Relationships Between Nicomedia, Aquileia and Northern Italy During the Roman Imperial Period
Ergün LAFLI* - Maurizio BUORA**
Introduction his article is devoted to the relationships between Nicomedia, Aquileia and northern Italy (figs. 1-2) Tduring the Roman Imperial period, i.e. first to early fifth centuries A.D. based on archaeological, his- torical, epigraphic and numismatic evidence. Archaeological and historical relationships between Roman Asia Minor and Italy is not studied yet in detail. Epigraphic and numismatic evidences are so many that for the Roman provinces of Asia Minor there is a good potential to understand things in a better comprehen- sive way in relation with Roman Italy. Nicomedia was founded as a Greek colony called as “Astacus”. It was destroyed by Lysimachus and rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 B.C. It becomes Roman when the last Bithynian king, Nicomedes IV, bequeaths his realm to Rome in 91 B.C. It was visited by Caracalla in A.D. 214 and by Heliogabalus in A.D. 218/219. The city was sacked by “Scythians” in c. A.D. 255. It was the capital of Diocletian who makes it a colonia and Licinius, replaced by Constantinople. In A.D. 358 a huge earthquake happened in this city which destroyed almost all the golf. In the Middle Ages it was a military base for Byzantine campaigns against the Arabs. Founded by the Romans as in 181 B.C., beyond the Venetic area and facing the Celts, Aquileia, given its position on the Natiso - partly survived in the Natissa river - , grew into an important trade and commerce center in northe- astern Italy. As one of the largest and wealthiest cities of the Early Roman Empire, it was destroyed by Attila in the mid-fifth century A.D. Eventually it was made seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that lasted until A.D. 1751. Between Nicomedia, Aquileia and northern Italy some relationships occured since the beginning of the Ro- man Empire: A Roman inscription, known since over five centuries, is now preserved in the museum of Udine (fig. 3), where one of the authors has worked for many years. It was considered, on the basis of a note by a sixteenth century author - not free of faults, that it comes from the territory of Iulia Concordia in northe- astern Italy1. The hypothesis would seem to be confirmed by the explicit quotation of the name of the city of Concordia in the text. Most of the authors who have dealt with it consider the inscription as a sepulchral2. “Difficilmente sarà più tarda di un decennio o due alla morte di Cesare” Silvio Panciera believes3. From the text we understand that the two Calii brothers were in operis publicis, in the central decades of the first century B.C., respectively in Bithynia, in Asia and somewhere else4. According to Silvio Panciera, which is based on various ancient expressions, including one by Cicero, the formula indicates the staff working in the service of the State. We can assume that in Rome as in the province, the magistrates could use for the exer- cise of their functions a series of helpers, paid with public money and therefore effectively public employees. Probably the two brothers Calii played a high role, perhaps exercising the role of scribe, not incompatible with that of quaestor and decurio. We conclude that towards the end of the late republican period some inhabitants of northern Italy sought fortune in Bithynia.
The Catullus family in the Roman provinces of Bithynia and Asia Around 57 B.C. the poet Gaius Valerius Catullus, born in or near Verona, went to Bithynia in the cohors of C. Memmius. Here he also had the opportunity to visit his brother’s grave in the Troad.
* Prof. Dr. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi, Arkeoloji Bölümü, e-mail: [email protected] ** Dr. Via Gorizia 16, I-33100 Udine, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] 1 CIL V, nos. 977 and 8666; SI, no. 396; ILS, no. 1498; Lettich 1994, 111-114, no. 40; and Magnani 2009. 2 The text is clearly dictated by his brother, whose name is in the nominative. It seems strange that this may be an honorary inscription. 3 Panciera 1985 = 2006, 827: “It will hardly be later than a decade or two of Caesar’s death”. 4 The exact name of the region is not preserved in the stone.
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About thirty years ago, the combination made by Timothy Wiseman between a titulus pictus on an amphora of Monte Testaccio of Rome, which bears the text C. Valeri Catulli and the poet, aroused sensation5. Wiseman convinced himself that ours was involved in the trade of garum and its importation from Baetica: similar reasons may have encouraged him to go to Bithynia. Marilyn B. Skinner maliciously observes that the “mention of pickled fish is incidentally a good deflactionary tactic when undergraduates start identifying too intensely with the hero of a tradition now defined “Catul- lroman”6. The titulus pictus was therefore on an amphora of the type Dressel 10 similis, a type of container produced in the Gades’ kilns, recently subdivided in four variants. The complete evolution of the type would have manifested around 20 B.C. or when Catullus had been dead for thirty years. In fact, the Valerii were one of the most active gentes in the territory of Gades: we know some names of importers of garum (Monte Tes- taccio) and also of oil (Pompeii)7.
The sea connection of Nicomedia with the Adriatic In ancient times the route from Nicomedia to the Adriatic was well served. A Greek inscription found in Zadar confirms that it was already in use in the Augustan age8. For the Late Antiquity we can refer to the edictum de pretiis which mentions several times the transport from Nicomedia to Salona, from where we must think that the goods were loaded on smaller boats that went to the Northadriatic. There was also a western route, jud- ging from a funeral tombstone of Pesaro dated to A.D. 3929. The connections were entrusted to the naukleroi, who were well organized in Nicomedia, an important military and civilian harbor.
The élites of Brixia and Nicomedia A strong link between people of equestrian and senatorial order and the city of Nicomedia is attested by two important inscriptions from Brixia. A certain [Sextus?] Valerius [Poblicola?]10 was appointed decu- rion at Verona and Tridentum and a M. Nonius Arrius Paulinus became curator rei publicae Nicomedien- sium et Nicaeeorum. There is no doubt about this, and instead on the meaning of the two offices the- re are many aspects that should be clarified. In the first place the question arises whether the Sextus Valerius Poblicola was by chance a descendant of the poet Gaius Valerius Catullus. Brixia, modern Brescia, situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometres from the lakes Garda and Iseo, is fifty Roman miles away from Verona, but the Valerii are widespread. Perhaps in Verona was the family, of senatorial rank, of the Lucii Valerii Catulli probably of the Early Roman Imperial Period.11 Two years ago Heikki Solin, dealing with the revival of famous names in Roman society, also included Sextus Valerius Poblicola in his list, excluding any relationship with the poet’s family12. This would negate the hypot- hesis already proposed by the same Timothy Wiseman that the Valerii had a continuity of interests in Bithynia, dating back to the Catullus’ journey in 57 BC. 13 Sextus Valerius Poblicola certainly had economic interests and political ties in Brixia and in the territories of the nearby municipalities of Verona and Tridentum. We do not know if he indeed was part of the local senate in these three cities or if he received only the decurionalia ornamenta. In just two days he would have been able to go to one of these cities from Brixia, take part in a meeting and then return to his home.14. He certainly did not participate in the sessions of the ordo decurionum at Nicomedia. The inhabitants of Brixia decreed the erection of a golden equestrian statue in a public place, around the middle of the second century, probably to the same person: there are still two fragments of its base, with the name of a Sex Vale [rius ---] Priscillianus, perhaps his son. Later, in the Severian age, a man perhaps from his own family is attested, Sex. Valerius Poblicola Vettillianus, who also had a political activity, but limited to small communities in northern Italy15. The cognomen Priscillianus would be, according to some researchers16, derived from Bivonia Priscilla, wife of
5 CIL XV, no. 4756. 6 Skinner 2003, 187. 7 Cf. Mongardi 2014, 96, n. 12. 8 Giunio 2017. 9 Nocita 2012. 10 His full name has been lost and is the result of reconstruction. 11 Gregori 1999, 150, no. 70. 12 Solin 2015, 37. 13 Wiseman 1987, 362 ff.; and Gregori 1999, 142, note 212. 14 Cf. Gregori 1999, 152, note 262. 15 For Vardagatenad or Drepsinum see Gregori 1999, 143. 16 E.g. Gregori 1999, 142.
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a Sex. Valerius Rufus, a friend of Senator M. Nonius Macrinus. Finally, numerous scholars17 attempted to see a link between the Nonii of the Severian age, a senatorial family of Brixia, and Nonia M.f. Arria Hermionilla, wife of the Knight Sex. Valerius Sex. F. Fab. Poblicola Vettillianus18. To close the circle we remember another Brixian person, M. Nonius Arrius Paulinus Aper who became consul in the Severian age. Among other charges, he was curator rei publicae Nicomedensium et Nicaeensium before becoming curator of the via Appia (fig. 4)19. He was perhaps son or brother of M. Nonius Arrius Mucianus Manlius Carbo, in turn son of the consul suffectus M. Nonius M.f. Fab. Macrinus which was also proconsul in Asia20. The ties established there between his father or grandfather perhaps explain the cure of the res publica of Nicomedia. Among the reasons that could have produced it, we might perhaps suppose that there is the marble trade at the base. In fact it has been supposed21 that the father (or grandfather) Macrinus had interests in this field in the territory of Brixia - where there are the important quarries of Botticino marble. Our Paulinus was honored with a statue by the college of dendrophori, so he had relationships in the field of entrepreneurial activities related also to the building industry. What could there be in common between the Brixian, Nicaean and Nicomedian areas? We believe that in common there was an interest in the commercial exploitation of marble22. Perhaps it is not too strange to think that his connection with Nicomedia may have involved the Troad marble trade as well.
A family from Nicomedia to Aquileia Just in the third century A.D. we see some marble merchants of Bithynia transplanted in Italy. Their social sta- tus must have been good, as revealed by the sarcophagus found in 1910 under the floor of the basilica of San Saba in Rome, where M. Aurelius Xenonianus Aquila was buried, declaring himself to be the first stone seller (“πρῶτοςλιθενπόρων”) and for this reason he had a statio near the Horrea Petroniana23. In Terni, another λιθένπορος, an Andreius Androneicus, born in Nicomedia, was buried in a sarcophagus in the same period24. A part of a sarcophagus as “a cassa”, i.e. shaped like a chest, originates Aquileia in the fragmentary tabula of which is another M. Aurelios and his son [Timo]krates were quoted in Greek (fig. 5)25. Obviously we will never know, unless we find the missing part of the text. The sarcophagus was broken over time and perhaps the preserved part was reused in some subsequent burial. The name of the deceased points, with a certain probability, to the first half of the third century A.D., after the Constitution Antoniniana in A.D. 212. The family was certainly established in Aquileia for commercial reasons: the fact that a father is mentioned with at least one of his sons and a slave and / or freedman or two children makes us think that the deceased was not a person who occasionally went to town as a naukleros, but someo- ne who resided there permanently. Even in this case, perhaps it would not to be too risky to think that among the products imported from Nicomedia or from the agencies of that city, there was also the Proconnesian marble and right from the end of the second century A.D. it came in large quantities to Aquleia, although we have no direct evidence in this regard. After centuries and centuries of re-use, there were at the disposal of the stone slabs still in the last years of the fifteenth century that created a new forum for the basilica of Aquileia where there were available large slabs of this material and were carefully re-used.
A common depiction in a Nicomedian and an Aquileian (?) sarcophagus The workshops at Aquileia produced sarcophagi from the end of the second century A.D. at least until the fifth century A.D. One of them is known for having created a group of works conventionally called as “Aqui- leia-Grado”, dissemination of which is rather limited and dating of which is the subject of further discussion. In a recent contribution, Francesca Ghedini and Giulia Salvo date a sarcophagus found on the Via Postumia in Tortona, ancient Dertona, and probably made of marble, to the second half of the third century A.D.26 In a rear acroterium of the Tortona sarcophagus we can see the representation of a dog with a tree in the ba- ckground from which spherical fruits hang (fig. 6). The tree perhaps alludes to the Elysian fields and the value of the dog in funeral symbology is well known. However, it is striking that in the Archaeological and Ethnog- raphic Museum of Kocaeli there is a sarcophagus, likewise by Proconnesian marble, which bears a very similar representation of dogs with in the background on two acroteria, but with vines loaded with grapes (figs. 7-9).
17 Gregori 1999, 142, with further literature. 18 Gregori 1999, 117. 19 Gregori 1999, 117. 20 Chausson, Gregori 2015, 286. 21 Chausson, Gregori 2015, 283. 22 Bruno, Elçİ, Yavuz, Attanasio 2012, 570 (the quarry district of Nicaea). 23 ICUR II, no. 41; SEG IV, no. 106; Barresi 2003, 117; Russel 2013, 205-206; and Ward Perkins 1980, 33. 24 Ward Perkins 1980, 34. 25 I. G. XIV, no. 2339; and I.A. 1991, no. 879. 26 Ghedini – Salvo 2017.
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In the same sarcophagus of Tortona other Anatolian elements were opportunely highlighted27, such as the depiction of the Dioscuri which refers to the sarcophagi of the Sidamara type28.
Aquileia and Nicomedia: a qualitative leap at the time of Diocletian A clear improvement in the status of the two cities took place at the time of Diocletian, i.e. in A.D. 284-305.29 Both of them became provincial capitals and endowed themselves with a mint, a circus, probably a (new) building for the administration, occasionally used also to welcome the emperor, and new city walls. Perhaps at the time of Diocletian some buildings and important areas for the urban life, such as the forum, began to be restored and renovated. Some ancient sources mention in detail about the two devastating earthquakes that took place in Nicomedia in the fourth century A.D.30 and modern urbanization of the 20th and 21st centuries in Izmit does not allow direct knowledge of the city’s face of the fourth century. For Aquileia, however, we are better informed by re- cent archaeological investigations. They attest that as in Milan, just at that time - or perhaps since then - a new district was added to the west, at a height higher than 80 cm from the level of the Early Imperial age.31 From the time of Constantine we also see the erection of numerous ecclesiastical buildings and then the creation of a series of Christian cemeteries in Aquileia, along the main streets, at a certain distance from the city walls.
The numismatic relationships We know some provincial issues in the territory of Venetia et Histria which were minted in Asia Minor and Syria. As regards to the cistophores a first series of claims begun already in the era of Marc Antony in 43-33 B.C.32 and continued to the third century A.D.
Findspots in northeast- Mints in Asia Minor Emperors References ern Italy or Syria
Stella 2017, 415 Ager Vicentiae Severus Alexander Nicaea Bithyniae
Opitergium Caracalla Antiochia Orontes Stella 2017, 415
Opitergium Severus Alexander Antiochia Orontes Stella 2017, 416
Opitergium Gordianus III Antiochia Orontes Stella 2017, 416
Altinum Caracalla Pergamum Mysiae Stella 2017, 416
Altinum Severus Alexander Nicaea Bithyniae Stella 2017, 416
Altinum Severus Alexander Antiochia Orontes Stella 2017, 416 Heraclea Pontica Altinum Gordianus III Stella 2017, 416 Bithyniae
Campagna Lupia Gordianus III Nicaea Bithyniae Stella 2017, 416 Antoninus IV Iulia Concordia Antiochia Orontes Stella 2017, 416 (Elagabalus)
Stella 2017, Iulia Concordia Trebonianus Gallus Antiochia Orontes 416
Antoninus IV Stella 2017, Grado Pergamum Mysiae (Elagabalus) 416
27 Ghedını – Salvo 2017, 109 “in essa (sc. Aquileian workshop) coesistono, se non maestranze, sicuramente influenze provenienti dai vari centri di produzione dell’Impero, specialmente dall’orizzonte microasiatico” [= “in this workshop (sc. Aquileian) coexist, if not workers, certainly influences coming from the various centers of production of the Empire, especially from the Anatolian origins”]. 28 Ghedini – Salvo 2017, 112-114. 29 For Nicomedia during the Diocletian era, cf. Laflı 2018. 30 On the earthquake of A.D. August 24, 358 cf. Amm. Marc. XVII, 7, 1-8; Liban. Monod. for Nicomedia; for that of A.D. December 2, 362 Amm. Marc. XXII, 13, 5. 31 Buora, Magnani 2013-2014, 31. 32 See Stella 2017a.
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Antoninus IV Emona-Ljubliana Nicaea Bithyniae Stella 2017, 416 (Elagabalus)
Emona-Ljubliana Severus Alexander Nicaea Bithyniae Stella 2017, 416
Emona-Ljubliana Gordianus III Nicaea Bithyniae Stella 2017, 416 It was noted that “la componente provinciale dei rinvenimenti della Venetia et Histria, con particolare riferi- mento ad Aquileia, per quantità ed eterogeneità non trova confronti in Italia e, in prospettiva, in buona parte dell’Europa occidentale”33. Although the composition of the numismatic collection in the museum of Aquileia is far from being completely known, the following coins have recently been indicated34.
Emperors Datings Mints in Asia Minor Septimius Severus A.D. 193-211 Tarsus Ciliciae M. Kairelios Attalos A.D. 215 Pergamun Mysiae Antoninus IV A.D. 218-222 Nicaea Bithyniae (Elagabalus) Severus Alexander A.D. 222-235 Nicaea Bithyniae Gordianus III A.D. 238-244 Tarsus Ciliciae Traianus Decius A.D. 249-251 Antiochia ad Meandrum Traianus Decius A.D. 249-251 Ilium Troadis These coins are limited to the first half of the third century A.D. and were persuasively brought back to the presence of soldiers from Illyricum, who would have arrived in Aquileia especially during the Bellum Aquile- iense in A.D. 238 and also later with the expedition of Trajan Decius towards Rome. With regard to the coins by the Nicomedian mint, we have some evidence from the port of Classe of ancient Tergeste in the upper Adriatic area, but there is still no synthesis or census for the central part of the Adriatic. In the national museum of Aquileia, for instance, which conserves at least 25.000 coins, there is no data for the number of coins by the Nicomedian mint. The table presented above must obviously be read in correlation with the change in the monetary flow during the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries A.D. For these centuries the reason could also be the presence of nume- rous soldiers originated from the eastern parts of the empire, especially during some war episodes, which occurred in the time of Magnentius and Julian.
Findspots in northeast- Emperors Datings References ern Italy RMRFVG III and IV, 196, Duino, Mithraeum Licinius I A.D. 313-317 no. 50 RMRFVG III and IV, 196, Duino, Mithraeum Licinius I A.D. 322-324 no. 51
Opitergium (by acquisa- Licinius I A.D. 317-320 RMRVe II, 306. tion) for Licinius II Porto di Classe Licinius II A.D. 317-324 Baldi 2013, 304 RMRFVG III and IV, 197, Duino, Mithraeum Constantinus I A.D. 324-325 no. 62 RMRFVG III and IV, 197, Duino, Mithraeum Constantinus I A.D. 325-326 no. 63 Constantinus I Santa Maria di Sala A.D. 325-326 RMRVe VI/3, 139 for Elena Altinum Constantinus I A.D. 330-335 RMRVe VI, 155 Altinum Constantinus I A.D. 330-335 RMRVe VI, 420
33 =“The provincial component of the Venetia et Histria finds, with particular reference to Aquileia, in terms of quantity and heterogeneity, finds no comparisons in Italy and, in perspective, in much of Western Europe”: Stella 2017b, 414. 34 Stella 2017b, 418.
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Constantinus I for Con- RMRFVG III and IV, 197, Duino, Mithraeum A.D. 325-326 stantinus II no. 71 Constantinus I for Con- RMRFVG III and IV, 197, Duino, Mithraeum A.D. 325-326 stantinus II no. 72 Constantinus I for Con- Altinum A.D. 330-335 RMRVe VI, 155 stantinus II Altinum Constantinus I A.D. 330-335 RMRVe VI, 421 Altinum Constantinus I A.D. 330-335 RMRVe VI, 421 Altinum Costantius II A.D. 337-340 RMRVe VI, 423 Altinum Costantius II A.D. 337-340 RMRVe VI, 423 Aquileia, Stella, Fondi Cossar 2012, Costans A.D. 337-340 fondi Cossar no. 711 Oderzo, without findspot Costantius II A.D. post 348 RMRVe II, 296 Oderzo, uncertain findspot Costantius II A.D. post 348 RMRVe II , 273 A.D. post 348 Cessalto Costantius II RMRVe II, 39 uncertain mint Altinum Costantius II A.D. post 348 RMRVe VI, 467 Altinum Costantius II A.D. post 348 RMRVe VI, 429
Costantius II for Costanti- A.D. 351-354 Altinum RMRVe VI, 106 us Gallus uncertain mint Altinum Costantius II A.D. 351-361 RMRVe VI, 498 Altinum Costantius II A.D. 351-355 RMRVe VI, 429 A.D. 351-355 Altinum Costantius II RMRVe VI, 467 uncertain mint Altinum Costantius II for Julian III A.D. 355-361 RMRVe VI, 431 Altinum Julian III A.D. 361-363 RMRVe VI, 467 Porto di Classe Jovian A.D. 363-364 Baldi 2013, 312 Campagna Lupia Valens A.D. 364-375 RMRVe VI/3, 28 Gratian, Valentinianus II, RMRFVG III and IV , 263, Duino, Samatorza A.D. 378-383 Teodosius I no. 52 RMRFVG III and IV , 204, Duino, Mithraeum Valentinian II A.D. 378-383 no. 236 RMRFVG III and IV, 206, Duino, Mithraeum Teodosius II A.D. 379-383 no. 267 Villa Zeno Teodosius I A.D. 379-383 RMRVe II, 49 Oderzo, in the territory Arcadius A.D. 392-394 RMRVe II, 275 Valentinian II/Teodosius I/ Altinum A.D. 388-402 RMRVe VI, 447 Arcadius/Honorius Porto di Classe Teodosius II A.D. 408-423 Baldi 2013, 330 Altinum Justin I A.D. 522-527 RMRVe VI, 469 Porto di Classe Justinian I A.D. 553-565 Baldi 2013, 344 Altinum Justinian I A.D. 558-559 RMRVe VI, 480 Altinum Mauritius Tiberius A.D. 586-587 RMRVe VI, 469
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Percentages
Percentages of Findspots Amounts Nicomedian coins in whole numismatic assemblages Porto di Classe 790 0,50 % Altinum 5982 0,25 % Opitergium 2575 0,23 % Duino, Mithraeum 522 1,53 % The rate of coins issued by the mint of Nicomedia found along the Upper Adriatic coast is overall very small. In the port of Classe it reaches up to 0.50%, while in other centers, such as Altinum or Opitergium, the per- centage is halved. A very high percentage is instead found among the finds of the Mithraeum of San Giovanni in Duino, near a site that was welcomed as an important port already in the Republican age and a sanctuary dedicated to numerous divinities, including Diomedes. This was the point of arrival of the eastern Adriatic route, before its functions were carried out by the port of Aquileia and Grado. One could suppose that their presence among the offers of the followers of Mithraism may depend on military visits, possibly coming from the East, probably from the Balkan area35. During the fourth century A.D., especially in the time of Julian, the arrival of armed units was documented on several occasions (fig. 10). It should also be noted that only four coins are coming from the harbour of Classe: two - half - date from the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., when Ravenna was of decisive importance in relations with the Eastern Empire. The analysis of the chronological flow of the coins is also of interest (fig. 11). Among the 17 specimens dating from the reign of Licinius and the monetary reform of the A.D. 348, more than 58% are dated to the period of Constantine I, with a maximum frequency in the interval between 330 and 335. Fourth-century coins exceed 85% of the total, with two peaks related to the period of Constantine I and Costantius II (after the coin reform of A.D. 348) each equaling 24.39% of the total. The fifth century A.D. is poorly represented, while the flow intensifies partially in the sixth century, in particular with Justinian.
Conclusions What we know about the relations between the Upper Adriatic coast and the city of Nicomedia obviously deri- ves from the randomness of archaeological evidence. These relations derive primarily from the sea route that departed from Asia Minor and covered the whole eastern Adriatic, and secondly from the terrestrial itinerary that ran through the Illyricum. The first was mainly traveled by merchants at least until the beginning of the third century A.D. and the second was chosen by many military units, especially in the third and fourth centuries A.D. Since the Late Republican age, we can document the presence of people from the Upper Adriatic area - and more generally in northern Italy - in Bithynia and particularly in Nicomedia. Among these we find employees of the state administration, but also soldiers and traders. One name stands out among all and is that of the poet Valerius Catullus, around which there have been speculations36 that seem to be dispelled today. From the early imperial period to late antiquity, Latin inscriptions documented the name of naukleroi (ship-ow- ning merchantmen) from Nicomedia, some of which were involved in the trade of Troad marble and perhaps also other goods. A family among the inhabitants of Nicomedia, perhaps with these commercial interests, settled in Aquileia, where it had its own sepulchral enclosure, with a sarcophagus bearing an inscription written in Greek. A small nucleus of inscriptions from centers around Lake Garda - a Catullian area! – evidence us some closer ties between the local communities and the city of Nicomedia, around some equestrian (Valerii) and senato- rial (Nonii) families. Finally, a look at the flow of money allows us to evaluate the huge presence of coins issued in Asia Minor and Syria in the third century A.D. attested along the coast of the Adriatic. Especially the city of Aquileia stands out probably for reasons related to troop movements. Later the coins minted in Nicomedia are present in small quantities, but still appreciable, up to the early By- zantine age in Ravenna. 35 From the Tetrarchic age at least until the middle decades of the fourth century A.D. we know a stationing of numerous soldiers in Aquileia from Illyricum, especially from Moesia. 36 See above.
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Notes and acknowledgements Abbreviations used in this article are as follows (in alphabetical order): ed.: edited, fig.: figure, pl.: plate and vol.: volume. The sarcophagus in the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum of Kocaeli was studied with an authori- sation granted by the Directorship of this museum to Dr Gülseren Kan Şahin (Sinop) on March 15, 2018 and enumerated as 62901608-155.01/E. 228521. The necessary documentation was assembled on October 22, 2018 by Dr Kan Şahin to whom we would like to thank for providing figs. 7-9 and for her allowance to publish her photos in this article. Fig. 1 was arranged by Dr Sami Patacı and Mr Zeki Akkurt (both from Ardahan) in 2018 to whom we would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation. We are much indebted to Mr Resül Narin and Mr Ali Kemal (both from Kocaeli) for their critical reading and stylistic improvements of the text as well as for their friendship during the symposium, and are also thankful to Dr Eva Christof (Graz) as well as Dr Kan Şahin for their assistance in various further points. This article is dedicated to the victims of the 1999 Izmit-Nicomedia earthquake in its 20th anniversary.
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References Amm. Marc. = Ammiani Marcellini, Rerum gestarum libri. CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Berlin, 1863- I.A. = J. B. Brusin, Inscriptiones Aquileiae, vols. 1-3, Udine 1991-1993. IGUR II = Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae, Rome 1888. I. G. = Inscriptiones Graecae, XIV, Siciliae et Italiae, additis Galliae, Hispaniae, Britanniae, Germaniae inscrip- tionibus, Berlin 1890. ILS = H. Dessau. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Berlin, vols. I-III, 1892-1916. Liban. Monod. for Nicomedia = Libanius, Monodia for Nicomedia (Orat. 17). SEG = Supplementum epigraphicum graecum. SI =E. Pais’, Supplementum Italicum, Atti R. Accad. d. Lincei. ser. 4, vol. 5, Rome 1884-1888. Baldi E. 2013, La documentazione monetale come fonte per la storia di Classe (Ravenna). Gli scavi condotti nell’area portuale (anni 2001-2005) e nell’area della basilica di San Severo (anni 2006-2010), Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Alma mater studiorum - Università di Bologna
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