УДК 94

Dating of the destruction layer of the room 14 of The House of the Doric Capital in Morgantina

Ленчук Владислав Юрьевич – студент Национального исследовательского университета "Высшая школа экономики".

Кукатов Егор Андреевич – студент Брянский государственный университет имени Ивана Петровского.

Abstract: This article discusses an example of dating room 14 based on the coins found. The process of re-reading the years for our era is described in detail. The settlement of Morgantina was destroyed at the end of the 1st century BC as a result of the war between Sextus Pompey and Octavian. However, in order to more accurately determine the chronological framework, we need to turn to archaeological materials.

Аннотация: В этой статье рассматривается пример комнаты свиданий 14, основанный на найденных монетах. Подробно описан процесс перечитывания лет для нашей эры. Поселение Моргантина было разрушено в конце 1 века до н.э. в результате войны между Секстом Помпеем и Октавианом. Однако для того, чтобы более точно определить хронологические рамки, нам необходимо обратиться к археологическим материалам.

Keywords: Morgantina, roman coins, dating, Sextus Pompey.

Ключевые слова: Моргантина, римские монеты, датировка, Секст Помпей.

The settlement of Morgantina was located along the long Serra Orlando ridge in the eastern part of Sicily. The date of the foundation of Morgantina is unknown. Strabo writes that the settlement of Morgantii was founded by the Morgetes in pre-Roman times For a long time the city was under the influence of Syracuse and archaeological evidence indicates the flourishing of the settlement in the III century BC. In Roman times, the settlement continued to function, although it was probably destroyed during the Punic Wars, but was soon restored. The last period of prosperity of Morgantina is attributed to the second half of the I century BC and is associated with the activities of Sextus Pompeius in Sicily. The settlement was finally destroyed in the same time period – the second half of the I century BC. According to archaeological data, the settlement was burned.

The earliest archaeological investigations of Morgantina were undertaken by Luigi Pappalardo in 1884. He managed to discover part of the necropolis and two houses, one of which was later named after him. This settlement was identified as Morgantina in the 1950s by American archaeologists from Stanford University. After that, systematic archaeological research of this monument began. In this article, an attempt will be made to date the layer of destruction of room 14 in the House of the Doric Capital, which was discovered in 1964.

During the investigation of the Doric Capital House, coins minted by Sextus Pompeius were found in room 14. Apart from the coins, nothing was found in room 14. However, there are finds in other parts of the same room. The following coins were found in room 5:

1. The Denarius of Lucius Flaminius Hilo. On the obverse of the coin we see the head of Julius Caesar, on the reverse a female figure facing to the left. Silver, mint: Rome, date of minting 43 BC.
2. The Quinarium of Mark Cato. M CATO PRO PR – Marcus Cato Pro Praetor. This coin dates from 47/46 BC.

In rooms 4-6 of the Doric Capital House, many different ceramics were also found, which correlate well with the coins found and confirm the date of destruction in the second half of the I century BC. For educational purposes, we will consider only these coins in this article.

The Romans widely used the chronology of consuls, who were elected for a year. Dating by consuls was the official method of dating in the Roman Republic, and then in the Roman Empire until the reign of Justinian. The main source from which this list of consuls is known is Fasti Capitolini until the time of August. This inscription consists of a list of consuls and other senior positions, and a list of triumphants. Most of the marble slabs were discovered in 1546 during the extraction of stone for the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral in the Forum. Since this chronology is an eponymous list and does not give us specific dates (In the year of the consuls ...), we need to link the list of consuls from Fasti Capitolini known to us to the Christian era of calculus.

In 525 A.D. or in 241 A.D. During the Diocletian era, John I commissioned the Roman monk Dionysius the Small to compile the so-called "paschalia" - special tables to determine the time of the Easter holiday. He had to continue the table from 248 . The era of Diocletian. However, without going into deep details, Dionysius the Small suggested replacing the era of Diocletian with some other one related to Christianity. And he suggested counting the years "from the birth of Christ." Based on his calculations, Dionysius the Small stated that the date of Christ's birth is 284 BC. The Christian date was obtained in this way – 284 + 241 (the year in which Dionysius the Little did his calculations) = 525 A.D. All his calculations were based on Easter tables. Now we can link the consular lists to the Christian era of chronology, since we know that Diocletian was consul in 1 BC. The era of Diocletian, which corresponds to 284 A.D.

Since the coins (No. 479) were minted during the lifetime of Sextus Pompey, we can determine the broad upper limit of our dating by the date of birth of Sextus Pompey himself. Written sources do not indicate the exact date of birth of Sextus Pompeius. In Appian we find the following: "Pompey himself was ordered to be killed in Miletus in the fortieth year of his life..." (App. B.C., XVII, 144.). If we rely on this message, then at the time of his death Sextus Pompey was 40 years old. Dion Cassius writes that Sextus Pompeius was executed in the consulship of Lucius Cornificius and a certain Sextus Pompeius (Dio Cass., XLIX, 17). Thus, based on the consular lists and the calculations of Dionysius the Small, we get 35 BC. Now we have the opportunity, following Appian, to date the birth of Sextus Pompeius:

35 +40 = 75 BC.

I would like to note that Sextus Pompeius, who is referred to in this essay, was not consul in 35 BC. There was an agreement between Sextus Pompeius and the Second Triumvirate, according to which Sextus Pompeius would become consul. Probably, Octavian did not want to violate the agreement and therefore the consulate was transferred to the namesake of Sextus Pompey. Moreover, in 35 BC Sextus Pompey was defeated in the war and was forced to flee to Egypt and his consulate is simply not possible.

Of course, the upper dating cannot correspond to the date of birth of Sextus Pompeius, since coins could not be minted since 75 BC. In the Crawford catalog, this coin dates from about 42 BC. Therefore, we will designate our upper dating 42 BC. However, with the lower limit of our dating, everything is somewhat more complicated. The coins of Sextus Pompeius could not be used after his death in 35 BC, as he was a sworn enemy of Octavian. Coinage during the Civil Wars in Rome was a means of political propaganda and it is difficult to imagine that the coins of the defeated opponent Octavian with the often-encountered legend: "MAGN PIVS IMP" continued to be used.

Let us turn to Strabo: "[Before] it was a city, and now it does not exist" (Strab. VI, 4). From the message of the ancient author it follows that at the time of writing the 6th book of Morgantine no longer existed. And since we do not know exactly when this book was written, we can take the date of Strabo's death. There is no exact date, but following the tradition, this is the first quarter of the I century AD. Thus, using archaeological materials and written sources, it can be established that room 14 of the Doric Capital House was destroyed in the period from 42 BC to the first quarter of the I century AD.

Next, an attempt can be made to narrow down the possible time frame for the destruction of room 14. However, it should be emphasized that this is only a hypothesis.

After the death of Sextus Pompey, we know from many different ancient sources, including the Acts of the Divine Augustus (XXV), that some of the cities of Sicily were violently destroyed by Octavian's supporters. Of course, it was a long process, as some cities continued to resist. Only during the consulship of M. Lollius and Lepidus (21 BC), as Dion Cassius writes, Octavian left Sicily "having settled various affairs and established Roman colonies in Syracuse" (Dio Cass., LIV, VII, 1). A similar message is found in Strabo, but without any temporary instructions: "Caesar restored this city and Katana, as well as Kento-ripu, which greatly contributed to his victory over Pompey" (Strab. VI, II, 5). From this it can be concluded that by this time all punitive operations against Pompey's supporters had been completed and Sicily began to recover from wars and pogroms. Therefore, if we assume that Morgantina was destroyed by Octavian after the victory over Sextus Pompey, then we get the lower limit of our dating of the destruction layer of room 14 of the Doric Capital House – 21 BC.

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