War and Clandestine Excavations in Libya: the Unpublished Funerary
Monumentum of Caius Valerius Romanus Reused in a Qasr on the Western Outskirts of Tarhuna
In a Libya afflicted by a serious military crisis, on the southwestern outskirts of Tarhuna (km 50 south of Lepcis) Portuguese colleagues reported the discovery (which took place in early 2020) of a ruined qasr, built with the use of stones from an earlier olive press and from the nearby necropolis of the imperial age. Reported to the Department of Antiquities of Libya, the discovery is particularly significant for the stele with an epitaph of C. Valerius Romanus
from the 1st century AD. The dedication was made by the artifex Masof at the expense of the children of the deceased, (Valerius) Fronto and (Valerius) Acavas.
The most revelant aspect is the Punic onomastics that flank the Roman name of deceased, which seems to have been an Amasvalath to which the proconsul of the 80s AD, L. Valerius Catullus Messalinus, granted Roman citizenship, giving him the nomen of his own gens. We are faced with a truly unique case
that testifies to the relationship in Tripolitania between Berber/Punic and Roman onomastics in the first centuries of the occupation of inland areas.
Parole chiave / Keywords
Tarhuna, monumentum, Valerii, Acavas, Masof, onomastica punica
Tarhuna, monumentum, Valerii, Acavas, Masof, Punic onomastic
