I was looking for something else (isn’t that how all good blog posts start?!)…
And I came across this intriguing inscription from Rieti. An honorific statue base it seems. Even if you don’t love all the reconstructions (I have no reason to doubt them but it is best to make historic arguments from what one actually reads), the surviving portions are startling and the spelling variations a good reminder that even in the mid 1st century Latin could be very flexible.
In the photo above (I wish I had a better one!) the double AA in in ROMAANI is visible as is the key phrase
LIBERTAST ITALIA !
Bibliography: CIL 09, 08644 = Falacrinae p 18 = Epigrafia-01, p 81 = AE 2008, 00473 = Arys-2021-152
When looking for a better photograph I came across this lovely perhaps overly interpreted roof tile:
The image might be an upside down bull, it might be a helmet. Either way I’m not sure we can associate it with the Social War though Oscan language use does tend to end with the war.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 