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The Nerva Inscription in Beroea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

J. M. R. Cormack
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Extract

The Nerva Inscription in Beroea still lies, where Delacoulonche first reported it, on the right hand of the entrance to the Orta Cami. During a visit to Beroea in 1936, in the company of Mr. C. F. Edson of Harvard University, I was enabled to gather some fresh information about this dedication.

The slab of marble which bears the inscription is embedded in the ground on its side, so that the left half of the inscription has not been seen since the building of the Mosque, the raising of the heavy marble flags of the entrance being a formidable task without some mechanical aid. A rough-surfaced margin surrounds the smooth inscribed field. The lettering is elaborate Imperial, with many ligatures. H. 116 m. Exposed W. at top 0.53 m. Exposed W. at bottom 0.50 m.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , 1940 , pp. 50 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © J. M. R. Cormack 1940. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Delacoulonche, , ‘Mémoire sur le berceau de la puissance macédonienne des bords de l'Haliacmon et ceux de l'Axius’ published in Archives des missions scientifiques et littéraires viii, 1859, 221–4 and 252, no. 44Google Scholar. The inscription ‘se trouve à l'entrée de la mosquée appelée Orta-Djami. En partie engagée dans le sol, elle ne laisse voir que la moitié des lettres de chaque ligne’. Cf. Demitsas, M. G., ή Μακεδονία (Athens, 1896), 66Google Scholar, no. 55. Delacoulonche proposed the following restoration:

2 Cf. also Geyer, P-W, s.v. ‘Makedonia’ (col. 768): ‘Der Vorort des makedonischen κοινóν war Beroia, das seit Nerva den Titel Μητρóπολιϛ führte’; Larsen, , Economic Survey of Ancient Rome (ed. Frank, Tenney) iv, 453Google Scholar; Gaebler, , Ztschr. f. Numism. xxiv, 1904, especially p. 259Google Scholar: ‘Ihrer Bedeutung als Mittelpunkt des offiziellen provinzialen Kaiserkultes verdankte sie (Beroea) ohne Zweifel den Titel Metropolis, den ihr Kaiser Nerva verlieh,’ and p. 278.

3 First published by Rostovtzeff, in Bull. de l'Inst. archéol. russe de Constantinople in Russian) iv, 3. 1899, 170–1Google Scholar, no. 2 (noted in Rev. Arch. xxxvii, 1900, 489Google Scholar, no. 131), republished as new by Orlandos, , Αρχ Δελτ ii, 1916, 148–9Google Scholar, no. 4. Cf. L. Robert, Rev. Phil. 1939, 131–2 and Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire, 1926, 547, n. 29, 560, n. 92, 585, n. 3, and Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft im römischen Kaiserreich (übers. von L. Wickert, Leipzig, 1929) i, 346 and ii, 316Google Scholar.