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

Pompeii divides into two groups: the progranunata antiguissima, consisting of around
150 painted inscriptions, and the recentiora, amounting to around 2500 inscriptions. It
has been argued that the oldest electoral inscriptions date from the years 80-30 BC and
have survived due to exceptional circumstances. The programmata recentiora are dated
to the years AD 50-79.
Pompeii preserves a number of honorific inscriptions in stone (tituli) and several
programmata antiquissima that can tell us about the transition from the Samnite
administration to that of Rome. The first step in the study of the inscriptions is the
establishment of their dates. Mouritsen has meticulously studied the means and methods
that can be used to date Pompeian inscriptions. 77 ' His system of dating seems the most
reliable and will be followed here. According to his reconstruction, the following
honorific inscriptions can be dated to the early phase of the Roman occupation: CIL I
1634,1636, and CIL X 794,800,819,829,844,852,937,938,956,997, and also
perhaps 1075. The names of the magistrates recorded in CIL X 800,819,829,844,852,
and 937 and 938 also appear in the prograrnmata, obviously competing for the office.
Therefore some of the programmala and the inscriptions must be almost contemporary.
One of the most debated honorific inscriptions of the early period of the Roman
town is CIL X 794.772 It comes from the forum.
V. Popidius / Ep(idi) f. q/ porticus / faciendas coeravi
Vibius Popidius son of Epidius q saw to the building of the portico.
The letter q following the name of the magistrate has generated much discussion
regarding the date of the inscription. It has been suggested that it stood for quattuorvir,
770 Mouritsen (1988) 86.
771 Mouritsen (1988) 70-89.
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