The Museiliha inscription is a first-century AD Roman boundary marker discovered at the Mseilha Fort and documented by German classical scholar Theodor Mommsen in 1873. The inscriptions details a boundary set between the citizens of Caesarea ad Libanum (modern Arqa) and Gigarta (possibly modern Gharzouz), hinting at a border dispute resolution. The personal name of the involved magistrate was deliberately erased. The boundary marker is now in the Louvre Museum collection.
Description
editThe Museiliha boundary marker is crafted from limestone, it measures 40 cm (16 in) in height, 54 cm (21 in) in width, and 23 cm (9.1 in) in depth.[1] The stone is inscribed with 6 lines in Latin that read:
Discovery history and interpretation
editThe marker was reportedly discovered at the Mseilha Fort by residents of the nearby town of Abrin who brought it back to their village. The inscription was documented by the German classical scholar Theodor Mommsen in 1873;[3]
According to nineteenth-century French historian Ernest Renan, the inscription discusses the boundaries between Caesareae-ad-Libanum (modern Arqa) and Gigarta, assumed by Renan to refer to modern-day Gharzouz, and which is approximately 45 kilometers away. This spatial arrangement suggests that the territories of Caesarea and Gigarta could not have been contiguous.[2] Mommsen, in his commentary, suggests that because the cities of Caesarea-ad-Libanum and Gigarta are not neighboring, the land in question likely belonged to Caesarea and was situated beyond its territory, adjacent to an area inhabited by the Gigartans living in a Sidonian village.[3][4] According to 19th century Italian historian Ettore de Ruggiero, this inscription is a rare example where an inscription provides evidence of a border dispute, likely settled through a legal judgment that defined the boundaries.[4] Starting from the fifth line of the inscription, personal names appear to have been carefully chiseled out, erasing the identity of the magistrate to whom the inscription referred.[5][6]
Dating
editNineteenth-century scholars initially dated the Museiliha inscription to the second century AD.[7] This dating has since been revised to the fourth quarter of the first century AD (75–100 AD), according to the official website of the Louvre Museum, where the inscription is housed and cataloged as inventory number AO 4898 in the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities..[1][a]
See also
edit- Mseilha Fort – Fortress in Batroun district, Lebanon
Notes
editReferences
editCitations
edit- ^ a b c Louvre Museum 2024.
- ^ a b Renan 1864, p. 149.
- ^ a b c Mommsen, Hirschfeld & Domaszewski 1873, p. 31, insc. 183.
- ^ a b de Ruggiero 1893, p. 443.
- ^ Mancini 1884, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Ledrain 1888, p. 69.
- ^ Harrer 2006, p. 69.
Sources
edit- Harrer, Gustave Adolphus (2006) [1915]. Studies in the History of the Roman Province of Syria. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59752-463-6.
- Ledrain, Eugène (1888). Notice sommaire des monuments phéniciens du Musée du Louvre (in French). Imprimeries réunies.
- Louvre Museum (2024). "inscription ; borne". Louvre. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Mancini, Carmelo (1884). "Note e Emendazioni ai Primi Quattro Capitoli della Storia di Elvidio Prisco". Atti della Reale Accademia di archeologia lettere e belle arti (in Italian). Naples: Stamperia della Regia Universita.
- Mommsen, Theodor; Hirschfeld, Otto; Domaszewski, Alfredus (1873). Inscriptiones Asiae provinciarum Europae Graecarum Illyrici Latinae (in Latin). Georgius Reimerus.
- Renan, Ernest (1864). Mission de Phénicie Dirigée par M. Ernest Renan [Mission to Phoenicia, directed by Mr. Ernest Renan] (in French). Paris: Imprimerie impériale. OCLC 763570479.
- de Ruggiero, Ettore (1893). "L'arbitrato pubblico in relazione col privato presso i Romani". Bullettino dell'Istituto di Diritto romano (in Italian). Rome: Pasqualucci. pp. 49–443.