Professional paper
Unpublished Inscriptions from Žrnovnica and Salona
Ivan Matijević
Abstract
The paper describes two intact and two fragmented unpublished inscriptions that are kept in MarkoMatijević’s collection in Solin. While dredging the lower fl ow of river Žrnovnica a simple small stela,that has one epitaph on the front and one on the backside appeared. The fi rst epitaph mentionsJulius Trophimus as a commemorator and Trosia Tiha as a deceased. The epitaph does not revealthe nature of their relationship. According to the results of the name analysis, we can conclude thatthese were the people of oriental origin who had arrived to the vicinity of the capital of the provinceduring the second half of the 2nd century. They were both the citizens of Rome, and Tiha was mostprobably a freed slave. Massive arrival of the oriental inhabitants to this part of the fertile Poljicaregion probably led to the secondary parcelling out of the Salonitan ager, which has epigraphicallybeen confi rmed. The back surface of the same monument has another epitaph. The mode of thestone polishing shows that it was made after the previous one. An unknown commemorator hasmade it for a certain Leo. Based on the information about the character of the bearer of this name, amember of local servile population should be recognized. The fi rst epitaph dates from the late 2nd orthe beginning of the 3rd century, while the epitaph on the backside is two or three decades younger.The object of further discussion is a fragment of titulus written in beautiful Roman letters. It wasdiscovered 150 m west of the Salonitan basilica Orientalis. The fragment probably has the nameof Lucius Egnacius Clemens, an augur and town councillor, who had that function during the 1stcentury. He was probably a person who dedicated an altar to Jupiter that was discovered on Klis. Wecould connect it to an altar that mentions libertinus Maximus who got that status owing to Clemens.The last inscription from this paper is also a fragment of a titulus discovered in Grudine, 250 msouth-west of the basilica Orientalis. The fragment defi nitely mentions collegium Veneris or one of themany Salonitan associations. We assume that the fi rst segment of the words could be reconstructedas a tripondium considering the possibility of connecting this word to the existence of the offi cialcollegium rooms and their equipping. This collegium gathered Salonitan tradesmen who took Venusas their protector during the 3rd century. The monument dates from the second half of the 3rdcentury.
Keywords
stela; Orientals; slaves; Egnatii; collegium Veneris
Hrčak ID:
8311
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2006.
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