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This has been interpreted as: Loc(o) II / B(racchio) II Com(missura?) I / Severo et Victo /<br />

rino Co(n)s(ulibus) Off(icina) / (Co)modiana C(aesura) / Iuli (G)a(yri). 132<br />

Locus (L<strong>at</strong>in for “place, position, loc<strong>at</strong>ion”) indic<strong>at</strong>es the place <strong>of</strong> extraction<br />

within the quarry, th<strong>at</strong> is, the exact marble vein; Bracchium (meaning “arm, branch”) is<br />

the sector <strong>of</strong> the quarry from which this particular item was quarried. Com(missura?),<br />

L<strong>at</strong>in for juncture or intersection, is an abbrevi<strong>at</strong>ion known only <strong>at</strong> Punta Scifo A, <strong>at</strong> the<br />

quarries <strong>of</strong> Docimium, 133 and on a block from Caracalla’s B<strong>at</strong>hs in Rome. 134 Its meaning<br />

is not totally clear. Severus and Victorinus were the consuls in charge <strong>of</strong> Rome in A.D.<br />

200; Officina Comodiana (literally Commodus’ workshop) is the workshop th<strong>at</strong> received<br />

the column shaft from the quarry under the supervision <strong>of</strong> Commodus; Iulius Gayrus, if<br />

the reading is correct, is the name <strong>of</strong> the supervisor responsible for the caesura, the<br />

process <strong>of</strong> extracting this piece from the surrounding rock. 135<br />

Therefore, the inscription provides the column shaft’s biographical sketch,<br />

recording how it was extracted “in the first intersection <strong>of</strong> the second branch <strong>of</strong> the<br />

second vein, <strong>at</strong> the time when Severus and Victorinus were consuls. Commodus directed<br />

the workshop th<strong>at</strong> received this item from the cutting team <strong>of</strong> Julius Gayrus.”<br />

132 Transcription and interpret<strong>at</strong>ion: Pensabene, 1978a, 115. See Appendix 5 for more specific inform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

regarding quarry inscriptions in Roman Imperial time.<br />

133 Fant 1989b, 66-71.<br />

134 See Bruzza 1870, 193, n. 279: EPICTETVS AVGVS (ti servus) / PROACTOR PRO (cur<strong>at</strong>oris) / (l)OC<br />

IIII B SEC COM L ….. / (al) BINO ET AEMILAN(o cos) / (caesura?) AVR DEMETRI B(eneficiarii..) /<br />

(subcu)RA AVR EPITY(nchani)… / VE CAVRT …. The same inscription has been studied by J. Delaine,<br />

and she has read it as: EPICTETUS AUGUS[ti lib(ertus) / PROBATOR PRO[bavit] / LOC(o) IIII<br />

B(racchio) SEC(undo) COM(?) I[?] / al]BINO ET AEMILAN(o) [COS] / [caesura] AUR(elii) DEMETRI<br />

B[eneficiarii] / [sub cu]RA AUR(elii) EPITY[nchiani] / VEC(tura) AUR(elii) T[hrasonis]<br />

135 For more parallels and extra inform<strong>at</strong>ion regarding L<strong>at</strong>in quarry-inscriptions, see Bruzza 1870, 106-204;<br />

Dodge 1991, 35-6; Ward-Perkins 1992a, 26-30; Pensabene 1998a, 358-362; Pensabene 2001, 44-6;<br />

Pensabene 2002a, 18-23.<br />

101

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