A NEW TOMBSTONE WITH A LATIN EPITAPH FROM OLBIA

VITALII M. ZUBAR and YULIIA I. KOZUB

In the Ž rst centuries AD Olbia was caught up in the orbit of the Roman
Empire’s foreign policy and, evidently in connection with the threat from the
barbarians, a permanent Roman garrison was set up in the city, which consisted
of soldiers from the Empire’s Lower Moesian Army.1 To judge from the data
currently available, the Roman vexillatio, which included not only legionaries
but also soldiers from auxiliary armies, was stationed there at least from the late
sixties or early seventies of the 2nd century to the middle of the 3rd century.2
Yet in comparison, for example, with Tauric Chersonesos,3 so far only a few
inscriptions in Latin have been found in Olbia — left behind by the Roman
servicemen or members of their families, on the basis of which it might have been
possible to form an idea of the character or size of the city’s Roman garrison or
to carry out fruitful investigations regarding the question of the Roman military
presence in that ancient city. For this reason every new Ž nd is a focus of close
interest and requires an individual publication.4
In the summer of 1994, during excavation of part of the Olbian necropolis
dating from the early centuries AD and situated along the edge of the western
plateau of the site Zayachya Balka (Sector G), a tombstone was found with
a Latin epitaph, which as building material made up part of the stone in-Ž ll
of a grave with a side-chamber (Fig. 1).5 This stele consisted of a rectangular
limestone slab measuring 154 £ 43-43.5 (42 along the pediment) £ 14.5-
15.5 cms. The limestone was porous and contained a large number of natural
dents in it formed by shells. It had been hewn with a wide-bladed axe and less
carefully along the sides and back. The slab had survived in toto yet the front was
1 Rostovtsev 1915, 1-15; Krapivina 1993, 149.
2 Zubar, Son 1995, 181-187; Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 76-83.
3 For more detail see: Solomonik 1983; Zubar 1994.
4 The authors see it as their pleasant duty to express their heart-felt gratitude to Profes-

sor J. Linderski of the Classics Department of the University of North Carolina (USA), Profes-
sor T. Sarnowski of Warsaw University, Professor H. Heinen of Trier University and Professor
A.I. Ivantchik (Bordeaux-Moscow) for their consultations which were helpful in piecing together
and interpreting the inscription published here.
5 Inv. No. O — 94/241; Kozub 1994, 7, pl. VI, 13-17.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Ancient Civilizations 8, 3-4

Also available online – www.brill.nl
200 V.M. ZUBAR AND Y.I. KOZUB

badly chipped. The upper part of the front surface had been fashioned in the shape
of a pediment. There was a circle in the tympanum, which bore incised decoration
in the form of a laurel wreath. The circle touched the base of the pediment. Along
both sides of the pediment in the upper corners of the stele two stylized six-petal
rosettes had been carved, framed in an incised circle. The height of the Ž eld with
the pediment was 17.5 cms, the diameter of the wreath 9.5 cms and the diameter
of the rosettes 5 cms: the height of the relief for the design was 1-1.5 cms. Below
the pediment was a rectangular frame, the lower part of which was accentuated
by an incised line, and carved decoration consisting of 12 triangles.6 The width of
the frame was 3.5 cms at the sides, 2 cms at the bottom and it was 0.5 cms high.
The rosettes and the frame round the inscription were marked out with red paint.
Inside the rectangular frame there was a 9-line funerary epitaph measuring 70 £
35-37 cms and occupying the main Ž eld of the slab. The letters were 3-5 cms
high. The distance between the lines was 1.5-2.5 cms (Fig. 2). The inscription
reads as follows:
1 DM
ANTONIOI
ERMOMIL
LEGIITALSTI
XIXVIXANIS
5 XXXXIVLRV
FVSMILLEG
IITALETNOMI[. .?.]
AN B M P
The inscription has been cut along barely discernible lines of a preliminary lay-
out plan, traces of which can be seen in Line 5. Characteristics of the script
meriting attention include the letter A without a horizontal hasta, L with a hasta
raised high and slanting down, wide G’s and C’s, a T with a short crossbar
and an uneven S inclined to the right. The lower part of this letter is shorter
than its upper part. In the last — 9th — line there are two or three damaged
dividers in the shape of highly stylized leaves. In general, the tracing of the
letters is typical for a fairly late period and some of them, such as the L and

6 A similar design for the upper part of a funerary stele has been recorded on the tombstone of
soldiers from the Cohors II Lucensium discovered in Chersonesos. See: Solomonik 1983, 47-48,
No. 19.
 A NEW TOMBSTONE WITH A LATIN EPITAPH FROM OLBIA 201

Fig. 1. Funerary Stele with an Epitaph found in the in-Ž ll of Tomb with a Side-chamber, No. 5.

the A border on the so-called “vulgar” style.7 The letter E has an extended upper
hasta. Writing of this kind is also typical for Late Latin.8 In the fourth line, in
the name of the Legio I Italica, the letters I and T have clearly been presented
as a ligature. In the Ž fth line we Ž nd anis instead of annis, which can probably
be viewed as a mistake on the part of the cutter (Fig. 3). On the whole, apart

7 Huguet 1958, 11, Ž g. 3; 13-14, Ž g. 13; 14, Ž g. 14; 15, Ž g. 19; 16, Ž g. 20; 16, Ž g. 22; Sandys
1969, 47, 51.
8 Zuckerman 1994/1995, 557.
202 V.M. ZUBAR AND Y.I. KOZUB

Fig. 2. Funerary Stele with an Epitaph of a soldier from the Legio I Italica from Olbia.
 A NEW TOMBSTONE WITH A LATIN EPITAPH FROM OLBIA 203

Fig. 3. Tracing of the Epitaph.

from the end of the inscription, deciphering the epitaph does not confront us
with major difŽ culties. The abbreviation STI is well-known in Latin epigraphy
and without any doubt can be seen as part of the word sti(pendium), i.e. the
period of military service.9 There are two names in the epitaph: Antonius Hermus
and Julius Rufus. Two-part names of this kind began to be widely used instead
of three-part ones in the early centuries AD and are typical for Roman names

9Gordon 1948, 128; Huguet 1958, 197; Calabi Lementani 1968, 500; cf. CIL, III, 3286 + 10262;
4376; 4378; 9739; 14934; VIII, 21040, XIII, 8094; 7579; 6277, 6333, 7801, 70398308, 8311; Holder
1980, 276, No. 461, 278; No. 502; 289, No. 781; Speidel 1985, 89-91, Nos 1, 3.
204 V.M. ZUBAR AND Y.I. KOZUB

recorded in inscriptions from Olbia.10 The cognomen Hermus has not yet been
encountered in Latin onomastics,11 but Rufus is well known from a whole series
of diverse inscriptions.12
In the 8th line after the name of the Legio I Italica we Ž nd the letters ET and
then at the end of that line and the beginning of the 9th before B M P, NOMI
(vel. E) AN. It is possible that at the end of the 8th line and beginning of the
9th there had been some additional letters, but these are virtually impossible to
make out because of the stone’s state of preservation. If we start out from the
fact that in front of NOMI (vel. E) AN stands the name of the soldier from
the Legio I Italica and then ET, then NOMI (vel. E)AN can also be regarded
as the name of a person, who took part in the erection of the funerary stele. It is
possible that the name can be pieced together, for example as Nome.[nt]an[us].13
If this is so, the one-part structure of the name allows us to assume that the
person concerned was not a Roman citizen, but was in some way linked with
the deceased. From other inscriptions it is well known that, as well as Roman
soldiers, who formed vexillationes in Greek cities of the North Pontic region,
their relatives also lived there and other groups of the population including,
probably, slaves and freedmen, who erected monuments above the tombs of their
patrons.14 A striking example of this is the epitaph of the 90-year-old mother of
Galerius Montanus from Olbia.15 The name NOMI(vel. E)AN(?) can probably
be placed in this category: it is mentioned in the epitaph after the name of the
soldier from the Legio I Italica — Julius Rufus.
Taking into account all the above considerations, this epitaph from a tomb can
be pieced together as follows:
10 Knipovich 1968, 189-191.
11 It is possible that in the 3rd line an i was left out in the name by the cutter. If this is the case,
then the original form of the name of the deceased should be reconstituted as Hermius, although it is
difŽ cult to insist that this is so. For more on this cognomen, see Solin 1982, 341.
12 Mócsy, Feldmann, Marton, Szilágyi 1983, 246.
13 See, for example: Horace, Sat. 2,8,23; CIL VI 12742; VIII 6261; Kajanto1965, 47; Mócsy,

Feldmann, Marton, Szilágyi 1983, 202. Another restoration, which seems to be more convincing,
was proposed by Glen Bowersock who reviewed this article as a member of the advisory board. He
notes that it is hard to suppose a non-citizen’s name proclaiming a place like Nomentum in Italy
and that there is no room for NT in this line. He proposes to restore a designation of the dedicant’s
origo after ET and to read here NOMI/AN(US). The existence of a village near Olbia called Nomia
is documented by inscription NO 34. The text should be restored: Iul(ius) Rufus mil(es) leg(ionis) I
Ital(icae) et Nomian(us) b(ene) m(erenti) p(osuit) [Editors].
14 Zubar 1994, 90-92.
15 IOSPE I2 ; 236.
 A NEW TOMBSTONE WITH A LATIN EPITAPH FROM OLBIA 205

1 D(is) M(anibus).
Antonio H-
ermo mil(iti)
leg(ionis) I Ital(icae) sti(pendium)
5 (annis) XIX vix(it) an(n)is
XXXX. Iul(ius) Ru-
fus mil(es) leg(ionis)
I Ital(icae) et Nome[nt?]
an(us?) b(ene) m(erenti) p(osuerunt)
Translation:
To the Gods Manes. To Antonius Hermus, soldier of the Legio I Italica who had
served 19 (years) and lived 40 years, Julius Rufus soldier of Legio I Italica and
Nomentanus (?) erected this to a man of good deserts.
Unfortunately the text of the epitaph gives us no reliable data for dating the
tombstone. Yet on the basis of the palaeographic features of the script the
tombstone published here is similar to the funerary stele of Aelius Saturninus and
Aelia Saturnina from Olbia, which V.V. Latyshev believed could be dated to the
middle of the 3rd century.16 Moreover it is possible that both these tombstones
had come from the workshop of one and the same cutter: indication of this is
provided by the very distinctive shapes of the letters A, B, L, M, N and the
shape of the dividers in the form of stylized leaves in the last three lines of
both inscriptions. Comparison of the distinctive shapes of the letters used on the
tombstone of Antonius Hermus with the precisely dated inscriptions on the altar
of the year 24817 and the votive tablet dating from 249-250 from Olbia18 reveals
the similar, if not identical, execution of the letters A, M, N, S and V in all of the
examples cited here. Consequently there is every reason — on the basis of the
palaeographic data — to date the tombstone of Antonius Hermus to the middle
of the 3rd century as well.
Nor do the objects found in the tomb with a side-chamber, in the in-Ž ll of
which the tombstone had been discovered, contradict this date. Unfortunately the
burial had been plundered. All that had survived in it were remains of a wooden
cofŽ n, fastened together with iron nails, a few human bones and small pieces
of two glass balsam-jars with a high narrow neck, broadening out towards the

16 IOSPE I2 ; 234.
17 IOSPE I2 ; 167.
18 Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 77.
206 V.M. ZUBAR AND Y.I. KOZUB

bottom, and a semi-oval body, which to judge from parallel items date from the
2nd or 3rd century.19
Returning to the tombstone, we need to draw attention to certain features of the
way it has been fashioned. Beyond any doubt those who made it had planned that
it should resemble the pediment of a temple supported on pilasters. At any rate,
this presentation is in principle very similar to that found on the tombstones of
sailor Aelius Maximus,20 Marcus Maecilius,21 Scribonius,22 Aurelius Viator,23
the soldier of the Cohors I Sugambrium from Tauric Chersonesos 24 and the
cavalry-man from the Ala I Atectorigiana, Julius Valens from Balaklava25 and
also a whole range of similar monuments from the territory of the Roman
Empire.26
Despite the fact that the Olbian tombstone published here is simpler in
design, its functional link with the type of funeral monuments indicated above is
undeniable. Moreover, the tombstone of Aurelia Quirinia from Olbia27 can also
be classiŽ ed as belonging to this type: the upper part of the latter tombstone was
executed in the same way. All the above would appear to show that the tombstone
under discussion could be dated to a more or less similar period.
Both the soldiers mentioned in the epitaph had served in the Legio I Italica, the
main head-quarters of which had been in Novae right up until the 6th century.28
This legion used to single out men to serve in garrisons in vexillationes stationed
in the North Pontic region,29 but in Olbia the presence of its soldiers prior to the
Ž nd of the epitaph published here, had only been mentioned on a single occasion
in an inscription on a building dating from the late sixties or early seventies of the
2nd century, which had been erected by a centurion of the Legio IX Claudia —
who had been the commander of the Olbian vexillatio at the time in question.30 A
funerary stele erected by an armatura-soldier of the Legio IX Claudia, Galerius

19 Kozub 1986, 43, 46-47, Ž g. 1, Type II, Group 1, Variant B.

20 Solomonik 1983, 46-47, No. 18.
21 Solomonik 1983, 60-61, No. 33.
22 Solomonik 1983, 63-64, No. 37.
23 Solomonik 1983, 67-68, No. 42.
24 Zubar, Son 2000, 39-47.
25 Zubar, Antonova, Savelya 1991, 102-108.
26 Gabelmann 1972, 69, 73-80.
27 IOSPE I2 ; 235.
28 Absil 2000, 227-238.
29 For more detail see: Zubar 1994, 50-52, 63; Zubar 1998, 96-98.
30 Rostovtsev 1915, 7-10; IOSPE I2 ; 322I Sarnowski 1995, 325; Zubar, Son 1995: 181-187.
 A NEW TOMBSTONE WITH A LATIN EPITAPH FROM OLBIA 207

Montanus, to his mother Galeria Montana and probably to his mistress Procula,
dates from a slightly later period.31 This allows us to conclude that at this time the
Roman garrison at Olbia had most probably been formed on the basis of that unit
of the Roman army. Thus the presence of an epitaph from a later period dedicated
to a soldier of the Legio I Italica enables us to assume that certain changes had
taken place in the composition of the Olbian vexillatio in the middle of the 3rd
century.
It is difŽ cult to say anything deŽ nite about the reasons for this, but it is possible
to put forward some suggestions. The fact is that in Tauric Chersonesos as well a
change of army units is to be observed at the time in question, units which made
up the core of the Roman garrison stationed in the city. This information can
be gleaned from the inscription on a building dating from the year 250, which
speaks of the restoration of the schola principalium, evidently on the territory
of the Roman citadel of the city by Marcus Ratinus Saturninus, centurion of the
Legio I Italica.32
On the other hand we know of two inscriptions in Olbia dating from 248 and
249-250,33 which are close in date to the building inscription of the centurion
from the Legio I Italica in Tauric Chersonesos dating from the year 250. All these
inscriptions testify to the intensiŽ cation of Roman policy towards the cities of
the North Pontic region. If the proposed date for the epitaph of Antonius Hermus
is correct, then, on the basis of the data it provides together with the epitaph
for Aelius and Aelia Saturnini, it can probably be linked with the presence of
a Roman garrison in Olbia during the reign of the Roman Emperors Philippus
Arabus (244-249) and Decius Traianus (249-251), whose policy in the Danube
valley was directed against the barbarians there who had been rallying. The
stationing at that time of even numerically small Roman garrisons in Olbia and
Tauric Chersonesos, which had taken on the protection of the Greek population,
made of those cities natural allies on the approaches to the frontiers of the Empire.
This made it possible to some extent to stand up to the aggressive endeavours of
the barbarians and this consideration had probably been an important element
in the deliberate Roman policy towards the cities of the North Pontic region at
the time.34 Yet the Roman forces on this occasion were not stationed in Olbia
and Tauric Chersonesos for long and would appear to have been transferred to

31 IOSPE I2 ; 236.
32 Vinogradov, Zubar 1995/1996, 129-143; Vinogradov, Zubar, Antonova 1999, 71-80.
33 IOSPE I2 , 167; Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 76-83.
34 See Zubar 1998, 131.
208 V.M. ZUBAR AND Y.I. KOZUB

the places, where they were deployed on a permanent basis, no later than the
reign of Emperor Trebonianus Gallus (251-253), after he had concluded a treaty
with the Goths which was a disgrace for the Empire which the Goths had been
threatening.35 At any rate there are grounds for assuming that between the late
Ž fties and mid-sixties of the 3rd century Olbia, like the agricultural settlements
on the shores of the Bug estuary, was routed by barbarians and ceased to exist as
a Greek city.36
Thus, the epitaph published here is yet another important epigraphic source
relating to the history of the Ž nal stage of the existence of Classical Olbia.
Mention in it of the soldiers of the Legio I Italica, who were serving there, allows
us to conclude that despite the fairly tense situation in the Danube limes resulting
from barbarian raids, right up until the middle of the 3rd century the Empire
had been providing direct military assistance not only to Tauric Chersonesos, but
also to Olbia, where a detachment of Roman land forces was stationed. Yet its
being stationed in the city was no longer enough to ensure fundamental changes
in the military-political situation in the region and after the withdrawal of the
Roman garrison Olbia entered the post-Classical stage of its development of a
rather different kind from that associated with the period from the early-2nd to
the mid-3rd century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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35 For more detail, see Zubar, Krapivina 1999, 81.

36 Zubar 1998, 143-144; 2001, 132-135. Cf. Bolgov 2001, 25-28.
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Abbreviations

CIL — Corpus inscriptionum latinarum (Berlin).

IAK — Izvestiya Imperatorskoy Archeologocheskoykommisii (St. Petersburg).
IOSPE, I2 — V.V. Latyschev, Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti Euxini
graecae et latinae (Petrograd 1916).
MAIET — Materialy po arkheologii, istorii i etnograŽ i Tavrii (Simferopol).
210 V.M. ZUBAR AND Y.I. KOZUB

NA IA NAN — Nauchnyi archiv Instituta arkheologii Nacional’noi Akademii nauk

Ukrainy (Research Archive of the Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of
Sciences of the Ukraine).
NE — Numizmatika i epigraŽ ka (Moscow).
NO — Nadpisi Ol’vii (Leningrad 1968).
Trudy GE — Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha (St. Petersburg).
VDI — Vestnik drevnei istorii (Moscow).