Tyre

Commemoration of a Greek boxer

Tyre (Phoenician רצ, ṣūr, "rock"; Greek Τúρος; Latin Tyrus): port in Phoenicia and one of the main cities in the eastern Mediterranean.

History

Photos

Texts

Inscriptions

On several places in the city of Tyre, inscriptions can be seen. Given the importance of the capital of Syria Phoenice, we would have expected more of them. The first inscription, shown top left and written in Greek, commemorates a successful boxer, and can be found at the end of the Mosaic Road.

The inscriptions below, in Latin, can be found along the same street, near the Square Building. The first one (known as AE 1995, 1569) records the career of one Publius Valerius Protogenianus, officer in three named units. On the other side of this prism (known as AE 2006, 1587; second photo) is a dedication to the emperor Diocletian by a governor named Lucius Artorius Pius Maximus.

The second prism (AE 2006, 1597; third photo) was erected by a speculator, a Roman agent at a foreign court, named Lucius Aemilius Antoninus, who commemorated a woman whose father had been a consul, probably wife. Finally, the fourth photo is a milestone from the age of the emperor Philip the Arab (244-249).

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P(ublium) Valer(ium) Protogenia- num praef(ectum) coh(ortis) II Thra(cum) et praeposit(um) coh(ortis) III Thra(cum) curatorem coh(ortis) I Sagitt(ariorum) item praeposi- [tum ---]l	D(omino) n(ostro) Imp(eratori) Caes(ari) C(aio) Aurel(io) Valer(io) Diocletiano P(io) F(elici) Invicto Aug(usto) L(ucius) Artorius Pius Maximus v(ir) c(larissimus) Augg(ustorum) pro pr(aetore) leg(atus) provinc(iae) Phoen(ices) devotus num(ini) [maie]statiq(ue) eius	...] v(iri) c(larissimi) co(n)s(ularis) filiae L(ucius) Aemil(ius) Antoni- nus specul(ator) [six lines]	D(ominus) n(oster) Imp(erator) Caes(ar) M(arcus) Iul(ius) Philippus Pius Fel(ix) Aug(ustus) Sept(imia) colonia Ty[ro] metrop[ol]i [... mille pa]ssus