Original scientific paper
On the Shoulders of Titans: Concerning the Location and Circumstances of the Find of the Inscription Bearing the Full Name of the Roman Colony at Pula (CIL V, 8139) and its Significance to Street Names in Pula
Milena Joksimović
; Pula, Croatia
Darko Komšo
orcid.org/0000-0001-9772-7481
; Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula, Croatia
Andrej Bader
; Medulin, Croatia
Tomislav Franić
; Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula, Croatia
Đeni Gobić-Bravar
orcid.org/0000-0002-2738-4791
; Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula, Croatia
Abstract
Talvolta più c’insegna una pietra che non un libro
(“Sometimes a stone teaches us more than a book”)
G. R. Carli
An inscription was found in Pula in 1867 that is our only witness to the full
name of the Roman colony: Colonia Iulia Pola Pollentia Herculanea (CIL
V, 8139). The discovery was received with enthusiasm among contemporary
experts, so much so that two of Pula’s streets and one of its squares were
named in honour of Minerva, the deity referred to in the inscription. The
find was soon followed by another, that of a fragment of another plaque with
a matching inscription (CIL V, 8140).
This paper presents an exhaustive description of the events associated with
these finds and the precise location of the site. We note that the CIL contains
an erroneous datum concerning the find site. We present the previously partially
published correspondence associated with the find of the inscription, involving
Pietro Kandler, Tomaso Luciani, Carlo De Franceschi, Theodor Mommsen, the
discoverer of the inscription Hermann Schram, and Nicolò Rizzi, the podesta
of Pula and, later, a conservator. We propose a new date for a letter of Kandler
to Luciani. We present the finder of the inscription, gendarmerie commander
Hermann Schram, and describe how the discovery of the inscription was
reflected in Pula’s urban toponymy. Lastly, we note the oldest known name of
a street in Pula for which a precise location can be ascertained.
Keywords
Latin epigraphy; archaeology of the Roman period; Roman colony at Pula; Pula; 19th century; Pietro Kandler; Tomaso Luciani; CIL V, 8139; CIL V, 8140
Hrčak ID:
249613
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2020.
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