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

fragmentary inscriptions, Ve 9 and Ve 10 (see map VI). 72' The similarities of the stones
had already been noted by Conway. 722 It is usually dated to the first half of the second
century BC.
p. matijis] p. ni(umsis). marjaiis] 2aidilif s v]iam sar[inam] 3teremnattens[inim
fi]4rji]mens[. ] viu. patjit. per(ekais. III]
P. Matius son of P. Numisius Maraius son of P. aediles laid out the Sarina street
and paved it. The road is 3 measuring rods wide.
Two eituns-inscriptions, ST Po 34 and ST 35 also attest the veru sarinu, that is Porta
Sarina in Latin, on the basis of which it is identified with today's Porta Ercolano. 723
It
seems plausible that the via Sarina was one of the streets in the vicinity of the gate, and
can be identified with today's via Consolare. The end of the aediles inscription is
missing, but Rix suggested that the last line of the inscription documented either the
width or the length defined by poles (perekais) as in ST Po 1.
The inscriptions of the second group come from sanctuaries. A suburban temple
dedicated to Dionysus, in modem via S. Abbondio, south-east of Pompeii, provides us
with two aediles inscriptions. ST Po 15, Pocc. 108, Antonini (1983) 205-7,6 is made of
small stones and forms part of the mosaic pavement at the entrance of the temple. The
inscription just gives the names of the two magistrates: 0. Epidius son of 0. and Tr.
Mezius son of Tr. aediles. These magistrates had presumably dedicated the pavement or
as at Schiavi d'Abruzzo, the whole temple, in the second half of the third century BC.
The other inscription, in fact two inscriptions, comes from the sides of an altar belonging
721 Rix (1979) 223-8.
722 Conway (1897) 59.
723 Vetter (1953) 55.
212