Classis Flavia Moesica
CNG 109, Lot: 701. Estimate $5000.
Sold for $11000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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temp. Gordian III. AD 238-244. Æ Epistolary copy (two tablets, 90 x 67mm, 123.20 gm and 125.20 gm). Dated 25 February AD 241 (
in Roman calendrical and consular formats). Completely intact pair of tablets, engraved on one side only.
THE FIRST TABLET:
ATTIVS PVDENS
LEG · LEG · I · ITA·L · GOR
DIAN·AE · A V P AVRE
LIO PYRRO MIL CL
FL · MOESIC GORDIA
NAE LIB DIANAE
TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST TABLET:
(I) Attius Pudens,
legatus of the
Legio I Italica Gord-
iana, acting on behalf of the
praeses (i.e. governor), for Aurelius Pyrr(h)us,
soldier of the
classis Flavia Moesica Gordia-
na of the
Liburna Diana
THE SECOND TABLET:
M C M TABVLAS SVB
SCRIPSI DIEM QVIN
TVM · KAL · MARTIAS
IMP · D N · GORDIANO
AVG · II · ET POMPEIA
NO COS
TRANSLATION OF THE SECOND TABLET:
1900
tabulae have cosigned
on the fifth day
before the Kalends of March (25 February)
while our lord, the emperor Gordian,
Augustus for the second time, and Pompeian-
us were consuls (AD 241)
See F. Matei-Popescu,
The Roman Army in Moesia Inferior (Bucharest 2010), pp. 77-123 (for the Legio I Italica) and pp. 245-255 (for the Classis Flavia Moesica). As made, green and brown patina with some natural deposits and earthen deposits to highlight the lettering. An extremely rare and historical document from antiquity.
This document is apparently a private copy of a letter from Attius Pudens, legate of Legio I Italica Gordiana, to Aurelius Pyrrhus, an ordinary soldier of the liburna (patrol vessel) Diana in the fleet Flavia Moesica Gordiana. The Classis Flavia Moesica was the Roman fleet patrolling the lower Danube and the northwest Black Sea coast.
The original letter would have been on a wooden tablet and may have then gone to a military archive. This copy was presumably commissioned by Aurelius Pyrrhus to record an apparently exceptional mission he undertook under direct orders from the legion commander. It must have been unusual for a common soldier to receive an order directly from such a high ranking officer. The nature of the 1900 tablets – a very large number – is uncertain. Perhaps it was an administrative notice or order for general distribution.
