diocletian's price edict at ptolemais.pdf

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Diocletian's Price-Edict at Ptolemais (Cyrenaica)
Author(s): Giacomo Caputo, Richard Goodchild and I. A. Richmond
Source:
The Journal of Roman Studies,
Vol. 45, Parts 1 and 2 (1955), pp. 106-115
Published by:
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/298750
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DIOCLETIAN'S PRICE-EDICT AT PTOLEMAIS (CYRENAICA)
By GIACOMO CAPUTO and RICHARD GOODCHILD
(PLATES
XXXVII,
xxxviii)
Introduction.-The
systematic exploration of Ptolemais (modern Tolmeita), in
Cyrenaica, began in
I935
under the auspices of the Italian Government, and under the
direction of the first-named writer.1 The general programme of excavation took into
consideration not only the important Hellenistic period, which gave the city its name
and saw its first development as an autonomous trading-centre,2 but also the late-Roman
age when, upon Diocletian's reforms, Ptolemais became capital of the new province of
Libya Pentapolis and a Metropolitan See, later occupied by Bishop Synesius.3
As one of several starting-points for the study of this later period, there was selected the
area first noted by the Beecheys
4
as containing ' heaps of columns ', which later yielded
the monumental inscriptions of Valentinian, Arcadius, and Honorius, published by
Oliverio.5 Here excavation soon brought to light a decumanus, running from the major
cardo on the west towards the great Byzantine fortress on the east.6 Architectural and
other discoveries made in
I935-36
justified the provisional title ' Monumental Street'
assigned to this ancient thoroughfare. In terms of the general town-plan, which is
extremely regular,7 this street may be called ' Decumanus II North ', since two rows of long
rectangular insulae separate it from the Decumanus Maximus leading to the West Gate,
still erect. The clearing of the Monumental Street and its frontages revealed the well-known
Maenad reliefs, attributed to the sculptor Callimachus,8 a late-Roman triple Triumphal
Arch,9 and fragments of monumental inscriptions similar in character to those previously
published from the same area.10
One of the most important discoveries made during the excavation consisted of
fragments, large and small, of a Latin text of Diocletian's Edictum De Pretiis, promulgated
in
A.D. 30I.
Though the text was identified and reported soon after discovery,11 its full
publication has been delayed for twenty years, as a result of war and its aftermath.
A detailed description of the Monumental Street is not required in relation to the text,
but the position in which it was found requires explanation. Each side of the street was
occupied by a broad raised portico, almost six metres wide and at least i6o metres long,
covering the fronts of four pairs of insulae. The portico had been added at a late period in
the city's history and earlier street-frontages were cut back to provide the necessary space.
On the south side of the street, adjoining an apsidal hall, the paving of the portico is still
well-preserved, and exhibits two surfacings. The earlier pavement, probably contemporary
with the portico's construction, was of marble slabs, of varied size and colour. The later
1
The consolidation of the standing monuments
was an essential feature of the work then carried out,
cf. Giacomo Caputo, ' La protezione dei monumenti
5 G. Oliverio, Docuimenti Antichi dell'Africa
(=
SEG
Italiana (Bergamo,
I936)
II, 2, pp. 25I-3
IX, 364-5).
6
This is the fortress on the face of which was
inscribed the text of The Decree of Anastasius
(SEG
Ix,
356), now in the Louvre (cf. JRS
XLIII,
di Tolemaide negli anni
Archeologia della Libia
33-66.
For a
bibliography of Ptolemais, see Enciclopedia Italiana
s.v. ' Tolemaide'.
2
Previously the locality had been the dependent
port of Barcae (El-Merj).
3There
is little doubt that the formation of the two
provinces of Libya Superior (Pentapolis) and Libya
Inferior took place under Diocletian ; but the exact
date of the transfer of the capital of Pentapolis from
Cyrene to Ptolemais remains uncertain.
It had
certainly occurred before Synesius became Bishop of
Ptolemais (c.
4IO)
;
and an unpublished inscription
found by Caputo appears to be a dedication to the
family of Constantine by ' civitates pro[vinciae
? Libyae Pentapolis] ', set up, presumably, in the
new capital.
4F.
W. and H. W. Beechey, Proceedings of the
Expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa
(London, i 828), Plan opp . p . 39.
I935-I942,'
iII
(I954),
Quaderni di
7
Recent air-photographs reveal the ' chess-board'
planning and justify the use of the terms decumanus
and cardo, although the former run WSW-ENE.
8
G. Caputo, Lo scultore del grande bassorilievo con
la Danza delle Menadi in Tolemaide di Cirenaica
(Rome,
I948).
9 G. Caputo, Atti III Congresso Studi Coloniali
74, and pl. VII, 5-6).
10These new inscriptions require more detailed
discussion than is possible here and will be published
elsewhere.
11
Italian Touring Club guide ' Libia' (Milan,
mentioned also by Guarducci in Rend. Pont.
I937);
Accad. Arch. i6
(I940),
cf. the remarks of
II-24.
Degrassi in Riv. Fil. Class.
LXVIII
(1940), I43-4.
(Firenze,
I937),
I33-7.
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PTOLE-MAIS, CI RENE:
FRAGMEN-TS OF DIOCLETIAN'S
PRICE-EDICT
FOUND
I935-36,
Photographs G. CapIuto
by
e
4.
(See pp. io6 ff.)
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DIOCLETIAN'S
PRICE EDICT
AT PTOLEMAIS
(CYRENAICA)
I07
and higher pavement was of small squared blocks of local sandstone, quite well trimmed
and laid. It may reasonably be assigned to the age of Honorius and Arcadius
(A.D.
395-408),
whose names appeared on the architrave of the southern colonnade. The marble paving is
less easily dated. It may belong to the reign of Valentian and his colleagues
(A.D.
367-375),
whose names appear on the northern architrave ; but an earlier date is not excluded.
In September,
I935,
the largest fragment (A) of the Edict came to light, re-used upside-
down as a paving-slab in the marble floor of this southern portico. It was badly cracked
by falling masonry or changes of temperature, and was carefully removed to the Museum
where it was presently consolidated and mounted on a new marble backing (pl.
XXXVII, 2).
Other smaller fragments were found during succeeding months in the samearea of the
Monumental Street, but were not related to any structural context. Finally, in the summer
Of
I936,
some twenty fragments came to light in a plastered hollow (probably a water-
container) which lay just north of the western wall of the apsed building, and below the
level of the portico. These pieces had presumably been thrown into the hollow when the
portico floor was laid or repaired. The Ptolemais copy of Diocletian's Edict thus suffered
damage and dispersion both before and after parts of it came to be used as paving material.
Dismantled after the Edict had been cancelled, the marble slabs probably lay derelict for
some years, in the course of which some were broken. What then remained serviceable was
used to pave the portico floor, and some of these re-used slabs were later broken when this
part of Ptolemais had become ruinous and abandoned.
The closest possible search was made, in the excavated part of the Monumental
Street, for further fragments of the Edict. Both pavements of the southern portico were
lifted, examined, and later accurately replaced. Vain attempts were also made to identify,
among the mass of marble fragments, uninscribed pieces of the slabs that contained the
Edict. But after September,
I936,
the excavation of the Monumental Street was suspended
in order to initiate the study of the Hellenistic period of the city's life, and the outbreak
of war prevented the resumption of excavation in this fruitful zone. It is not improbable
that additional fragments of the Edict-possibly complete slabs-lie in the unexcavated
areas adjoining the Monumental Street. In particular, the large bath-building close beside
the apsed hall is likely to have contained marble floors which might include re-used slabs
from the Edict. Further excavations are greatly to be desired, not only for the epigraphic
material that they may yield, but in order to ascertain, if possible, on what building the
Edict was displayed.
The Text.-The fragments of the Edict found during the Italian excavations of
I935-36
include several small pieces of marble carrying only a few letters or price-figures, too
incomplete to be assigned to the known sections of the text. Little purpose would be
served in publishing these minor fragments, and in'the following pages we describe only
items which are identifiable with the known text of the Edict or which provide evidence
of sections not previously known.
A-M):
CAPS.
XIX-XXII
The large and important section, containing parts of chapters xix-xxII, merits first
attention. It was arranged in two columns, on a slab of greyish-white marble measuring
originally
I03
cm. wide and at least
I07
cm. high. The thickness of the marble increased
from
I
4
mm. at the top to
2I
mm. at the bottom of the slab'; and this progressive thickening
has proved useful for placing loose fragments in correct register.12 The text is inscribed in
letters
I7-20
mm. high, with the aid of parallel guide-lines, lightly incised on the marble,
and of vertical margins defining the limits of each column. The letters bear traces of red
paint. The letter-forms call for no particular comment, but the curved E and bar-less A
are noteworthy.
The right-hand column of this slab (Fragment A) was found, as described above,
GROUP
I
(FRAGMENTS
By good fortune the Edict fragments survived
the disturbances of
1941,
when Tolmeita Museum
was sacked and a number of pieces of sculpture were
stolen. The fragments were moved to Cyrene for
12
when
further study during the winter of
1954-55,
the composition of column
I
of the major slab was
worked out.
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