Original scientific paper
The Altar of Titus Flavius Lucilius
Jasna Jeličić-Radonić
Abstract
In the year of 170, during the Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ rule, new rings of town walls were buildaround the spacious suburbs east and west of the original Salona town centre. The reasons for thiswere the fi rst barbarian attacks of Quadi and Marcomanni at the borders of the Roman Empire. Asthe town spread towards the east and west - the so-called Urbs orientalis and Urbs occidentalis, theparts of the necropolises that were left within the new town walls had to be removed. Namely, fromthe oldest town gates Porta Caesarea the main road led and branched off into two main directions- east and south. From the so-called Porta Graeca the road led towards the west and necropoliseswere formed along that road. The oldest parts of the Salonitan necropolises were never systematicallyresearched. All the fi nds are incidental and give sporadic information about the time of their formingand the ways of their expanding. Numerous tombstones of these earliest graveyards were usedas a building material needed for the fast building of the town walls and consequently they werecompletely removed from the new town areas. Many examples built in the town walls and towerssuch as the altar of Titus Flavius Lucilius have been discovered near Porta Andetria during thepreservation archaeological research in 2001. It was built into the fi rst tower from the south side ofthe town gates. The tower was constructed from the large stone blocks where in the third row fromthe base level the altar of Titus Flavius Lucilius was built in.Considering the place where it was found near Porta Andetria, the altar of Titus Flavius Luciliuswas originally placed within the east Salonitan necropolis, as were some other military stelae ofthe soldiers from the 7th legion. It is an exquisite example of the military tombstone constructedin the Salonitan stonemason workshop in the fi rst half of the 2nd century, with its simple form andthe inscription on the front where all the military functions of the deceased are mentioned, andare represented on the sides in relief. The main story is the military career of Titus Flavius Luciliuspresented in the tradition of the usual military iconography. He is described on a right side relief asa centurio cohortis VIII Voluntariorum that was in Dalmatia of that time; from that military service hewas recruited as an equites singulares Augusti stationed on Celio in Rome where he won high militaryranks: vexillarius equitum singularium Augusti et summus curator equitum singularium Augusti. Hismilitary career ended as a vexillarius equitum singularium Augusti, what is described on the left side ofhis tombstone. As he stayed in Dalmatia when he was centurio cohortis VIII Volunatariorum, and thenwas transferred to Rome as a equites singulares Augusti, after honourable retirement during Hadrian’srule he returned to Salona where in the neighbouring military camps he had once started his militaryservice. He probably organized his life there, and slave Eulogus and his family were part of this. Thatis why his freed slave Eulogus chose Salonitan necropolis to build a tombstone for his patron, forhimself and his descendants. The altar of Titus Flavius Lucilius followed the specifi c development ofthe military iconography typical for the stonemason workshops close to the military camps, such asthe ones in Tiluri. Motifs of military tombstones are taken over and used by other workshops, what isobvious from the example of Lucilius’ altar that proves their activity in making military tombstonesin the 2nd century. Lucilius’ altar is highly developed and popular form of the tombstone of the 2ndcentury that was dominant in the Salonitan necropolises.
Keywords
military altar centurio Coh VIII Vol.; vexilarius equitum singuarium Augusti; summus curator equitum singularu Augusti; Salona; fi rst half of 2nd ct
Hrčak ID:
8309
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2006.
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