MENSA ROTVNDA EPIGRAPHICA NAPOCENSIS E ditors:
Radu Ardevan Eugenia Beu-Dachin
“ BA B E Ș - B O LYA I ” U N I V E R S I T Y | C E N T E R F O R R O M A N S T U D I E S
MENSA ROTVNDA EPIGRAPHICA NAPO CEN SIS E ditors:
Radu Ardevan Eugenia Beu-Dachin
Mega Publishing House Cluj‑Napoca 2016
This volume was published with the financial aid of the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI), within the project PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0412, contract nr. 230/5.10.2011, developed under the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. Papers of the 4th Romanian-Hungarian epigraphic round table, Mensa rotunda epigraphiae Dacicae Pannonicaeque, held in Cluj-Napoca, 16–17 October 2015.
DTP and cover: Francisc BAJA
© Authors, 2016
Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României Mensa Rotunda Epigraphica Napocensis / ed.: Radu Ardevan, Eugenia Beu-Dachin. - Cluj-Napoca : Mega, 2016 ISBN 978-606-543-747-0 I. Ardevan, Radu (ed.) II. Beu-Dachin, Eugenia (ed.) 902
Editura Mega | www.edituramega.ro e‑mail:
[email protected]
Contents
Foreword
7
Lucrețiu Mihailescu-Bîrliba Notes sur deux inscriptions de Dacie romaine
9
Ádám Szabó Barbaricatus. Notes on the inscription of a funerary stela from Intercisa
13
Rada Varga Aurelius Aquila, negotiator ex provincia Dacia. A prosopographic reconstruction
27
Ioan Piso Die rätselhafte Cohors I Augusta aus der Dacia Porolissensis
35
Zsolt Mráv Two inscribed bronze tabulae ansatae in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest
47
Dan-Augustin Deac Graffiti on ceramic medallions depicting Isis and Sarapis from Roman Dacia
59
György Németh Erecura in Pannonia
71
Sorin Nemeti Travel inscriptions from Roman Dacia
81
Csaba Szabó, Imola Boda, Victor Bunoiu, Călin Timoc Notes on a new Mithraic inscription from Dacia
91
Zsolt Visy Die spätesten Inschriften von Intercisa
105
Radu Ardevan Once more on the last inscriptions of Roman Dacia
125
Péter Kovács The literary sources of Constantius II’s war against the Sarmatians
161
Carmen Fenechiu The vocabulary of family in inscriptions from the central part of Dacia Superior
193
Ştefania Lalu Mater and pater collegii in Dacia
205
Eugenia Beu-Dachin About the concept of soldier in the Latin inscriptions from Dacia
211
Eugenia Beu-Dachin The vocabulary of the wax tablets from Alburnus Maior
221
Bence Fehér Conclusions on demography as shown in the epigraphic sources of a provincial community. The case of Aquincum
265
Abbreviations
277
Mensa rotunda epigraphica Napocensis, Cluj-Napoca 2016, p. 27–34
Aurelius Aquila, negotiator ex provincia Dacia. A prosopographic reconstruction Rada Varga* Abstract: The paper presents the results of a micro-history research, resulting in the prosopographical reconstruction of negotiator Aurelius Aquila’s family and close social/business entourage. The mobility of traders, as well as the endurance of certain ties over time, is suggested by tracing the investigated characters in Dacia and Dalmatia, over a period of (presumably) more than 20 years. Keywords: merchants, prosopography, personal network, trade.
T
he present research focuses on two inscriptions from Roman Salona (CIL III 2086 and CIL III 2006) and the characters they reveal. While we were initially interested in the prosopographical reconstruction of a Roman merchant’s family and social connections, the investigation for the monu‑ ments themselves proved to be exciting as well. The first inscription received some attention in Romanian bibliography1, as its dedicator was a former decurio of Potaissa, negotiator ex provincia Dacia. Nonetheless, a picture with the inscription was impossible to locate – the online sources didn’t register images2 and we weren’t able to find one in any publication. According to CIL, the monument was located in Venice, which proved indeed to be true. Its most detailed – and surprising – description comes from D. Bertolini3, Italian archaeologist who, among others, coordi‑ nated the excavations from Concordia. In 1885, he saw the monument inside a shop in Venice and his description of it is as such: the inscription is part of the
This article is the result of a wider research concerning the occupational inscription from the Latin-language provinces of the Roman Empire (Fritz Thyssesn Stiftung postodctoral fellowship). 1 IDRE 299 with bibliography. 2 HD 058504; EDCS–27700136. The inscription is not registered in ubi-erat-lupa.org. 3 D. Bertolini, Notizie degli scavi di Antichità, Roma 1885. *
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2.25 × 0.65 meters front of a sarcophagus; the area was divided in five registers and the inscription placed centrally. On the sides, there are representations of a Genius and of Mercurius. The author says the reliefs were rudely executed and the monument was generally deteriorated from exposure.
Fig. 1. Caption from D. Bertolini.
On the caption from CIL (listed below), one notices the interesting duplica‑ tion of D and M from D(is) M(anibus), a particularity left out from Bertolini’s transcription. Otherwise, the texts are generally congruent and we must keep in mind that the Italian scholar might have seen a much more deteriorated monument than Mommsen had, a couple of years before. Unfortunately, the artifact is now lost and it seems that nobody registered seeing it after Bertolini4.
Fig. 2. Caption of CIL III 2086. I thank Dr. Stefano Magnani and Lorenzo Calvelli for their help in finding bibliography and data on this inscription.
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Aurelius Aquila, negotiator ex provincia Dacia. A prosopographic reconstruction
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The text reads: DD(is) MM(anibus) / V(aleriae?) Ursin(a)e T(iti) f(iliae) con(iugi) inc(omparabili) d(e)f(unctae) an(norum) / [3] m(ensium) VI d(ierum) V Aur(elius) Aquila dec(urio) Pata/vissensis neg(otiator) ex pro(vincia) Dacia b(ene) m(erenti) / p(osuit) et sibi cum qua / vixit an(nos) VII sine / ulla querella. Regarding the second inscription, we couldn’t find any picture of it in bib‑ liography either5. Luckily, we could locate this monument in the custody of the Arheološki muzej u Splitu6. It is registered under number A–114, the year of find is 1823 and the place is Salona (without additional details). The dimen‑ sions – also lacking from bibliography – are: 72 × 60 × 37 centimetres.
Fig. 3. Photo of CIL III 2006, from the epigraphical collection of the Archaeological Museum of Split (photo Mario Radaljac).
Though today the inscription is quite deteriorated, the text was supposed to have read: T(ito) Aureli(o) / Apollo/nio fra/tri eius / |(centurioni) coh(ortis) I |(milliariae) / def(uncto) Sirmi / ann(orum) XXXIII / Aur(elius) Aqu/ila pater / infeliciss/imus vivu/s fecit et // Aureli(!) / F(lavi) neg/otiantis(!) / natione / Suri(!) / defunc/to ann/orum / LV / Sirmi / et // [Au]r(elio) Luciano def(uncto) an[n(orum) ---] / amico eor(um) mer[enti]. HD 054337; EDCS–27601572. The monument is also absent fom ubi-erat-lupa.org. We thank the museum and especially the curator of the epigraphical collection, Mr. Mario Radaljac, for providing us the picture and offering all the available data on the monument.
5 6
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Regardless its peculiarities, the CIL reading seems to be accurate: the preserved parts correspond exactly, as does the rendering of the symbol for milliaria.
Fig. 4. Caption of CIL III 2006.
The two inscriptions haven’t been connected before, though the central individual, the dedicator, bears the same name. The details which support an identity of character are more than Aurelius Aquila’s mere name. Thus, in the first inscription we have Aquila, decurio of Potaissa7 and negotiator from Dacia, erecting a funerary monument for his wife, Valeria Ursina, daughter of Titus, and for himself. The two spouses lived together, without a single fight, the text says, for seven years. Even if the decurio had in mind to be buried along his wife, he lived for many years on, if we are to consider the second monument. The fact that the stone itself is badly deteriorated is a drawback for interpreta‑ tion and the brother-father duality is problematic to explain. It is unclear if Titus Aurelius Apollonius is Aquila’s son or brother, but we would opt for the former, due to the name Titus, which is also the name of Aquila’s father in law from the first inscription – and the only praenomen registered in the discussed inscription, thus probably of certain relevance for the dedicator. The only The form Patavissa is also recorded from Ulpianus, Digestae L.15.1.
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Aurelius Aquila, negotiator ex provincia Dacia. A prosopographic reconstruction
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explanation we have found for the duality of roles8 refers to a semantic over‑ lapping of terms denominating both family connections and business relation‑ ships. As well, it could denote a religious relation – and maybe this hypothesis is more plausible, as initiation degrees could be as important as blood-ties. Another possibility, given the name from the wife’s family, is that Apollonius was Aquila’s brother-in-law, a bigger age gap justifying the paternal feelings as well. Nonetheless, Apollonius was 33 years old at the time of his death, thus indicating a large interval between the erection of the two monuments – as Aquila and Ursina had been married for seven years, the child must have been very young at the time of his mother’s death. This detail makes the lack of a paleographical comparison less important, as there is a strong chance to deal with different carvers/carving workshops. One more presumably relevant detail is the fact that Titus Aurelius Apollonius was the centurion of a cohors milliaria. Most probably we are not dealing with an auxiliary unit, but with the (first)9 cohort of a legion. As he died at Sirmium, the most obvious choice for this legion is Legio II Adiutrix from Aquincum, but it was not compulsory so. Another data that indicates a probable identity comes within the sphere of profession and occupational status. The first inscription reveals that Aquila is a negotiator. One of the friends for whom he erects the second monument – and we can safely assume close ties, as they were buried along his son – is also a negotians: Aurelius Flavus, negotians natione Surus. This latter character might point towards the group’s closer connection with Dacia: an Aurelius Flavius, (self-professed) Syrian merchant, is present on a dedication for Iupiter Optimus Maximus Dolichenus from Apulum10. Expectedly, these two are the only epigraphs from the Empire which attest Aurelius Flavus, negotiator Surus11. Though caution is required, the “coincidence” is too big to be disre‑ garded. The great mobility of merchants and traders12 has always been attested and accepted as such, and there is no reason to doubt it in this case either. W. Broekaert, Navicularii et negotiantes: a prosopographical study of Roman merchants and shippers, Rahden 2013, p. 39. 9 Vegetius, Epitoma 2.6 states that only the first cohors of a legion is milliaria. 10 CIL III 7761 = IDR III/5, 218 = HD 038327. 11 The character has been formerly identified with Aurelius Flavus, a decurio from Porolissum during Gordian III’s reign (Fl. Matei-Popescu, The origin of the Tradesmen in Dacia, in D. Boteva-Boyanova, L. Mihailescu-Bîrliba, O. Bounegru (Hrsg.), Pax Romana: Kulturaustausch und Wirtschaftsbeziehungen in den Donauprovinzen des römischen Kaiserreichs, Kaiserlautern 2012, p. 88), but we believe the proofs towards identifying him with the negotians Surus from Dalmatia are stronger. 12 L. de Salvo, Mobilità di mercanti nell’Occidente romano, L’Africa Romana, 16, Sassari 2004, p. 777. 8
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Fig. 5. Gephi-generated graph of Aquila’s socio-familial network.
The only real interpretation problem is dating the inscriptions. The latest research on the negotiantes13 dates the first two inscriptions during the same time span, AD 100–200 – and we can certainly state that a more accurate dating is impossible without contexts of discovery or a mere photo of the monuments. The general presence of the nomen Aurelius might be a tempting clue for a later dating, but it is not per se a firm proof. Towards this directions were our efforts directed, as we hoped to find (or not to find) paleographic similitudes between the two epigraphs. Unfortunately, this was not possible 13 W. Broekaert, Navicularii …, p. 36–37, p. 38–39. As well, Broekaert takes into consideration that we might be dealing with the same person, but doesn’t develop on this hypothesis.
Aurelius Aquila, negotiator ex provincia Dacia. A prosopographic reconstruction
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and it won’t be until we locate (if it still exists) the first monument. In the case of the monument from Dacia, the dating was commonly indicated based on the onomastic criterion (the nomina Aurelius and the absence of praenomina) and on the attestation of the Dolichenian cult. Given all presented data, we believe the three inscriptions can be dated at the end of the 2nd century – first half of the 3rd century AD. Aurelius Aquila was a decurio in Potaissa at some point in his youth – actu‑ ally, he could have kept his position even after departing, as being a member of local aristocracy was not exclusively a matter of rank, but of social status as well. Subsequently, he moved to Dalmatia, probably working as a negotiator and, at Salona, buried a young wife. Around 25 years later, he buried his son, a centurion who died at Sirmium, in Pannonia Inferior, and two friends. One of them, Aurelius Flavus, seems to have been an older business connection, as the negotiator Surus had also activated in Dacia, being formerly attested on a monument from Apulum. This small scale prosopographical reconstruction offers details on the great mobility of traders in the Roman Empire, as well as on how strong and time-enduring business connections could be. Rada Varga Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
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