Military Building Inscription from Aenaria

Abstract

On the slope of Monte di Vico at Ischia there was an inscription recording the construction of a fortress by two characters with Oscan names and some soldiers. After recalling the various hypotheses about the document’s historical context, the most recent one, though neglected, is endorsed: the two characters were archons of Neapolis, who arranged the defences of Aenaria during the First or Second Punic War. New considerations are provided about the archonship at Neapolis, besides a complete historical commentary of the document, whose importance for the history of the Neapolitan constitution is highlighted.