Four previously unpublished epigraphic monuments

Abstract

Hundreds of epigraphic monuments, that were found by now in Bosnia and Herzegovina, make authentic evidence about political, cultural and social heritage of the people of that time in the province of Dalmatia (Dalmatia) and two parts of Pannonia (Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior). Although systematic research is unknown, the number of newly discovered epigraphic monuments in Bosnia and Herzegovina has increased significantly and four more epigraphic monuments will be added to the body of epigraphic material. Two of them were found in the wider area of Trebinje, while the rest were found in Crkvina near Makljenovac (Doboj). All four monuments belong to different types of epigraphic inscriptions. A milestone and a fragment of a cippus was found in Trebinje. The milestone dates from the III century and can be put in year 236 during the reign of the emperor Maximinus Thrax (Imperator Caesar Caius Iulius Verus Maximinus Augustus 235–238) and his son Maximus (Gaius Julius Verus Maximus Princeps Iuventutis). There is a posibility that the monument was a part of communication network that was passing through the Nevesinje field to Sarajevo field or to the municipal unit Aque. This milestone is today exposed in the Museum of Herzegovina.
In the body of epigraphic material from the area of Epidaurus (Ager Epidauritanus) should also be added epigraphic tombstone found in 1999 in Trebinje. Only three partial lines of text have been preserved. As on the majority of sepulcher monuments from the area of Trebinje, a person mentioned in it’s inscription has nomen Aelius. Based on the gentile nomen it can be concluded that terminus ante quem of the monument’s origin is the first half of the II century AD.
The third epigraphic finding that has been analyzed in this work is a seal on the brick found in the locality of Makljenovac near Doboj. Inscription on the brick from Crkvina near Makljenovac is rather unusual for the Western Balkans area. Its analysis required comparison to textually similar inscriptions from the other parts of the Roman Empire. This type of text is mostly present on public (tituli publici) or private inscriptions from the buildings (tituli privati), and it has the purpose of honorary inscriptions and is rarely used as a seal on the objects that are used (instrumentum). The seal shows that the brick dates from the period of reign of the emperor Septimius Severus (Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Eusebes Pertinax Augustus 193–211). Terminus ante quem of the brick’s manufacture is year 202, while terminus post quem is year 2011. Word cesar should be read in plural because all monuments that have abbreviation CVC are referring to principes Septimius Severus and his sons and successors Caracalla and Geta. Possibility of workshop’s existence shouldn’t be denied, because it would exist over a relatively short period of time and closely related to internal purposes of building a castrum. These workshops were not obligated to put a seal on a material that was produced for internal purposes, that didn’t include masive production for export, or they would put it on a smaller number of produced items. However, great dislocation of epigraphic material with abbreviation CVC would mostly point to import than to domestic production.
In Crkvina near Makljenovac was found another ancient epigraphic monument that wasn’t published by now. This is a votive ara dedicated to supreme Roman god Jupiter. From all epigraphic monuments mentioned in this work, maybe it would be pretentious to say that this votive ara is the most valuable, although its analysis can give some guidelines regarding specifying interprovincial borderline for Dalmatia and Pannonia. Historical value of this monument is not in votive formula or onomastic structure of dedicant’s name, but in the name of cohort that appears on it. In the third line of text can be seen what’s left of a word Delmatis – a dative of the word Dalmatarum that was official name for cohort. In the fifth line, a formula is preserved that specifies this was the case of Cohors prima Delmatarum milliaria equitata. This is first material evidence for the existence of this cohort in Doboj. Cohort, whose name appears on epigraphic monument from Doboj, probably dates from ‘80s of the first century AD, after withdrawal of the Roman legions from the province of Dalmatia. This cohort is considered the one that was de facto for entire principate stationed in its „native“ province of Dalmatia and that it represents one of the indigenous cohorts, conditionally speaking. Confirmation that Cohors prima Delmatarum milliaria equitata was stationed in castrum on Makljenovac is a good indicator that Romans took care of interprovincial borderlines, not only limes.