Inscription about the construction of the walls

Style period: antiquity

Century: -1 B.C.


This plain massive roughly carved stone is actually the oldest inscription found carved in Latin language and script in the area of Croatia. This is a public inscription reporting about the two builders; it seems they were autochthonous members of the community who built the wall up to the previously agreed height. It is believed that the construction of this part of the city wall could be closely connected with the events in the Roman Republic. To be more specific, that is when the Roman civil war broke out between Pompeius and Caesar, and one of the episodes of their conflict happened precisely on Krk, that is the sea around Krk. The sources state that Caesar’s army leader Antonius camped with the troupes in the city of Krk, and they were under siege there. It is possible that the construction or additional construction of the wall, mentioned in the inscription, is closely connected with this historical event and that the fortification of Krk is a direct consequence of historic commotions in the fight for power between two great fractions within the then Roman Republic.

TurusPataliusGran(picus) Opiav(vi) f(ilius)
VenetusLastimeisHosp(oli) f(ilius)
pra(ifectei) murumlocaveruntlon(gum)
pedes CXI alt(um) pedes XX eiste(m) prob(averunt)

Turus PataliusGran(picus) son of Opiav(vi)
son of VenetusLastimeisHosp(oli)
(prefects/ praetors?) arranged a wall
111 feet high 20 feet and have taken the same

There are two interpretations of this inscription when it comes to its date of origin. There is a new theory according to which it is dated a bit later in the 1st century A.D. The interpretation of the title in the abbreviation PRA, the official-constructor, as well as the praetor or prefect is questionable. In spite of that, it represents an interesting epigraphic monument of the Romanization of Krk. Today the inscription is displayed in the Frankopan castle.

Bibliography:

  • Bolonić, Mihovil, Žic-Rokov, Ivan, Otok Krk kroz vjekove, Kršćanska sadašnjost, Zagreb, 1977.
  • Kurilić, Anamarija, Recent epigraphic finds from the Roman province of Dalmatia, Dalmatia, Research in the Roman Province 1970 – 2001, BAR International Series 1576, 2006.
  • Margetić, Lujo, O natpisu o gradnji krčkih gradskih bedema sredinom I. st. pr. n. e., Istra i Kvarner, izbor studija pravnog fakulteta sveučilišta u Rijeci, Rijeka, 1996.
  • Margetić, Lujo, Plinije i liburnske općine, Istra i Kvarner, izbor studija pravnog fakulteta sveučilišta u Rijeci, Rijeka, 1996.
  • Medini, Julijan, Epigrafički podaci o munificijancijama i ostalim javnim gradnjama iz antičke Liburnije, Radovi FFZD, sv. 6, god. 6, Zadar, 1969.
  • Starac, Alka, Rimsko vladanje u Histriji i Liburniji, vol. I i II, Arheološki muzej Istre, Pula, 2000.
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