Excavated: 1912 (GdS 1912, 256 (September); NSc 1912, 388-390; Vaglieri).
Mosaic: SO IV, 69 nr. 94, tav. 173 (top).
Inscription: CIL XIV S, 4549 nr. 12.
Date: 190-200 AD (SO IV).
Meas. of tesserae: 0.01-0.015 (SO IV).
Mosaic
General descriptionThe floor of the back room has not been preserved. Most of the floor of the front room has been preserved, with the exception of the west end. The north and south side are bordered by a thin line of white marble, on the axis of the central column. On the north, east and south side is a black frame, four to five tesserae thick. The west part of the north side of the frame was replaced by a small dolphin that is "breaking through" the frame. At the east end is a tabula ansata with a single line of text. The tabula was set against the frame, so out of centre, and the left ansa was not depicted. Below this text is a large dolphin, and below that another single line of text. Many restorations have been carried out in antiquity. Some consist of white tesserae (meas. 0.02), others of a mixture of black and white tesserae, sometimes in a checkerboard pattern. The latter concern almost the entire south-west part.
TextIn the tabula ansata we read (h. of letters 0.30):
NAVICVLARIORVMDIARRY
Vaglieri has:
NAVICVLARI[---]DIARRY
Wickert did not see the last I of NAVICVLARI anymore.
What we see today is not what was found, the letters ORVM are a modern addition. We are obviously dealing with the city Hippo Diarrhytus, and it is to be expected that also the first part of the name was present, as already suggested by Vaglieri. In CIL XIV S, 4378 we have HIP RE[-] for Hippo Regius, in CIL VIII.1, 1206 HIPP DIARR for Hippo Diarrhytus. HIP fits best.
Suggested reading:
NAVICVLARI HIP(pone) DIARRY(to) (ablativus of place from which)
Further down we read (h. of letters 0.17):
[4]SIM C[2+]
The text was restored in a peculiar way, reminiscent of what can be seen in statio 1. There the upper left and lower right part of the text in a tabula ansata are missing rectangles. The tabula around the latter gap is intact. In the present statio the letters to the left and right are missing rectangles. In the area around the left part are white tesserae, while the right gap is surrounded by black and white tesserae. On the photo published by Becatti a little piece of white stone (presumably marble) can be seen to the left of the S, with which the entire gap was probably filled.
As far as I know no suggestions have so far been made for supplementing the text. The last part of the two words (clearly separated by a space) cannot be COL(legium) or COR(pus), because "guild" is always in front of the profession, not behind it. Several Latin words contain SIM, but these do not fit in the context of the square. Could it be the name of a city or region? in that case, as far as I can see, the only candidate is Simittu Colonia, mentioned with the two words in this order in the Itinerarium Antonini and on the Tabula Peutingeriana. This is modern Chemtou in Tunisia, inland, ca. 200 kilometres away from Hippo Diarrhytus as the crow flies. It was famous for its marble quarries, producing the Numidian marble (giallo antico), under Imperial control. It is a nice coincidence that we hear about this marble in Ostia. The Historia Augusta reports this about the emperor Tacitus (275-276 AD): "To the people of Ostia he presented from his own funds one hundred columns of Numidian marble, each twenty-three feet in height" (SHA, Tacitus 10,52).
As to the missing first word, we can exclude STAT(io) and NAV(icularii), because the stationarii came from Hippo Diarrhytus (witness the tabula ansata), and Simitthus was not a harbour city. This leaves NEG for negotiantes, found in stationes 15, 16 and 21 (so rather than negotiatores).
Suggested reading:
NEG(otiantes) SIM(ittu) COL(onia) (ablativus of place from which, as for Hippo Diarrhytus)
Depictions
Becatti
Fish. Un delfino interrompendo la linea di riquadratura. Un delfino di profilo verso sinistra con coda a pinna trifogliata.
Masonry
The back room has a rear wall of opus latericium. The south and north wall are of opus vittatum: the north wall of mixtum B, the south wall of simplex (three layers preserved). On Vaglieri's plan they both have a double width. A row of holes is passing through the back wall. The model has benches in the back room, set against the north and south wall.
At the west end of the statio is the usual modern, brick edge (documented here on two photos, taken from the south and the north-east). A large stone, grey object is present in the centre: the object is exactly in the centre of the statio and of the east porticus, with eleven intercolumnia to the north and south. The sides consist of raised, curved parts. In the southern part is a round hole. At first sight the object looks suspiciously modern, but it probably is not. There must be a good reason why the modern restorers left it in place. In the past small metal fences were placed around some of the mosaics, but never fastened in the western edge. The object seems visible on Vaglieri's plan, albeit in line with the north wall. Some more lines on the plan, in the western edge and just behind the object, indicate that there was something special about this place.
Interpretation
Hippo Diarrhytus, modern Bizerte, is the northernmost Roman city in Tunisia. It has been suggested that it was the seat of a legate of the proconsul of Africa, the legatus provinciae Africae, regionis (also: dioeceseos) Hipponiensis (CIL IX, 1592; CIL X, 5178), but this may also have been Hippo Regius.[1] Nearby are sites for fish salting.[2]
The harbour used for the export of the marble of Simitthus was Thabraca, modern Tabarka in Tunisia. It was transported by road. Perhaps it was also floated down the river Medjerda. In that case it would have been taken to the harbour of Utica.[3]
Ward-Perkins has argued that during the empire the export of marble by sea was a regular activity. This was achieved by bulk-production and by stockpiling at the quarries and in the marble yards of the importing cities. These marble yards have been found near Portus (on the Isola Sacra) and in Rome (Marmorata).[4] This may not be entirely correct however. According to Russell these two assemblages are dumps of discards, resulting from vast quantities of imports.[5]
This set-up, Ward-Perkins continues, was accompanied by standardisation and prefabrication of the products. In northwestern Turkey there was a division of tasks in the marble trade between two marble centres. Proconnesus took care of the quarrying and shipping, while Nicomedia was the seat of the commercial organisation that determined the nature and destination of many of the shipments. About agencies overseas Ward-Perkins remarks, that these came into being to facilitate the processes of ordering and distribution. The marble from the Imperial quarries could also be purchased by municipalities and private individuals, witness its abundant use.
It should cause no surprise that the marble from Simitthus was distributed by the skippers from Hippo Diarrhytus, rather than Thabraca or Utica. From Trajan onwards the Roman emperors simplified the supply line to Rome by using the special status of corpus for collegia, and of course this approach was not undermined by using a plethora of corpora. One corpus could be active for several harbours. Given the nature of the cargo, the skippers from Hippo Diarrhytus may well have used specially designed ships. There is on the other hand no reason to think that marble was the only or even primary commodity that they shipped.
The relation between harbour and producer was sketched visually in a triple way. First of all, the visitor was alerted by the placing of the main inscription off-axis. He would then look closely at the text, and note that the left ansa is missing. This further alert drew attention to the left side of the statio. There a third anomaly would be seen: a dolphin swimming right through the frame. We may interpret this small dolphin as a child, swimming towards a parent to the right. The navicularii take care of the marmorarii, or rather, remembering that we are dealing with Imperial quarries, the navicularii support the marmorarii
The stone object at the west end of the statio would have been an ideal place for the erection of the triangular slab with the inscription NAVICVLARI AFRICANI.[6] It was found in the east porticus and is not later than the Hadrianic period.[7] The slab may then have rested on two slender columns. The shape of the slab is somewhat surprising. Triangular slabs suggest a religious or funerary context. In Ostia we may think of the dedications to Fortuna Sancta and Jupiter Serapis from the Caserma dei Vigili (II,V,1-2) and the Serapeo (III,XVII,4). A triangular inscription on the porch of the Domus del Protiro probably referred to the owner of the house. The stone base is in the exact centre of the east porticus.
This in turn would suggest that the east porticus was reserved for the skippers from Africa Proconsularis. We would then have to allow for the presence of skippers from Mauretania Caesariensis (Musluvium, statio 11) and from Sardinia (Carales and Turris Libisonis, stationes 19 and 21). The ship owners from Sardinia had a form of cooperation with those from Africa Proconsularis, for which see inscription nr. 10: domini navium Afrarum universarum item Sardorum (173 AD; item Sardorum was added later).
(1) Chastagnol 1958, 8.
(2) Stone 2014, 577.
(3) Zerres 2009, 237; Langerstay 1988; Ardeleanu 2018.
(4) Ward-Perkins 1980.
(5) Russell 2013, 237.
(6) Our inscription nr. 1. It is now attached to the back wall of statio 2. H. 0.775, w. 1.41, d. 0.085. In the bottom are two semicircular holes. In the upper edge, to the right of the top of the triangle, is a small rectangular depression (Clausen 2008, Kat. nr. 3.2 on p. 115).
(7) Dated on the basis of the ductus by Meiggs (1973, 285). It was published in 1953 (Bloch 1953, 285 n. 44). We are only told that it was found in 1938 in the east porticus. The archives should be checked for more information.