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APPEDIX 5
ROMA QUARRY ISCRIPTIOS
Roman quarry inscriptions follow a highly-standardized marking system. Therefore, it is
335
easy to provide the basic elements that were inscribed on the surfaces of marble blocks and
column shafts: only a limited number of words were used, often combined together to in a
kind of standard pattern.
First of all, it appears that there are three different sets of inscriptions: those carved
immediately after the block or column shaft had been extracted from the bedrock, another
made just before the items were shipped to their destinations, and the final inscription
made upon receipt. In a certain way, quarry-inscriptions had to record the “production
pedigree” of each item, specifying the year of production, the owner, the officer in charge
of a given quarry, the engineer who supervised the operations, and even the team that cut
that particular artifact in a specific location at the quarry. The probator, a specialist in
assessing marble imperfections, granted the final approval of quality control, marking his
approval with the letter P(robatum,) or rejection with REP(robatum).
325 Sometimes a stricken-through R can also be found for R(ecensitum), meaning that the
item had been reviewed and approved for trade. 326
The first element that often appears on blocks and column shafts was the title
CAES, which can have two completely different meanings. On one hand, if interpreted as
CAES(aris), it could mean “belonging to Caesar.” As J. C. Fant pointed out, the Emperor
325 Pensabene 1998a, 359.
326 Pensabene 1998a, 359.