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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 8187685, member: 128351&quot;]Yes, I could decipher it</p><p><br /></p><p>(... obviously there were lines of text before)</p><p>LEG III AVG QVAESTORI AEDILI : ... 3rd Legion Augusta, Quaestor, Aedile</p><p>PLEBEI PRAETORI PROCOS PONTI : of the plebe, Praetor, Proconsul of Pontus</p><p>ET BITHYNIAE PRAEFECTO FRVM : and Bithynia, Prefect &quot;Frum(enti)</p><p>DANDI LEG LEG VI FERRATAE : dandi&quot;, Legate of the 6th Legion Ferrata,</p><p>LEG AVGVSTORVM PR PR PRO : Legate of the two Augusts propraetor of the pro-</p><p>VINC. GALAT. ITEM PROVINC : vince of Galatia, also of the province</p><p>CILICIAE RARO ET SANCTISSIMO : of Cilicia, rare and dearest</p><p>(... the end of the inscription is lost)</p><p><br /></p><p>This inscription is written in the dative form, it is a dedication to somebody. His name was in the beginning of the text, which is lost. It is his resume, the Romans called this his cursus honorum, in the chronological order. These careers always followed a legal order : first you served as a military tribune (junior officer) in a legion, then you could be quaestor, then tribune or aedile, then praetor, and finally consul. When you had been praetor, you were qualified to command a legion or govern a province as Legate of the emperor.</p><p><br /></p><p>This man was of senatorial rank, because this kind of career is only for senators. He started serving as a military tribune at the 3rd Legion Augusta which was based in North Africa (today&#039;s Algeria). Back to Rome, he was made quaestor, after which he was plebeian aedile (he must have belonged to a family considered plebeian, but this means nothing in the imperial period). Then he was made praetor and qualified to be sent as Legate of the emperor in distant provinces.</p><p>His first provincial affectation was Proconsul (= governor) of the province of Pontus and Bithynia (Western Turkey, East of Istanbul). Back to Rome, he was made Prefect of the distribution of corn (distribution of food to the Roman plebe). After this, he was sent again as legate (= commander) of the 6th Legion Ferrata, which was based in Syria-Palaestina, today Israel.</p><p>He was very probably made Consul by that time, but in a Roman cursus honorum the consulate is always mentioned just after the name at the beginning of the inscription, so it does not appear at its normal place in the chronological list of charges and dignities.</p><p>After commanding the 6th Legion in Palestine, he was made Legate propraetor of the Emperor<u>s</u> (<i>Augustorum</i>, plural!) of the Province of Galatia. This plural means there were 2 or more Augusti reigning together. It can be Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, or Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, or Septimius Severus and Caracalla, etc. It tells us this inscription cannot be older than 161 AD, because there were no associate emperors before this date.</p><p>When he was governing Galatia he was residing in Ancyra, the capital of this province, the very city in which this inscription is found.</p><p>After this charge he was made legate (= governor) of the neighbouring province of Cilicia.</p><p>Then, no more governorships or magistratures are mentioned: it means that this inscription was written while he was still governor of Cilicia. The last preserved words obviously mean &quot;rare and dearest (governor)&quot;... and the lost end must have said who dedicated this inscription: probably the local senate or officials of Ancyra, paying homage to their former governor and saying how much he has been appreciated. No doubt a copy of this official appreciation by the locals was sent to Rome, and added to the former governor&#039;s personal records. Good for the future of his career...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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