Submitted for award of PhD September 2006. - King's College London

The two inscriptions are evidence for an office of meddix in Nola qualified by the
adjective degetasius. The first inscription shows that the office was collegiate with two
or more current holders. These magistrates are attested dedicating objects paid for with
money raised from public fines. Whatmough connected the adjective degetasius to the
Latin decem and translated it into Latin as decentarius. 606 He argued that it was a
widespread practice in ancient Italy to offer Hercules tithes of crops, animals or booty
either regularly or on particular occasions. Whatmough suggested that the most
important duty of the meddix degetasius was the levying of fines for tithes not paid.
Prosdocimi agreed with Whatmough and suggested that the word degetasius is
connected to the tithe, but he supposed that it derives from the word dekento/a. 607 He
concluded that the meddix degetasius was a magistrate in charge of the collection of
taxes and so was responsible for the public finances of Nola. Campanile, however,
argued that the Oscan word for the tithe is bcxµac (gen. sing), which appears on an
inscription from Rossano di Vaglio in Lucania, and did not think it plausible that two
separate words existed for this tax. 608 La Regina agreed with Prosdocimi about the
etymology, but also points out that it is a compound of dekenta + -asio and could mean
'belonging to the group or committee of ten' like the Latin decemviri'. 609 La Regina
suggested that the adjective had a double meaning: it referred to the collectors of the
tithe, who were also members of a committee of ten.
It is generally accepted that the office of meddix degetasius is related to both
finances and the number ten. The adjective is unlikely to refer to a special duty of the
officers which needed to be performed once every ten years, such as a census. The
606 Whatmough (1927) 106-7.
607 Prosdocimi (1980) 438-45; (1978) 863.
608 Campanile-Letta (1979) 22.
609 La Regina (2000) 218.
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