Un «titulus pictus» con titulatura imperial de «Carthago Nova» y puntualizaciones a la dinámica urbana de la ciudad a inicios del S. III D. C.

Abstract

The archaeological and epigraphic record in Carthago Nova suggests that the colony underwent a period of instability and urban retreat during the second half of the 2 nd and the 3 rd century ad. This was probably triggered by the slowing down of economic activity, a shrinking population and collapse of local institutions and the crisis of evergetism. The process caused a substantial transformation of urban landscapes and a reduction of the size of the inhabited areas; the interruption of the epigraphic habit, the abandonment, looting and reoccupation of public areas and buildings; the pulling down of domestic buildings; and the insufficient maintenance of the urban road network. This has led some specialists to suggest that the city lost importance, and even that it could have been totally abandoned during the second half of the 2 nd and, especially, the 3 rd century ad. The recent discovery of the substantial transformation of the Atrium Building ( Insula i Molinete) in the early 3 rd century ad, and of a titulus pictus which mentions the consuls for the year, Heliogabalus and the prefect of the praetorium Adventus , which dates the final date for the refectio in 218 ad, resituates the debate around the retreat of the urban centre in the 2 nd and 3 rd centuries ad.