Two Monumental Inscriptions of Lepcis Magna

Abstract

The two Latin inscriptions described below were both re-composed during the years 1946–7 in the course of the work of systematisation carried out in the ruins of Lepcis Magna. In the case of the earlier inscription, of Augustus, a small number of inscribed blocks belonging to it had been uncovered during the Italian excavations of 1930–4; but the greater part of the inscription was covered by soil and only brought to light when the fallen west perimeter wall of the Market was re-erected in 1947. It has the distinction of being the earliest dated Latin inscription hitherto found at Lepcis.The second inscription, of Vespasian and Titus, has no such structural context. Most of its blocks were built into the upper courses of the towers of the main surviving Byzantine Gate of the city; but others were found scattered at street-level in the vicinity of this gate, and had obviously fallen from it. The blocks are inscribed on both faces with parts of two identical texts, and, as explained below, the nature of the bi-frontal inscription suggests that it formerly belonged to a monumental arch, spanning one of the main streets of the city: but the position of this arch cannot be established with any certainty. Certain fragments of this inscription have been published previously; but a relatively complete text is presented here for the first time.