Zubar Olbia

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A NEW TOMBSTONE WITH A LATIN EPITAPH FROM OLBIA

VITALII M. ZUBAR and YULIIA I. KOZUB

In the rst centuries AD Olbia was caught up in the orbit of the RomanEmpires foreign policy and, evidently in connection with the threat from thebarbarians, a permanent Roman garrison was set up in the city, which consistedof soldiers from the Empires Lower Moesian Army. 1 To judge from the datacurrently available, the Roman vexillatio , which included not only legionariesbut also soldiers from auxiliary armies, was stationed there at least from the latesixties or early seventies of the 2 nd century to the middle of the 3 rd century. 2

Yet in comparison, for example, with Tauric Chersonesos, 3 so far only a fewinscriptions in Latin have been found in Olbia left behind by the Romanservicemen or members of their families, on the basis of which it might have beenpossible to form an idea of the character or size of the citys Roman garrison orto carry out fruitful investigations regarding the question of the Roman militarypresence in that ancient city. For this reason every new nd is a focus of close

interest and requires an individual publication.4

In the summer of 1994, during excavation of part of the Olbian necropolisdating from the early centuries AD and situated along the edge of the westernplateau of the site Zayachya Balka (Sector G), a tombstone was found witha Latin epitaph, which as building material made up part of the stone in- llof a grave with a side-chamber (Fig. 1). 5 This stele consisted of a rectangularlimestone slab measuring 154 43-43.5 (42 along the pediment) 14.5-15.5 cms. The limestone was porous and contained a large number of natural

dents in it formed by shells. It had been hewn with a wide-bladed axe and lesscarefully along the sides and back. The slab had survived in toto yet the front was

1 Rostovtsev 1915, 1-15; Krapivina 1993, 149.2 Zubar, Son 1995, 181-187; Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 76-83.3 For more detail see: Solomonik 1983; Zubar 1994.4 The authors see it as their pleasant duty to express their heart-felt gratitude to Profes-

sor J. Linderski of the Classics Department of the University of North Carolina (USA), Profes-

sor T. Sarnowski of Warsaw University, Professor H. Heinen of Trier University and ProfessorA.I. Ivantchik (Bordeaux-Moscow) for their consultations which were helpful in piecing togetherand interpreting the inscription published here.

5 Inv. No. O 94/241; Kozub 1994, 7, pl. VI, 13-17.

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Ancient Civilizations 8, 3-4

Also available online www.brill.nl
http://www.brill.nl/http://www.brill.nl/


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200 V.M. ZUBAR AND Y.I. KOZUB

badly chipped. The upper part of the front surface had been fashioned in the shapeof a pediment. There was a circle in the tympanum, which bore incised decorationin the form of a laurel wreath. The circle touched the base of the pediment. Alongboth sides of the pediment in the upper corners of the stele two stylized six-petal

rosettes had been carved, framed in an incised circle. The height of the eld withthe pediment was 17.5 cms, the diameter of the wreath 9.5 cms and the diameterof the rosettes 5 cms: the height of the relief for the design was 1-1.5 cms. Belowthe pediment was a rectangular frame, the lower part of which was accentuatedby an incised line, and carved decoration consisting of 12 triangles. 6 The width of the frame was 3.5 cms at the sides, 2 cms at the bottom and it was 0.5 cms high.The rosettes and the frame round the inscription were marked out with red paint.Inside the rectangular frame there was a 9-line funerary epitaph measuring 70 35-37 cms and occupying the main eld of the slab. The letters were 3-5 cmshigh. The distance between the lines was 1.5-2.5 cms (Fig. 2). The inscriptionreads as follows:

1 DMANTONIOIERMOMILLEGIITALSTIXIXVIXANIS

5 XXXXIVLRVFVSMILLEGIITALETNOMI[. .?.]

AN B M P

The inscription has been cut along barely discernible lines of a preliminary lay-out plan, traces of which can be seen in Line 5. Characteristics of the scriptmeriting attention include the letter A without a horizontal hasta , L with a hastaraised high and slanting down, wide Gs and Cs, a T with a short crossbarand an uneven S inclined to the right. The lower part of this letter is shorterthan its upper part. In the last 9 th line there are two or three damageddividers in the shape of highly stylized leaves. In general, the tracing of theletters is typical for a fairly late period and some of them, such as the L and

6 A similar design for the upper part of a funerary stele has been recorded on the tombstone of soldiers from the Cohors II Lucensium discovered in Chersonesos. See: Solomonik 1983, 47-48,No. 19.


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A NEW TOMBSTONE WITH A LATIN EPITAPH FROM OLBIA 201

Fig. 1. Funerary Stele with an Epitaph found in the in- ll of Tomb with a Side-chamber, No. 5.

the A border on the so-called vulgar style. 7 The letter E has an extended upperhasta . Writing of this kind is also typical for Late Latin. 8 In the fourth line, inthe name of the Legio I Italica , the letters I and T have clearly been presentedas a ligature. In the fth line we nd anis instead of annis , which can probablybe viewed as a mistake on the part of the cutter (Fig. 3). On the whole, apart

7 Huguet 1958, 11, g. 3; 13-14, g. 13; 14, g. 14; 15, g. 19; 16, g. 20; 16, g. 22; Sandys1969, 47, 51.

8 Zuckerman 1994/1995, 557.


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Fig. 2. Funerary Stele with an Epitaph of a soldier from the Legio I Italica from Olbia.


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Fig. 3. Tracing of the Epitaph.

from the end of the inscription, deciphering the epitaph does not confront uswith major dif culties. The abbreviation STI is well-known in Latin epigraphyand without any doubt can be seen as part of the word sti(pendium) , i.e. theperiod of military service. 9 There are two names in the epitaph: Antonius Hermusand Julius Rufus. Two-part names of this kind began to be widely used insteadof three-part ones in the early centuries AD and are typical for Roman names

9 Gordon 1948, 128; Huguet 1958, 197; Calabi Lementani 1968, 500; cf. CIL, III, 3286 + 10262;4376; 4378; 9739; 14934; VIII, 21040, XIII, 8094; 7579; 6277, 6333, 7801, 70398308, 8311; Holder1980, 276, No. 461, 278; No. 502; 289, No. 781; Speidel 1985, 89-91, Nos 1, 3.


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recorded in inscriptions from Olbia. 10 The cognomen Hermus has not yet beenencountered in Latin onomastics, 11 but Rufus is well known from a whole seriesof diverse inscriptions. 12

In the 8 th line after the name of the Legio I Italica we nd the letters ET and

then at the end of that line and the beginning of the 9th

before B M P, NOMI(vel . E) AN. It is possible that at the end of the 8 th line and beginning of the9th there had been some additional letters, but these are virtually impossible tomake out because of the stones state of preservation. If we start out from thefact that in front of NOMI ( vel . E) AN stands the name of the soldier fromthe Legio I Italica and then ET, then NOMI ( vel . E)AN can also be regardedas the name of a person, who took part in the erection of the funerary stele. It ispossible that the name can be pieced together, for example as Nome . [nt]an[us].

13

If this is so, the one-part structure of the name allows us to assume that theperson concerned was not a Roman citizen, but was in some way linked withthe deceased. From other inscriptions it is well known that, as well as Romansoldiers, who formed vexillationes in Greek cities of the North Pontic region,their relatives also lived there and other groups of the population including,probably, slaves and freedmen, who erected monuments above the tombs of theirpatrons. 14 A striking example of this is the epitaph of the 90-year-old mother of Galerius Montanus from Olbia. 15 The name NOMI( vel . E)AN(?) can probablybe placed in this category: it is mentioned in the epitaph after the name of thesoldier from the Legio I Italica Julius Rufus.

Taking into account all the above considerations, this epitaph from a tomb canbe pieced together as follows:

10 Knipovich 1968, 189-191.11 It is possible that in the 3 rd line an i was left out in the name by the cutter. If this is the case,

then the original form of the name of the deceased should be reconstituted as Hermius , although it isdif cult to insist that this is so. For more on this cognomen , see Solin 1982, 341.

12 Mcsy, Feldmann, Marton, Szilgyi 1983, 246.13 See, for example: Horace, Sat. 2,8,23; CIL VI 12742; VIII 6261; Kajanto1965, 47; Mcsy,

Feldmann, Marton, Szilgyi 1983, 202. Another restoration, which seems to be more convincing,was proposed by Glen Bowersock who reviewed this article as a member of the advisory board. Henotes that it is hard to suppose a non-citizens name proclaiming a place like Nomentum in Italyand that there is no room for NT in this line. He proposes to restore a designation of the dedicantsorigo after ET and to read here NOMI/AN(US). The existence of a village near Olbia called Nomia

is documented by inscription NO 34. The text should be restored: Iul(ius) Rufus mil(es) leg(ionis) IItal(icae) et Nomian(us) b(ene) m(erenti) p(osuit) [Editors].14 Zubar 1994, 90-92.15 IOSPE I 2 ; 236.


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1 D(is) M(anibus).Antonio H-ermo mil(iti)leg(ionis) I Ital(icae) sti(pendium)

5 (annis) XIX vix(it) an(n)isXXXX. Iul(ius) Ru-fus mil(es) leg(ionis)I Ital(icae) et Nome[nt?]an(us?) b(ene) m(erenti) p(osuerunt)

Translation :To the Gods Manes. To Antonius Hermus, soldier of the Legio I Italica who had

served 19 (years) and lived 40 years, Julius Rufus soldier of Legio I Italica andNomentanus (?) erected this to a man of good deserts.

Unfortunately the text of the epitaph gives us no reliable data for dating thetombstone. Yet on the basis of the palaeographic features of the script thetombstone published here is similar to the funerary stele of Aelius Saturninus andAelia Saturnina from Olbia, which V.V. Latyshev believed could be dated to themiddle of the 3 rd century. 16 Moreover it is possible that both these tombstones

had come from the workshop of one and the same cutter: indication of this isprovided by the very distinctive shapes of the letters A, B, L, M, N and theshape of the dividers in the form of stylized leaves in the last three lines of both inscriptions. Comparison of the distinctive shapes of the letters used on thetombstone of Antonius Hermus with the precisely dated inscriptions on the altarof the year 248 17 and the votive tablet dating from 249-250 from Olbia 18 revealsthe similar, if not identical, execution of the letters A, M, N, S and V in all of theexamples cited here. Consequently there is every reason on the basis of the

palaeographic data to date the tombstone of Antonius Hermus to the middleof the 3 rd century as well.

Nor do the objects found in the tomb with a side-chamber, in the in- ll of which the tombstone had been discovered, contradict this date. Unfortunately theburial had been plundered. All that had survived in it were remains of a woodencof n, fastened together with iron nails, a few human bones and small piecesof two glass balsam-jars with a high narrow neck, broadening out towards the

16 IOSPE I 2 ; 234.17 IOSPE I 2 ; 167.18 Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 77.


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bottom, and a semi-oval body, which to judge from parallel items date from the2nd or 3 rd century. 19

Returning to the tombstone, we need to draw attention to certain features of theway it has been fashioned. Beyond any doubt those who made it had planned that

it should resemble the pediment of a temple supported on pilasters. At any rate,this presentation is in principle very similar to that found on the tombstones of sailor Aelius Maximus, 20 Marcus Maecilius, 21 Scribonius, 22 Aurelius Viator, 23

the soldier of the Cohors I Sugambrium from Tauric Chersonesos 24 and thecavalry-man from the Ala I Atectorigiana , Julius Valens from Balaklava 25 andalso a whole range of similar monuments from the territory of the RomanEmpire. 26

Despite the fact that the Olbian tombstone published here is simpler indesign, its functional link with the type of funeral monuments indicated above isundeniable. Moreover, the tombstone of Aurelia Quirinia from Olbia 27 can alsobe classi ed as belonging to this type: the upper part of the latter tombstone wasexecuted in the same way. All the above would appear to show that the tombstoneunder discussion could be dated to a more or less similar period.

Both the soldiers mentioned in the epitaph had served in the Legio I Italica , themain head-quarters of which had been in Novae right up until the 6 th century. 28

This legion used to single out men to serve in garrisons in vexillationes stationedin the North Pontic region, 29 but in Olbia the presence of its soldiers prior to thend of the epitaph published here, had only been mentioned on a single occasion

in an inscription on a building dating from the late sixties or early seventies of the2nd century, which had been erected by a centurion of the Legio IX Claudia who had been the commander of the Olbian vexillatio at the time in question. 30 Afunerary stele erected by an armatura -soldier of the Legio IX Claudia , Galerius

19 Kozub 1986, 43, 46-47, g. 1, Type II, Group 1, Variant B.20 Solomonik 1983, 46-47, No. 18.21 Solomonik 1983, 60-61, No. 33.22 Solomonik 1983, 63-64, No. 37.23 Solomonik 1983, 67-68, No. 42.24 Zubar, Son 2000, 39-47.25 Zubar, Antonova, Savelya 1991, 102-108.26 Gabelmann 1972, 69, 73-80.27 IOSPE I 2 ; 235.28 Absil 2000, 227-238.29 For more detail see: Zubar 1994, 50-52, 63; Zubar 1998, 96-98.30 Rostovtsev 1915, 7-10; IOSPE I 2 ; 322 I Sarnowski 1995, 325; Zubar, Son 1995: 181-187.


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Montanus, to his mother Galeria Montana and probably to his mistress Procula,dates from a slightly later period. 31 This allows us to conclude that at this time theRoman garrison at Olbia had most probably been formed on the basis of that unitof the Roman army. Thus the presence of an epitaph from a later period dedicated

to a soldier of the Legio I Italica enables us to assume that certain changes hadtaken place in the composition of the Olbian vexillatio in the middle of the 3rdcentury.

It is dif cult to say anything de nite about the reasons for this, but it is possibleto put forward some suggestions. The fact is that in Tauric Chersonesos as well achange of army units is to be observed at the time in question, units which madeup the core of the Roman garrison stationed in the city. This information canbe gleaned from the inscription on a building dating from the year 250, whichspeaks of the restoration of the schola principalium , evidently on the territoryof the Roman citadel of the city by Marcus Ratinus Saturninus, centurion of the Legio I Italica .32

On the other hand we know of two inscriptions in Olbia dating from 248 and249-250, 33 which are close in date to the building inscription of the centurionfrom the Legio I Italica in Tauric Chersonesos dating from the year 250. All theseinscriptions testify to the intensi cation of Roman policy towards the cities of

the North Pontic region. If the proposed date for the epitaph of Antonius Hermusis correct, then, on the basis of the data it provides together with the epitaphfor Aelius and Aelia Saturnini, it can probably be linked with the presence of a Roman garrison in Olbia during the reign of the Roman Emperors PhilippusArabus (244-249) and Decius Traianus (249-251), whose policy in the Danubevalley was directed against the barbarians there who had been rallying. Thestationing at that time of even numerically small Roman garrisons in Olbia andTauric Chersonesos, which had taken on the protection of the Greek population,

made of those cities natural allies on the approaches to the frontiers of the Empire.This made it possible to some extent to stand up to the aggressive endeavours of the barbarians and this consideration had probably been an important elementin the deliberate Roman policy towards the cities of the North Pontic region atthe time. 34 Yet the Roman forces on this occasion were not stationed in Olbiaand Tauric Chersonesos for long and would appear to have been transferred to

31 IOSPE I 2 ; 236.32 Vinogradov, Zubar 1995/1996, 129-143; Vinogradov, Zubar, Antonova 1999, 71-80.33 IOSPE I 2 , 167; Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 76-83.34 See Zubar 1998, 131.


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the places, where they were deployed on a permanent basis, no later than thereign of Emperor Trebonianus Gallus (251-253), after he had concluded a treatywith the Goths which was a disgrace for the Empire which the Goths had beenthreatening. 35 At any rate there are grounds for assuming that between the late

fties and mid-sixties of the 3rd

century Olbia, like the agricultural settlementson the shores of the Bug estuary, was routed by barbarians and ceased to exist asa Greek city. 36

Thus, the epitaph published here is yet another important epigraphic sourcerelating to the history of the nal stage of the existence of Classical Olbia.Mention in it of the soldiers of the Legio I Italica , who were serving there, allowsus to conclude that despite the fairly tense situation in the Danube limes resultingfrom barbarian raids, right up until the middle of the 3 rd century the Empirehad been providing direct military assistance not only to Tauric Chersonesos, butalso to Olbia, where a detachment of Roman land forces was stationed. Yet itsbeing stationed in the city was no longer enough to ensure fundamental changesin the military-political situation in the region and after the withdrawal of theRoman garrison Olbia entered the post-Classical stage of its development of arather different kind from that associated with the period from the early-2 nd tothe mid-3 rd century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Absil, M. 2000: Legio I Italica. In Y. Le Bohec (ed.), Les Lgions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire(Lyon), 227-238.

Bolgov, N.N. 2001: K probleme tipologii postantichnogo goroda v Severnom Prichernomore(Olvija, Tanais). In S.D. Kryzhickii et al . (eds.), Olvia ta antichnii svit Materialynaukovykh chitan, prisvyashchenikh 75-rikhu utvorennya istoriko-arkheologichnogo zapovid-nika Olviya NAN Ukraini (Kiev), 25-29.

Calabi Lementani, I. 1968: Epigra a Latina (Milan).Gabelmann, H. 1973: Die Typen der rmischen Grabstelen am Rhein. Bonner Jahrbcher 172, 65-

136.Gordon, A.E. 1948: Supralineate Abbreviations in Latin Inscriptions (Berkeley, Los Angeles).Holder, P.A. 1980: Studies in the Auxilia of the Roman Army from Augustus to Trajan (London).Huguet, P.B. 1958: Epigra a Latina (Barcelona).Kajanto, I. 1965: The Latin Cognomina (Helsinki).Knipovich, T.N. 1968: K voprosu o rimlyanakh v sostave naseleniya Olvii I-III vv. n.e. In

V.F. Gaidukevich et al . (eds.), Antichnaya istoriya i kultura Sredizemnomorya i Pricher-nomorya

(Moscow), 189-197.

35 For more detail, see Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 81.36 Zubar 1998, 143-144; 2001, 132-135. Cf. Bolgov 2001, 25-28.


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Kozub, Yu.I. 1986: Steklyannye balzamarii iz nekropolya Olvii. In V.A. Anochin et al. (eds.), Antichnaya kultura Severnogo Prichernomorya v pervye veka n.e . (Kiev), 41-52.

Kozub, Yu.I. 1994: Otchet o raskopkakhnekropolya i predmestya Olvii v 1994 g. NA IA NANU , FileNo. 1994/1, 1-24.

Krapivina, V.V. 1993: Olviya. Materialnaya kultura I-IV vv. n.e . (Kiev).Mcsy, A., Feldmann, R., Marton, E., Szilgyi, M. 1983: Nomenclator provinciarum Europae

Latinarum et Galliae Cisalpinae cum indice inverso. ( Dissertationes Pannonicae ser. III, 1)(Budapest).

Rostovcev, M.I. 1915: Voennaya okkupaciya Olvii rimlyanamy. IAK 58, 1-16.Sandys, J.E. 1969: Latin Epigraphy (Groningen).Sarnowski, T. 1995: Lorganisation hirarchique des vexillationes Ponticae au miroir des trouvailles

pigraphiquesrcentes. In Y. Le Bohec (ed.), La hirarchie(Rangordnung)de larme romaine(Paris), 321-328.

Solin, H. 1982: Die griechischenPersonennamenin Rom. Ein Namenbuch , Vol. 1 (Berlin, New York).Solomonik, E.I. 1983: Latinskie nadpisi Khersonesa Tavricheskogo (Moscow).Speidel, M.P. 1985: Bithynian Gravestones of Roman Legionaries. Epigraphica Anatolica 5, 89-95.Vinogradov, Yu.G., Zubar, V.M. 1995/1996: Die Schola Principalium in Chersonesos. Il Mar Nero 2,

129-143.Vinogradov, Yu.G., Zubar, V.M., Antonova, I.A. 1999: Schola principalium v Khersonese. NE 16,

72-81.Zubar, V.M. 1994: Khersones Tavricheskii i Rimskaya Imperiya. Ocherki voenno-politicheskoyistorii

(Kiev).

Zubar, V.M. 1998: Severnyi Pont i Rimskaya imperiya (Kiev).Zubar, V.M. 2001: O zaklyuchitelnom etape istorii Olvii (tretya chetvert III-pervaya polovina IV

v.). VDI , No. 1, 132-138.Zubar, V.M., Antonova, I.A., Savelya, O.Ya. 1991: Novyi latinskyi nadgrobok iz okolici Balaklavi.

Arkheologiya , No. 3, 102-108.Zubar, V.M., Son, N.A. 1995: K interpretacii odnoi latinskoi nadpisi iz Olvii (IOSPE, I 2 , No. 322).

VDI , No. 3, 181-187.Zubar, V.M., Krapivina, V.V. 1999: O rimskom garnizone Olvii v seredine III v. Vita Antiqua , No. 2,

76-83.Zubar, V.M., Son, N.A. 2000: Nadgrobie soldata I Sugambrskoy kogorty iz Khersonesa. VDI , No. 3,

39-47.Zuckerman, C. 1994/1995: Episkopy i garnizon Khersona v IV veke. MAIET 4, 545-560.

Abbreviations

CIL Corpus inscriptionum latinarum (Berlin).IAK Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Archeologocheskoykommisii (St. Petersburg).IOSPE, I 2 V.V. Latyschev, Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti Euxini

graecae et latinae (Petrograd 1916).MAIET Materialy po arkheologii,istorii i etnogra i Tavrii (Simferopol).


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NA IA NAN Nauchnyi archiv Instituta arkheologii Nacionalnoi Akademii nauk Ukrainy (Research Archive of the Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine).

NE Numizmatika i epigra ka (Moscow).NO Nadpisi Olvii (Leningrad 1968).Trudy GE Trudy GosudarstvennogoErmitazha (St. Petersburg).VDI Vestnik drevnei istorii (Moscow).

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Zubar Olbia