Images from EDR073734.
[— ai]ḍiles (:aediles) curules moltaticod dedere esdem (:eidem) probaverunt.
“[lost names, as] Curule Aediles authorized the dedication of this from the money collected from fines”
This was found in the podium underneath that for Apollo Sosianus during excavations c. 1937-1940.
There terminology is familiar from other inscriptions (from Loeb):
This inscription is typically dated to between 170-131 BCE on letter forms and vocabulary. You all know I love the verb probare and term probum. We see it from the 1st Punic War onwards as a term of how magistrates authorize stuff, coin issues, rams of ships, dedications, etc…
The other reason I love this inscription is that it reminds me of the one in Temple of Diana Tifatina. She’s also a recurrent character on this blog. There is a black and which dedicatory inscription on the floor of that temple that has been the subject of intensive reconstruction and is dated by Pobjoy to 108 BCE.
Pobjoy, Mark. “A New Reading of the Mosaic Inscription in the Temple of Diana Tifatina.” Papers of the British School at Rome 65 (1997): 59–88. (Link)
The inscription from Rome was clearly done with much greater care and attention, but the later one from Campania helps us imagine more of the effect and how popular this type of inscription was, perhaps because of its very enduring visibility.
Which reminded me of another from Nemi c. 30-1 BCE that I was worried was unpublished as all I’d seen was the 1885 photos but thank goodness it turns out it is: EDR147036
It has been suggested that the mosaic in the Temple of Apollo might be connected with works in the area c. 179 BCE conducted by the Censors (Livy 40.51). cf.
Ciancio Rossetto, Paola. “Tempio di Apollo: nuove indagini sulla fase repubblicana.” Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Serie III, Rendiconti 70 (1997-1998): 177-195.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 
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