The Insigne of the Proconsul of Africa. Maritime Shipping Depictions in the Notitia Dignitatum

Abstract

The largely unstudied insigne of the proconsul Africae, governor of the late Roman province Africa, is preserved in the primary copies of Notitia Dignitatum from around 400 ce and known from copies of the lost Codex Spirensis. This article, based on a combination of legal and art historical methods, seeks to determine the meaning of the insignia’s symbolic representations, especially its references to maritime shipping. Details in the insignia, including the colors used in it, can be considered a visual statement of the proconsul Africae’s scope of competence and intended to amplify the association in the Notitia Dignitatum. The reader in antiquity of the Notitia Dignitatum possibly saw the Africa proconsularis emblem as illustrating that official’s crucial role in producing supplies for Rome and delivering them by maritime freight. It is of note that no other insignia in the Notitia Dignitatum have maritime symbols or other details relating to seafaring. The depictions’ high degree of technical detail attests to the reliability of the insignia to the Notitia Dignitatum in studies concerned with Late Antiquity.