DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3236#0163
98
QANTAKAH.
squares of fine limestone measuring about
80 inches, apparently bases of monuments.
The mound had been much trenched at the
time of the excavation of the canal, partly
perhaps for antiquities, partly for the sake of
the limestone and burnt brick. A large well,
which doubtless supplied the settlement with
brackish water, was at that time completely
excavated and stripped of its limestone lining :
this was S.W. of the sandstone blocks, which
were discovered at the same time.
97. Near the well I found fragments of a lime-
stone slab which had been broken up and used
for paving-stones. Upon it was a Latin inscrip-
tion dating from the joint reign of Diocletian and
Maximian, and recording the dedication by these
emperors of the camp of the first ala of the Thra-
cian cavalry, termed the Mauretanian on account
of some honourable service in North Africa,1 to
Jupiter, Hercules, and Victory. Latin inscrip-
tions are rare in Egypt, and it is curious to find
published in the 0.1. L., vol. hi. p. 8, an inscrip-
tion from a basalt block built into a Coptic
church near Manfalut,2 in which the camp of the
first cohort of the Lusitanians, distinguished as
the Augustan prastorian (Conors I. Aug. prset.
Lusitanorum), was dedicated in the same year
by the same emperors to the same deities.
The explanation may be found in history.
It is well known that when Diocletian had
raised Maximian to the position of his colleague
in the Empire, and had entrusted him with the
western part of it, he turned his own attention
1 This ala is also mentioned in an inscription of the
year 199 a.d., found at Eamloli near Alexandria. The de-
curioncs alares of the Ala veterana Gallica and the Ala I.
Thrac. Mauret. dedicated a statue to Soptimius Severus.
The first of these was stationed at Rinocolura (El Aiish) when
the Notitia Imperii was drawn up. Perhaps one may sup-
pose that these garrisons wore not changed for a century,
and that the officers of the two frontier stations on the land
routo between Egypt and Syria clubbed together to set up
the statue of Septimius. The Notitia places the Ala I.
yEgyptiorum at Sella (Sile}.
2 Der el Gebrawi, Murray's Egypt, 1880, p. 422.
especially to strengthening the eastern frontier.
We find this aim referred to in the inscription
in the words frovidentid suce majestatis (in fore-
thought for the safety of their majesty). And
as to the dedication, we know that Diocletian
styled himself Jovius, as being supreme in
council, and Maximian Herculius, as being a
brave soldier. Thus it is clear that we have
here the settled form of dedication in that year
in Egypt.
The inscription is dated in the third consulship
or year of Diocletian, giving the approximate
date of 288 a.d. The revolt of Egypt under
Achilleus had to be suppressed eight years later.
Erom the largest fragment it appears that
the inscription was painted red. The forms
of the letters are mixed. The A is distinctly
Greek, except in one case where the engraver
has followed his Latin model more closely. I
have completed the inscription in the plate by
dotting in words from the Manfalut inscription.
Where the two can be compared they agree
exactly, except in the abbreviations and the
name of the garrison.
The inscription does not give us much
assistance in determining the classical name of
the place. The dedication being a fixed one
can have no bearing on the local worship; and
as to the garrison, the Notitia Dignitatum,
enumerating the imperial offices in the time of
Constantine, mentions Pelusium, Sella (Sile of
the Itinerary), Thaubastus, and perhaps other
posts on this line as occupied by cavalry; but
the Thracians are not named amongst them.
The fact of a garrison being stationed here does,
however, strengthen the proof of its being Sile.
In the mound itself there were remains of a
thick wall of unbaked brick that seemed to be
continuous for more than a hundred yards on
the north of the centre. This may have been
part of the camp enclosure of Diocletian.
Besides this inscription, I found a fine bronze
vase in the form of a female head with inlaid
eyes of glass, of good Roman work, kept at
QANTAKAH.
squares of fine limestone measuring about
80 inches, apparently bases of monuments.
The mound had been much trenched at the
time of the excavation of the canal, partly
perhaps for antiquities, partly for the sake of
the limestone and burnt brick. A large well,
which doubtless supplied the settlement with
brackish water, was at that time completely
excavated and stripped of its limestone lining :
this was S.W. of the sandstone blocks, which
were discovered at the same time.
97. Near the well I found fragments of a lime-
stone slab which had been broken up and used
for paving-stones. Upon it was a Latin inscrip-
tion dating from the joint reign of Diocletian and
Maximian, and recording the dedication by these
emperors of the camp of the first ala of the Thra-
cian cavalry, termed the Mauretanian on account
of some honourable service in North Africa,1 to
Jupiter, Hercules, and Victory. Latin inscrip-
tions are rare in Egypt, and it is curious to find
published in the 0.1. L., vol. hi. p. 8, an inscrip-
tion from a basalt block built into a Coptic
church near Manfalut,2 in which the camp of the
first cohort of the Lusitanians, distinguished as
the Augustan prastorian (Conors I. Aug. prset.
Lusitanorum), was dedicated in the same year
by the same emperors to the same deities.
The explanation may be found in history.
It is well known that when Diocletian had
raised Maximian to the position of his colleague
in the Empire, and had entrusted him with the
western part of it, he turned his own attention
1 This ala is also mentioned in an inscription of the
year 199 a.d., found at Eamloli near Alexandria. The de-
curioncs alares of the Ala veterana Gallica and the Ala I.
Thrac. Mauret. dedicated a statue to Soptimius Severus.
The first of these was stationed at Rinocolura (El Aiish) when
the Notitia Imperii was drawn up. Perhaps one may sup-
pose that these garrisons wore not changed for a century,
and that the officers of the two frontier stations on the land
routo between Egypt and Syria clubbed together to set up
the statue of Septimius. The Notitia places the Ala I.
yEgyptiorum at Sella (Sile}.
2 Der el Gebrawi, Murray's Egypt, 1880, p. 422.
especially to strengthening the eastern frontier.
We find this aim referred to in the inscription
in the words frovidentid suce majestatis (in fore-
thought for the safety of their majesty). And
as to the dedication, we know that Diocletian
styled himself Jovius, as being supreme in
council, and Maximian Herculius, as being a
brave soldier. Thus it is clear that we have
here the settled form of dedication in that year
in Egypt.
The inscription is dated in the third consulship
or year of Diocletian, giving the approximate
date of 288 a.d. The revolt of Egypt under
Achilleus had to be suppressed eight years later.
Erom the largest fragment it appears that
the inscription was painted red. The forms
of the letters are mixed. The A is distinctly
Greek, except in one case where the engraver
has followed his Latin model more closely. I
have completed the inscription in the plate by
dotting in words from the Manfalut inscription.
Where the two can be compared they agree
exactly, except in the abbreviations and the
name of the garrison.
The inscription does not give us much
assistance in determining the classical name of
the place. The dedication being a fixed one
can have no bearing on the local worship; and
as to the garrison, the Notitia Dignitatum,
enumerating the imperial offices in the time of
Constantine, mentions Pelusium, Sella (Sile of
the Itinerary), Thaubastus, and perhaps other
posts on this line as occupied by cavalry; but
the Thracians are not named amongst them.
The fact of a garrison being stationed here does,
however, strengthen the proof of its being Sile.
In the mound itself there were remains of a
thick wall of unbaked brick that seemed to be
continuous for more than a hundred yards on
the north of the centre. This may have been
part of the camp enclosure of Diocletian.
Besides this inscription, I found a fine bronze
vase in the form of a female head with inlaid
eyes of glass, of good Roman work, kept at