from 388 to 392 AD.

The text observed by Sonnini does not clarify the specific type of work the prefect was meant to be supervising. Franz (1853) conjectures that it could be the construction of walls or fortifications and that the missing part of the text might have referred of a τεῖχος (l. 3). Kubitschek (1918) believes it could have been the construction of a pier, while Lallemand (1964) suspects that it might have been a building. However, Bernand (1970) is inclined to consider the possibility of hydraulic works upon a canal, for three reasons: 1) we are not aware of fortification works or walls in the area from which the inscription comes; 2) the dimensions provided by the inscription are not compatible with those of walls or buildings; the three dimensions mentioned in the inscription are suitable for the size of a channel; 3) P. Arrius Alexander appears in an honorary epigram on a white marble stone found in 1897 near the canal Maḥmūdiyya at Hagar el Nawatieh (Botti, 1901, 540, nr. 11; Bernand 1969, nr. 124; Bernand 1970, pp. 335-336, nr. 5; cf. Hairy, Sennoune 2006, pp. 261-262), which commemorates his responsability for the Alexandrian canal: “Je suis le prix des travaux du vaillant Alexandre, témoignage du canal qu’il a fait curer au prix de tant de peines, afin que les bateaux transportent facilement leur cargaison, sans qu’elle ait à souffrir” (transl. Bernand 1970). The works were probably intended to keep the canal that connected the Canopic branch of the Nile delta to the city of Alexandria navigable. Finally, Bernand (1970) concludes by assuming that the inscription of Hagar el-Nawatieh (which only mentions the supervision of P. Arrius Alexander) and Tatianus’ inscription, mark the beginning and the end of the works undertaken on the Canopus canal in 388-390 AD.

Furthermore Bernand (1970) also states that ἀπὸ θεμελίων (l. 4), which generally indicates the foundations of a building, takes up the final lines of the inscription from Schèdia, Alexandria’s port on the Canopian Nile (cf. Bernand 1970, pp. 334-335; on the excavation at Schèdia, under the direction of M. Bergmann and M. Heinzelmann, see http://www.schedia.de). Two inscriptions from Schèdia mention the works carried out on the Philagrianos River under the reigns of Titus and Domitian (OGIS 672 = IGR 01, 1098 = SB 05, 8902 = Bernand 1970, p. 412, nr. 10, on 80/81 AD; OGIS 673 = IGR 01, 1099 = SB 05, 8903 = Bernand 1970, p. 412, nr. 11, on 86/87 AD, cf. Hairy, Sennoune 2006, p. 261). Bernand (1970, pp. 332-333) also points out that canal bottoms were generally covered with stone slabs. In the Schèdia inscription a further distinction is made between the slabs covering the bottom and those covering and supporting the walls. The fragment on which Tatianus’ inscription from Canopus was engraved could therefore be one of the stone slabs referred to on the steles of Schèdia, the use of which may have continued until the 4th Century and could have had the purpose of commemorating the works carried out in the canal.

Tatianus completed different works on Egypt’s infrastructure that also left a trace in the late literary sources and papyri for a very long time. In the eighth-century Excerpta Latina Barbari – a Latin translation of a Greek 5th Century world chronicle, likely compiled in Alexandria, also called the Barbarus Scaligeri – at year 375 this entry was inserted: Hic (= Tatianus) condidit in Alexandria fluvium qui vocatur ‘Tatianus’ et portas fecit auro perfusas, quae nunc dicuntur Petrinae (MGH AA 09, Chron. Min. 01, p. 296). The date is certaily wrong, because on 375 AD Tatianus was comes sacrarum largitionum at Constantinople (see below), but during one of Tatianus’ tenures over Egypt, the senator did carry out work on the canals in the metropolis. Still in the 6th Century AD, a papyrus receipt from Hermopolis mentions a toponym near Alexandria called “Tatianus’ Doors” (Πυλῶν Τατιανοῦ, in P. Cairo Masp. 67168, ll. 81 and 85). In the 7th Century AD, John the Coptic Bishop of Nikiû in the Nile Delta (635-690 AD) states that: “a man named Tatianus was appointed prefect of Alexandria, which is the chief city of Egypt. And he built, in the place called Abrâkjûn, the two stone gates with enormous labour and he made these gates for the passage of the great river, and he fortified the country of Egypt” (Chron. 82, 20, transl. Charles 1916, p. 84).

Tatianus completed important road and river connections between Alexandria and the Delta region. The Roman administration was well aware of the relationship between the Nile floods and the fertility of its valley and paid the phenomenon very special attention. Since the visible traces of the canal’s old course are no longer visible, our inscription constitutes an important testimony to its existence and the maintenance works carried out upon it. For centuries the canal had not only supplied the city and other nearby agglomorations (Taposiris Magna, Plinthine) with water, it had also allowed the transport of goods, favouring agricultural development in these territories (see Parcak 2010; Pellacani 2012; McCormick 2013; above all Blouin 2014). It is difficult to say whether these works were carried out when Tatianus was praetorian prefect (388-392 AD) or whether some of them were executed during one of his previous assignments in Egypt (364/370 AD). This aspect calls for a brief reflection on his career.

The Canopus inscription celebrates Tatianus as acting praetorian prefect (of the East, ll. 1-2), when the canal works were carried out, but also records his previous assignment as prefect of Egypt (ll. 2-3). Tatianus held three positions in which Egypt fell within his jurisdiction. He was praeses Thebaidos in 364-366 AD, praefectus Aegypti in 367-370 AD, and after being consularis Syriae, he was comes Orientis in 370-373 AD, when Egypt was not yet an independent diocese and the comes Orientis was also the vicarius of the praetorian prefects for the Nile Valley (then, after becoming comes sacrarum largitionum in 374-380 AD, Tatianus was appointed praetorian prefect of the East in 388 AD. On Tatianus’ career, cf. Seeck 1906, pp. 285-288; Ensslin 1932; PLRE I, pp. 876-878; Delmaire 1989, pp. 62-67; Petit 1994, pp. 240-243; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 394-407; see PPRET 87).

In the Canopus inscription, Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus is referred to as ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως (ll. 2-3). Unfortunately, the lacuna in the right-hand side of the epigraphic field deprives us of the valuable indication regarding the position held by Tatianus (in 367-370 AD) and by Alexander (in 388-390 AD). The sources suggest that Tatianus was praefectus (ἔπαρχος) and that Arrius Alexander was Augustalis (αὐγουστάλιος). Concerning Tatianus’ appointment in Egypt (367-370 AD), the contemporary sources always refer to him as ἔπαρχος Αἰγύπτου (PPRET 87). Later in the Sidyma inscription (dated to 391/400 AD), where the complete cursus honorum of Tatianus is preserved, his second assignment in Egypt is expressed with the phrase “he obtained power over all Egypt” (ἀρχήν λάχεν ... Αἰγύπτου πάσης). In the inscription of Canopus (dated to 388/390 AD) both the prefect Tatianus and the Augustalis Alexander are administrating a dioecesis (Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως, ll. 2-3 and 8-9). When the inscriptions of Canopus and Sidyma were chiselled post 388 AD, the diocese of Egypt and the praefectus Augustalis had already existed for some time. Scholars conjecture whether in 367-370 AD Tatianus was already vicar of an independent dioecesis, separate from the East, or whether he was given some special assignment before the creation of a separate Aegyptian diocese. Could Tatianus have been the first praefectus Augustalis, or did the Aegyptian dioecesis that he had been given bear a different title from those that came later? Do the terms Αἰγύπτου πάσης (“all Egypt” in Sidyma), and Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως (“the diocese of Egypt” in Canopus) already indicate a diocese, or do they only refer to an extended province of Egypt within the ancient and much larger diocese of Oriens. The office held by Tatianus in Egypt has been the focus of a debate (see PPRET 87, commentary to line 6). The sources allow us to date the birth of the independent diocese of Egypt entrusted to the new diocesan vicarius called praefectus Augustalis between March 17th 380 and July 11th 381 AD. The reform, promoted by Theodosius I, seems to have reinforced the administration of Egypt during the Gothic crisis in Illyricum. A constitution issued on March 8th 383 AD (CTh 12, 01, 097) is the first explicit evidence of the existence of the diocese of Egypt, created as an administrative area separate from the diocese of Oriens. The studies of Palme (1998), Errington (2002, p. 76) and Mratscheck (2012, p. 263), plead for an expansion of the province of Egypt in the 370’s. The redefinement of the bounderies involved the incorporation of Heptanomia and the entire Delta, but with the reduction of the province of Augustamnica. These transformations under-pinned the institution of Egypt as an independent diocese in 380/382 AD, controlled by its new diocesan governor, the praefectus Augustalis. To conclude, although the Canopus inscription is incomplete, according to the reconstructions of Errington (2002, pp. 76-77), Mratschek (2012, pp. 262-264), Olszaniec (2013, pp. 396-397), it seems likely that Tatianus – defined here as ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως (ll. 2-3) – was at that point only the former prefect of the enlarged province of Egypt, administered by him in 367-370 AD. He was thus, not the first vicarius (called praefectus Augustalis) of the new independent dioecesis of Egypt, while P. Arrius Alexander referred to as αὐγουσταλίου πάσης τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς διοικήσεως (ll. 8-9) was the praefectus Augustalis of the independent diocese of Egypt in the years 388-390 AD.

When Tatianus was prefect of (the enlarged) Egypt and thus responsable for the Nile delta, it is possible that major infrastructure works for Alexandria were undertaken at that time (367-370 AD) and were completed in the following twenty years. It seems that several governors of the provinces and diocese of Egypt were clients supported by Tatianus in the 370’s and 380’s AD. It is thus likely that Tatianus' building projects in Egypt were also supported by other administrators in this period. Arrius Alexander was highly esteemed by Tatianus (above), while Flavius Ulpius Erythrius (PLRE I, pp. 283-284; Agostini 2019, pp. 289-291) praeses Thebaidos in 384-385 AD, then praefectus Augustalis in 388, seems to be related to Tatianus. As for Flavius Eutolmius Arsenius, praeses Thebaidos in 388 AD, he too was a relative (PLRE I, p. 111; Agostini 2019, pp. 381-382; Scharf 1991). Fl. Septimius Eutropius praeses Thebaidos in 389 AD (PLRE I, p. 318; Agostini 2019, pp. 382-383) and Fl. Asclepiades Hesychius, praeses Thebaidos 390-392 (PLRE I, p. 429; Agostini 2019, pp. 383-386) were also Tatianus’ clients (concerning Tatianus strong client base, for the most part recruited in Lycia, cf. CTh 09, 38, 09, on August 31st 396 AD). Perhaps the reference in the Canopus inscription to Tatianus’ previous assignment in Egypt, when he was by then praetorian prefect, demonstrates that the works on the Canopus canal were the completion of other works undertaken by Tatianus and his clients in and around Alexandria and its delta.

The complicated network of connections in the administration perhaps explains why the name of Tatianus was not removed from the Canopus inscription. In the Spring/Summer 392 AD, Tatianus was removed from the praetorian prefecture and was put on trial; at the end of a long trial he was sentenced to death, but the punishment was commuted to banishement, confiscation of his property and the damnatio memoriae (see PPRET 87 and 91). His son Proculus (cf. PLRE I, pp. 746-747), was also condemned and was executed near Constantinople in December 393 AD (see PPRET 89). This fall from grace caused Tatianus’ name to be erased from many inscriptions (PPRET 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88), but not at Canopus (in the inscription from Antinoupolis in honour of the emperors Valentinianus II, Theodosius I, Arcadius and Honorius the name of Tatianus was erased, see PPRET 86). Probably the location of the inscription outside Alexandria, along the Canopus Cannal, the benefits that Tatianus’ works had brought to the inhabitants and the positive memory that people still had of him (still referred to in 6th and 7th Century sources) preserved his name from erasure. That being said, in the imperial inscription inside the city of Antinoupolis (Thebais) the name of Tatianus had to be deleted.

Sonnini 1799, pp. 112-116 (with fac-simile) CIG 03, 4693 (with diplomatic transcription) Kubitscheck 1918, p. 69 SB 05, 8295 Bernand 1970, p. 341 Delmaire 1989, pp. 64-65

PHI 228282 TM 103911

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Canopus canal

τοῦ λαμπροτάτου

τοῦ λαμπροτάτου καὶ ὑπάρχοντος ἐπάρχου τοῦ ἱεροῦ πραιτωρίου