Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 June 2020
The translation of so-called ‘honorific’ titles from Punic to Latin, and their deployment in a number of public monumental inscriptions in Lepcis Magna, have often been promoted as evidence for successful Romanisation in the cities of Tripolitania. Titles such as amator concordiae and ornator patriae have been understood as affirmations that the local Lepcitan community had engaged with Augustan ideological concepts and were using them to demonstrate loyalty and support for the principate. This paper argues that a more likely influence on the translation of the titles into Latin came from the notions of philia exhibited by the Greek-speaking communities of the eastern Mediterranean in their interactions with Rome.
ن ترجمة ما يسمى بالألقاب ”الشرفية“ من اللغة البونية إلى اللاتينية، و استعمالها في عدد من النقوش الأثرية العامة في لبدة الكبرى، تم الترويج له غالباً على أنه دليل على نجاح الرومنة (Romanisation) في مدن إقليم تريبوليتانيا. عناوين مثل محب الوئام amator concordiae و مزين البلد ornator patriae تم فهمها على أنها تأكيد على أن مجتمع لبدة المحلي قد شارك المفاهيم الإيديولوجية لأوغسطس، و كان يستخدمها في إثبات ولائه و دعمه للحاكم. تناقش هذه الورقة أن التأثير الأكثر احتمالاً على ترجمة العناوين إلى اللاتينية جاء من مفاهيم المحبة و الأخوة (philia) التي أبدتها المجتمعات الناطقة باللغة اليونانية في شرق البحر الأبيض المتوسط في تعاملاتها مع روما.
This research was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP/2007–2013)/ERC Grant Agreement no. 614 424. It was conducted within the framework of the ERC project JUDAISM AND ROME, under the auspices of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and Aix-Marseille University, UMR 7297 TDMAM (Aix-en-Provence, France). Versions of this paper were given at the Theorizing Contacts conference at Edinburgh University in 2017, and at research seminars at the CNRS (Aix-Marseille) and the Institute of Classical Studies (London) in 2018; my thanks to the organisers of and participants in those events. My thanks also to Dr Aitor Blanco-Perez, Dr Benjamin Gray, Dr Niccolò Mugnai and Dr Christopher Siwicki who all read drafts of this article and offered essential feedback. Professor Charlotte Roueché has supported my interest in these inscriptions since 2009, when she involved me in the digital republication of Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania. I am forever indebted to her generosity then and continued support today.