ISic003586: Honours for Marcus Iulius Philippus the younger

Latin, honorific, plaque

edited, View in current site

Photo J.Prag courtesy Soprintendenza BBCCAA di Messina
1MIULIO[...].IP
2[..]NO[..]LIS
3SIMOCAES
4IMPMIULI
5[.......].PII
[---]
6···[·····]
7       D[.?---]

Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy, after initial reconstruction by Scibona

English translation

To Marcus Iulius Philippus, most noble Caesar, (son of) Emperor Marcus Iulius Philippus, Pius [---]. (Set up) by decree of the town councillors.

Physical description

Support

Description
Twelve fragments of a grey marble slab with blue-grey veining. Eleven of the fragments connect, and have been joined together and fixed on a panel; the twelfth fragment, from the bottom left corner, does not join, but has been placed in approximate relation to the others on the same panel. Parts of all four sides of the original slab are preserved across the various fragments, and most of the upper half of the slab is preserved; the lower part of the slab is entirely lost, except for the bottom left hand corner (fragment 12). The outer edges of the slab have been crudely picked, either for setting the slab originally within a wall / monument, or perhaps for later reuse. Dimensions of the eleven joining fragments: height, 61.5 cm; width c.51 cm; depth c.3.5 cm. Fragment 12: height c.21 cm; width c.19.5 cm; depth c.4 cm.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
No data
Dimensions
height: greater than 61.5 cmwidth: 51 cmdepth: 3.5 cm

Inscription

Layout
Seven lines of Latin text are fully or partly preserved, filling the width of the stone, with a vacat above. Double guidelines are marked between each line.
Text condition
No data
Lettering
The letters are tall and fairly regular, V-cut between upper and lower guidelines (although they do not reach all the way to either guideline), with fairly pronounced serifs. M has straight, sloping hastae, with the middle point reaching to the bottom of the line; P is closed; E has a middle bar that is only slightly shorter than the top and bottom bars; C and O are fully rounded.
Letter heights
Lines 1-7: 63-75mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation: Not measuredmm

Provenance

Place of origin
Halaesa
Provenance found
From the excavations in the agora in early 1970s

Current location

Place
Halaesa, Italy
Repository
Antiquarium e sito archeologico di Halaesa, 30604
Autopsy
On display in the lapidarium on site
Map
TODO: use the geo information in the museums dataset

Date

AD 244 – AD 247
Evidence
internal-date

Text type

honorific

commentary

It would be reasonable to expect some or all of Felicis Invicti Augusti filio to have stood in the lost portion of the inscription, since these are standard epithets of M. Iulius Philippus (see Peachin, M. 1990. Roman Imperial Titulature and Chronology, A.D. 235-284. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben and Peachin, M. 1990. Roman Imperial Titulature and Chronology, A.D. 235-284. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben), and the omission of the word filius would be unusual (it is unusual to delay it to the end of the full name of the father as must be the case here, but parallels can be cited, such as IRT no.48). It is, however, impossible to know how many lines are lost in the lacuna, and how standard or not this text may have been, given that some variation from the most common parallels is already visible, such as the omission of Caesar from the title of Philippus (pater) in line 4 (but see e.g. AE 1981 no.743). On the other hand, it is unlikely that much more than the rest of the basic nomenclature of Philippus is missing. It is difficult to restore letters to the sequence of letter feet preserved at the start of the preserved line 6, but they are not incompatible with the titolature just noted, and the letters FIL would fit particularly well. The final letter on line 7 is clearly a D, and is clearly centred from the left margin, and so is most obviously compatible with the standard formula D(ecreto) D(ecurionum) of a public honorific. Links between Philippus the elder and the élite of the island are perhaps suggested by the fact that his fellow consul of 245 AD, C. Maesius Aquillius Fabius Titianus was a citizen of Thermae (ISic000092 and ISic000093 honour him and his son).

This text belongs between August 244 and August 247 AD (M. Iulius Philppus the younger as Caesar but not Augustus).

Bibliography

Digital editions

Citation and editorial status

Citation
No data