The Tetrarchy

The last dedications to Emperors from the period we are discussing here are to Diocletianus and his co-ruler Maximianus (284-305 AD). They were co-rulers, Augusti, from 286. In 293 two Caesares were added: Galerius and Constantius. This structure is known as the Tetrarchy, the rule of four. In 305 the two Augusti retired.

Porphyry sculptures of the tetrarchs, on a corner of Saint Mark's in Venice.
Photo: Wikimedia, Nino Barbieri.

From this period we have an intriguing object, said to have been found in Ostia, and now in a museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a bronze plaque with the text NAVICVLA FL(aviae) VAL(eriae) EVTROPIAE NOB(ilissimae) FEM(inae) ET FILIORVM EIVS LEGE ET RECEDE, "This yacht (is the property) of Flavia Valeria Eutropia, most noble lady, and of her children. Read and go away". There are two candidates for this Eutropia. The first is the wife of the Augustus Maximianus. The better candidate is her granddaughter, the daughter of the Caesar Constantius.

Bronze plaque of Flavia Valeria Eutropia. Width 0.285, height 0.20.
EDR171665. Photo: Hammond 1964, plate I.

The sign must have been attached to a special berthing place for private yachts, not interfering with the coming and going of the tow boats that brought cargoes to Rome. Eutropia and her children will have used it to sail to Sardinia or the Bay of Naples, perhaps even further.

During the excavations of the theatre in 1881 and 1913 fragments were found of an architrave with an inscription recording some work by the two Augusti. The original location is a mystery. In the neighbourhood work from the period has been identified on two locations: a large nymphaeum on the Square of Victory near the Porta Romana, and some secondary masonry in the back part of the so-called Seat of the Augustales. In the latter building the architrave could have been placed over the entrance with columns of the large apsidal room in the back part, but this is guesswork.

Drawing of fragments of an architrave on which work by Diocletian and Maximianus is recorded. Image: CIL XIV Suppl., 4402.

We have already seen a dedication to Diocletian by the fabri tignuarii. Another was the work of Hostilius Antipater, praefectus annonae and curator rei publicae Ostiensis. Antipater was also responsible for the dedication of an altar for Hercules Invictus, found in front of the Temple of Hercules in 1938.

Antipater's altar for Hercules Invictus, from the Temple of Hercules.
VP stands for vir perfectissimus. EDR073708. Photo: EDH.

Dedications to Maximianus were set up by Gerusius Romulus, curator rei publicae, and by Manilius Rusticianus, praefectus annonae and curator coloniae Ostiensis. Rusticianus is most likely the same man for whom an equestrian statue was erected on the forum by the ordo et populus Ostiensium. The base of this statue has been preserved.

MANILIO RVS[ticiano v(iro) p(erfectissimo)] PRAEF(ecto) ANN(onae) A(genti) V(ices) PRA[ef(ectorum) pr(aetorio)] EEMM(inentissimorum) VV(irorum) CVRATO[ri et p]ATRONO SPLENDIDISSIM(a)E COL(oniae) OS[t(iensium)] OB EIVS FIDEM AC MERIT[a] ERGA REM PVBLICAM ORDO ET POPVLVS OSTIENSIVM QVO CIVITAS TITVLIS ADMINISTRA[ti]ONIS EIVS FIERET INLVST[rior] DECREVIT ADQ(ue) CONST[itui]T	To Manilius Rusticianus, most perfect man, prefect of the Annona, acting representative of the praetorian prefects, most eminent men, curator and patron of the most splendid colony of Ostia, on account of his confidence and favours towards the community, the council and people of Ostia, so that the city, through the notices of his administration, would become more noble, decreed and erected.
The base of the equestrian statue of Manilius Rusticianus on the Forum. 307-310 AD. EDR072926. Photo: Klaus Heese.

The statue was erected in the years 307-310 AD, so we have left our period. A new chapter has begun: the struggle between Maxentius and Constantine.