Ein Altar für Neptun aus Patara ex magnis periculis – Zur Weihepraxis von Signiferi und zur Kategorisierung impliziter Bilinguen

Abstract

The article publishes an altar with a Latin dedicatory inscription from the Lycian harbour town of Patara, set up by a signifer of legio XII Fulminata. As one of the few Latin testimonies from Imperial Asia Minor, it provides the starting point for an analysis of the epigraphic habit of signiferi with regard to the erection of dedications in the Roman Empire and for a reconstruction of its probable context of origin. The inscription (ex magnis periculis) indicates that the dedicator was travelling by ship near the Lycian coast, vowed an altar to Neptune in what he perceived as a threatening situation, and fulfilled this vow in the harbour town of Patara. The way the inscription was made provides some information about the production process: The execution of the letters proves that the stonemason could not write Latin, but copied the unfamiliar Latin letters from a draft written by the client in cursive. The inscription can thus be placed in a larger context of epigraphic evidence at the interface between Latin and Greek epigraphy and offers new insights into the hitherto rarely documented phenomenon of implicit bilinguals. The author proposes that existing categorizations of bilinguals should be expanded accordingly.