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COL 1. Column shaft.
Present location: Naval Museum, Capo Colonna.
Description: The column-shaft is broken into two pieces. The protective collar is visible at
the lower end, but missing from the opposite extremity. The artifact is well preserved. The
upper extremity of the smaller section is heavily eroded. The following inscription appears
on the preserved end:
LOC II
B II COM I
SEVEROEVICTO
RINO COS OFF
MODIANA C/
IVLI //A
Due to clear signs of recent breakage, it is possible to deduce that this column shaft was
broken into three pieces at or after the time of discovery, of which the upper section is
missing. In Orsi’s 1911 article a column shaft, bearing the same identical inscription at the
base, but 4.20 m long, is mentioned. It is highly likely that this was the column he saw, and
that an upper portion, of 1.06 meters, was lost. A rectangular cartouche carved to host a
lost lead seal, measuring 0.09 m x 0.015 m, is visible on the upper end of the column.
Marble type: Pavonazzetto. 330
Length: 2.22 m + 0.92 m = 3.14 m (probably 4.20 m when intact).
Diameter (at the base with inscription): 0.57 m
Diameter (long stump, at the break): 0.49 m
Diameter (beginning short stump, at the break): 0.50 m
Diameter (end short stump, at the break): 0.43 m
Height (protective ring): 0.26 m
Notes: Discovered in 1909.
Bibliography: Orsi 1911, 16, fig. 103; Pensabene 1978, 115, fig. 7; Pensabene 2002a, 37.
330 Pensabene 1978, 115.
227