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Document Details : Title: African and Ostian Connections Subtitle: The Case-Study of Lucius Caecilius Aemilianus Author(s): VAN DER PLOEG, Ghislaine Journal: Ancient Society Volume: 47 Date: 2017 Pages: 221-236 DOI: 10.2143/AS.47.0.3242723 Abstract : The Roman Empire was characterised by increased mobility. Improved infrastructure, trade links, and Roman citizenship enabled people to move around the Mediterranean and settle in a new place. The harbour city of Ostia, with its vast movement of people and goods, was emblematic of this phenomenon of mobility and connectivity. People from all over the Roman Empire, including many from the Roman North African provinces, lived and worked here. Evidence for this is especially visible in the Piazzale delle Corporazioni with its many stationes relating to African cities such as Carthage. This article will explore these connections between Africa and Ostia by studying an inscription erected by an African veteran and duovir, Lucius Caecilius Aemilianus, who dedicated this inscription while he was living and working in Ostia. In this inscription, he displayed an interesting combination of both his African military past and his Ostian commercial present career as he was a member of the corpus splendidissimum importatorum et negotiantium vinariorum. This article will examine this combination of facets of identity and also the reasons why Caecilius chose to display his identity in this way. |
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