Veleia

Foreword

Andoni Llamazares Martín — 2025-03-01

This study explores the evolution of civic epigraphy in the Mediterranean area in the context of the expansion and consolidation of Rome, with special emphasis on the transformations that epigraphic practices underwent in different regions and historical periods. The arrival of Rome in the various Mediterranean areas was a gradual and differentiated process, both in chronological and geographical terms, resulting in a diversity of epigraphic influences reflected in the typological, functional and cultural characteristics of the inscriptions. These not only document changes in socio-political dynamics, but also offer evidence of the identity negotiations between local communities and Roman power, in a situation of constant interaction and adaptation. The dossier includes seven articles that explore this theme from regional and temporal perspectives, from both the western and eastern Mediterranean, focusing on Latin and Greek epigraphy. This comparative approach highlights both common patterns and particularities in the evolution of epigraphy under Roman influence.

Assessing Institutional and Ideological Changes: The Transformations of dēmokratia in the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial Periods

Cédric Brélaz — 2025-03-01

Among the various changes which affected Greek cities during the late Hellenistic and early Imperial periods with regard to political practices and political culture, the disappearance of the concept of dēmokratia from the public discourse is certainly one of the most striking features. Although dēmokratia had been a core value during the whole Hellenistic period, as Greek cities asserted their ability to maintain their own institutions, the cessation of democratic references from the Augustan age represents a turning point in Greek political culture. This paper surveys the meanings of dēmokratia in the few known instances during the Imperial period and explores the reasons why local elite in Greek cities decided to cull this term from their vocabulary to describe contemporary situations. It shows that, while the absence of the concept of dēmokratia alone is insufficient to prove that any form of democratic practices was abolished, the use of more neutral expressions such as politeia, which had an Aristotelian flavour, is certainly indicative of the predominant role which was now played by conservative aristocrats in the government of Greek cities.

Politics in the Aetolian Koinon at the Coming of Rome: An Epigraphical Overview

Giorgos Mitropoulos — 2025-03-01

This paper aims to give an overview of the development of the relations between the Aetolian Koinon and Rome through the epigraphic testimonies. Emphasis will be placed especially in the period after the Antiochian War, that is, after 188 BC, since this period remains relatively unknown concerning the internal and ‘international’ politics of the Aetolian Koinon. Moreover, the end of the Antiochian War and the Treaty of Apameia had severe consequences for the Koinon and established more firmly the impact of the Roman res publica over the Greek East. Therefore, it would be interesting to examine the way the Aetolian Koinon was affected by the coming of the Roman power, as it is reflected in the inscriptions.

The emergence of cash distributions in the civic euergetism of the Roman imperial east

Marcus Chin — 2025-03-01

Individualised distributions of money by civic benefactors, in the form of coinage, were a common feature of public life in Greece and Asia Minor under Roman imperial rule, from the 1^st to 3^rd centuries CE. However, the chronological specificity of this practice, as opposed to the distribution of other types of commodities (e.g. grain, oil), has not often been noticed. This paper firstly suggests that public euergetic distributions of coinage were virtually unknown before the early 1^st century CE, before relating their emergence from this point to several factors inherent to the transformation of the Roman state at this time: the influence on the local elite of imperial ideology, particularly in cash handouts carried out at Rome, and developments in the monetary and fiscal history of the region. The rise of cash handouts thus presents an insight into the impact of Roman domination on local cultural practice.

Change in Civic Epigraphy of Phoenicia at the Arrival of Rome: Some Preliminary Remarks on Public Documents and Their Display

Piotr Glogowski — 2025-03-01

The paper discusses certain aspects of the development of Phoenician communities and their epigraphic culture during the Hellenistic and Roman times in terms of public documents, i.e. inscriptions issued on behalf of the state or some of its agents and other texts of state importance like imperial correspondence etc. It is proposed that tracing the evolution of local public documents might contribute to our understanding of the change taking place in Phoenicia throughout the ages on the socio-political level. Several preliminary observations can be formulated. Despite a considerable transformation Phoenician communities underwent during the Hellenistic times, with the linguistic shift to Greek in state practices, the appearance of collective agency in documents, and the emergence of honorific culture, the activity of civic authorities is not attested epigraphically. Public documents are mainly honorific and cultic dedications made to Hellenistic rulers both by locals and imperial agents. In that respect, Phoenicia served as a space for displaying imperial allegiances. Although it continued to play that role also later, during the Roman era Phoenicia produced much more inscriptions issued in the name of civic authorities. These texts were tituli honorarii dedicated mostly to Roman emperors and imperial officials. The fact that most of them are also in Latin just highlights the importance of the Roman element in the public life of Phoenicia and possibly implies a certain degree of breakup with older indigenous attitudes, co-occurring with the establishment of Roman settlements. The scarcity of public documents within the epigraphic evidence is another problem and perhaps should make us think about the possibility that some text could be carved in bronze that did not come down to our times.

Honorific Epigraphy in Hellenistic Sicily: General and Particular Cases

Andoni Llamazares Martín — 2025-03-01

This article analyzes honorific epigraphy in Sicily during the Hellenistic era, highlighting its particular development due to the island’s geographic position and historical context. Throughout the 3^rd to 1^st centuries BCE, honorific inscriptions emerged and their number gradually increased, coinciding with the Roman conquest and its consequent administrative influence. This study addresses both general and specific cases of honorific inscriptions, starting with the earliest cases in Entella and Syracuse, and then moving on to the 2^nd century, showing how epigraphy reflects sociopolitical structures and the presence of local elites, as well as the proliferation of euergetism. The cases of Segesta, Agrigento and Syracuse, regarded as paradigmatic, are analysed more exhaustively, since they offer some particular and well-differentiated features. The research concludes that, although Roman influence was not decisive, it did facilitate the proliferation of these documents through political stability and the promotion of local elites.

Historical and Methodological Principles for the Study of Republican Roman Onomastics in Sicily: Regarding Individual Grants of Roman Citizenship

David Espinosa — 2025-03-01

This paper is the result of a first (critical) approach to the diffusion and legal transmission of Roman onomastics among the peregrine and Latin populations of Sicily during the Republican period. Devised from a well-defined historical and methodological standpoint, it specifically examines the practice of granting Roman citizenship to individuals of indigenous, Greek, Italian, and Punic extraction living on the island. The aim is to determine and evaluate several methodological problems, premises, and constraints to assess the use of Roman personal nomenclature as a reliable tool for historical analysis in order to identify, with a reasonable degree of certainty, potential Roman citizens referenced in the sources and resulting from possible individual grants of Roman citizenship.

Epigraphic Novelty: Landscape in Augustan Lusitania

Susana Marcos — 2025-03-01

Within the comparative geographical framework outlined by the conference, this study focuses on the prouincia of Lusitania, established during the Principate of Augustus. Based on an analysis of the earliest Latin inscriptions from this transitional period, the aim is to understand the impact of epigraphic practices on the daily life of this newly established province. Examining these early inscriptions will allow for an exploration of public inscriptions, particularly those related to the monumentalization of the ciuitates, urban development, or commemorations, as well as the organization of its rural territories. Additionally, private contexts, such as funerary texts, will also be considered. This comprehensive overview will help characterize the emerging epigraphic landscape of Roman Lusitania.

Memoria de las actividades de investigación y de formación de investigadores del Instituto de Ciencias de la Antigüedad / Antzinaroko Zientzien Institutua (ICA/AZI)

Josemari Vallejo — 2025-03-01

About the Celtiberian word kortika / gortika

Carlos Jordán Cólera — 2025-02-27

The word kortika / gortica appears in six documents written in the Celtiberian language, five tesserae hospitales and the Luzaga bronze, which is also a hospitality document. Early on, kortika / gortika was linked to the root *gʰer- ‘to seize, grab, enclose’, found in Latin hortus ‘garden’, Oscan húrz, etc., Old Irish gort ‘field’, Middle Welsh garth ‘field, pen’, Old Breton gorth ‘pen’, Greek χόρτος ‘enclosed place’, and Gothic gards ‘house (as fenced property)’. In 1997, J. Untermann proposed that gortika, meaning ‘publica’ (in Latin), was an adjective derived from a theoretical noun *gorta ‘city, community’. This word has recently been identified in a new Celtiberian tessera published in 2021. In this study, the author revisits the etymology and the morphological structure of GORTA and gortika. From an etymological perspective, he argues that their original meaning is closer to the Latin adjectives ciuica or ciuilis. Additionally, he examines the morphology and etymology of other words found in Celtiberian documents, including gortono- (gortono, gortonei), korzonei, kortonikum and CORDONO. In his view, the first two are indeed related to GORTA and gortika, he expresses doubt about the connection with kortonikum, and he is almost certain that CORDONO does not belong to this lexical family.

Two new altars with Vasconic deities in Navarra/Nafarroa

Joaquín Gorrochategui — 2025-02-27

The presence of onomastics of Basque origin in Aquitaine has been proven since the end of the 19th century by a large number of personal and divine names, but only in recent decades has the Basque territory south of the Pyrenees provided onomastic material related to the Basque language. Together with personal names, such as those attested in the Lerga inscription, there is a small group of names of divinity, located in the central and western part of Navarre, which present lexical, graphic-phonetic and morphological characteristics similar to those known in Aquitaine and which can be related to the Basque language.

In this article, two recently discovered votive altars (Zaldua 2022) are published. Both are dedicated to two Basque divinities which were already previously known: Larahi and Losae (in their attested forms), and come from two places in the Salado river basin not far from each other: Riezu/Errezu and Anitz, Lerate, respectively. Although the theonyms are clearly legible, the names of the dedicators have been damaged, so they have been restored taking into account the textual circumstances of the inscription as well as the onomastic parallels compatible with the preserved remains: Agustina or Augustina is proposed as the dedicator of the altar from Riezu, and either Paenius, -a, or Dafnus, -e, is proposed for the dedicator of the altar from Anitz.

Unlike the majority of Basque divinities whose epigraphic documentation is limited to one place, these two divinities are the ones with the greatest geographical expansion. This leads us to reflect on the regional and not strictly local nature of their cult, now reinforced by the discovery of a new testimony of Larrahe in Larunbe (Agirre-Mauleón 2024). The graphic varieties of the theonym are analysed linguistically, with regard to the double representation of the rhotics (r/rr) and the alternation in the ending (-he /-hi). Finally, the differences in gender and social background of the dedicators, from Roman citizens to slaves, suggests a broad functionality of these divinities.

Inscriptions scratched on Roman tableware from Osca: the archaeological excavation of the Diputación Provincial de Huesca

Adela Duclos Bernal — 2025-02-27

This paper presents eighteen Latin inscriptions scratched post cocturam on Roman tableware (Italian, Gaulish and Hispanic Terra-Sigillata, thin-walled and slipware pottery). They were found during an archaeological excavation carried out in 1985 at the site of the Diputación Provincial de Huesca. Although some representative materials from these excavations have already been studied, a large part of them have remained unpublished, among which are the pieces presented here. After a brief introduction to the context of the excavation site, a detailed description of the new scratched inscriptions is given: eight epigraphic graffiti, preserving three or more letters; six with isolated letters, including one from the Greek alphabet; and four anepigraphic marks. An appendix is included at the end with a revision and results of pottery fabric analysis of a graffito on slipware, known as a “Sertorian graffito” found during the same excavations as the others presented, for which a new possible dating is proposed. The study of these materials represents a new contribution to the knowledge of everyday writing and literacy in Roman Osca.

A colossal statue from the forum of Los Bañales (Uncastillo, Zaragoza)

Romero Novella Luis — 2025-02-27

During the excavations at the forum of Los Bañales de Uncastillo, an important sculptural program was discovered in the southern area of the complex. This paper studies some sculptural fragments belonging to a colossal representation that was located in the city's forum. The size of the sculpture contrasts with the small size of the forum at Los Bañales, which did not prevent the display of a statue of these dimensions. This new example of colossal sculpture in medium and small-sized communities shows us that these representations were not exclusive to the large cities in Hispania.

A new approach to CLE 1507

Antonio Martínez Molina — 2025-02-27

The aim of this paper is to offer a new proposal for the interpretation of the inscribed verse that in Bücheler's corpus occupies the number 1507, found in Vic-le-Fesq (Gard) and currently conserved in the Musée archéologique de Nîmes. The most recent study of this epigraph is that by H. Belloc (2006), who recognises as valid the previous studies that correlate the inscription with the archaeological remains of a supposed temple close to the discovery of the piece. After a formal presentation, based on the bibliography relating to the study of the inscription since it was found, we proceed to a complete analysis of the text. For this purpose, regarding the methodology, the terms of the verse that qualify the lovers (i.e. coronae, amantes) will be compared with similar ones in the literary sources (Turpil. com. 201-202 and Prop. 3.3.47). An examination of the semantic structure used by the poet, known to have a double construction (Kühner, Holzweissig & Stegmann 1914, 334-336): accusative + ablative (e.g. donare aliquem aliqua re) or accusative + dative (e.g. donare aliquid alicui), will also be considered. In this way it will be attempted to show that the inscription is meaningful in itself and that it consists of an promotional message, finally providing a translation beyond the literal.

A denarius of Publius Carisius found at the Rompesparteñas settlement (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia)

David Martínez Chico — 2025-03-01

The site of Rompesparteñas has been identified as a Roman settlement, with a chronological framework spanning from the Late Republican period (2nd–1st centuries BC) to the Early Imperial period (1st century AD). In quantitative terms, the site yields very little ceramic material. However, following various surveys conducted at the site, some amphora fragments dating to the mid-1st century BC have been documented. To this evidence, can now be added a rare denarius of Publius Carisius, minted between 25 and 23 BC. In addition, the strategic location of the site is related to a road leading to Alta Andalucía, which has been used since the Iron Age. This is known thanks to the oldest metallic element found at the site: the bridge of a pre-Roman fibula from the 6th-5th centuries BC. Given the absence of structural remains, the settlement may be associated with a small military detachment that likely occupied the hillside for a brief period of time, possibly coinciding with the occupation of the castellum of Archivel and the turris of Barranda in the early 1st century BC. Around the 1st century BC, both military sites formed part of a system of defence and control in the upper basin of the Argos and Quípar rivers, whose mission was to watch over the transit routes and ensure security in a region of transit, with important military and civilian traffic. All of this could ultimately explain the different finds.

Review to Paloma MARTÍN-ESPERANZA, Hispania Restituta. La Antigüedad clásica en el programa político y cultural de los Reyes Católicos: relaciones entre España e Italia

Javier Andreu Pintado — 2025-02-27

Review to Luis ROMERO NOVELLA, El foro de Los Bañales de Uncastillo. Arquitectura y programas epigráficos, escultórico y decorativos, Serie Monografía “Los Bañales"

Sergio España Chamorro — 2025-02-27

Review to Jeffrey Easton, Municipal Freedmen and Intergenerational Social Mobility in Roman Italy

Javier Norberto Nuñez — 2025-02-27