Main Site . Sebasteion
19. Dedication of a statue of Cornelia Salonina
| Κορνηλλίαν Σαλωνεῖναν Σεβ(αστήν) |
Cornelia Salonina Augusta
Inscription on the pedestal at the east wall of the Sebasteion. The inscription is engraved on block F 2.
Letters: 2.7-4 cm.
Jones 1979, no. 9; SEG 27 (1977), no. 924; İnan 1993, pp. 233-234, no. 14 (pl. XIII, F cf. pl. XVIII; XXXVI.47).
Ll. 1-2 : There are erased letters to the left of these lines. Slightly higher than L. 1: ΡΚΟ and what looks like the oblique stroke of a nu; under the rho, a lambda and a vertical line; to the left below the lambda, a vertical line and part of a nu. These remains may correspond to an erased inscription for Caracalla when he was Caesar (probably between the Spring 196 and the Autumn 197 CE; Kienast 1996, p. 162):
| [Μᾶ]ρκον̣ [Αὐρή]λι[ον] [Ἀντων]ε̣ῖ̣ν̣[ον] [Καίσαρα?] |
The erased letters were ca. 2,7 cm high, the interlinear space measured only a few millimeters. Therefore all four lines of this inscription would fit into the writing space available on F 2, that is, on the top course of stones. In this respect the dedicatory inscriptions of the monument for the Severan family, as it was originally erected on the east pedestal, may have imitated those on the north pedestal for the Antonines M. Aurelius and L. Verus, in that they were carved immediately under the statues without extending to the orthostats below. The original monument for the Severans appears to have been erected earlier than Caracalla's elevation to the rank of Augustus as reflected in inscription no. 16. If so, the monument will have been modified once to reflect Caracalla's new role as Augustus and the simultaneous elevation of his brother Geta to the rank of Caesar. Later, the death and damnatio memoriae of Geta, and the need to gain space for the statues of Salonina, Valerianus and Gallienus, will have provided occasions for further changes.
Egnatia Mariniana, the wife of Valerianus had died at an early date, probably before his accession in 253. In creating a monument for the imperial family, perhaps between 254 and 260 when Valerian was in the East and before he fell into Shapur's hands, the citizens of Boubon depicted Salonina, the wife of Valerianus' son and co-regent Gallienus, instead of the dead empress Mariniana. The lettering of all three inscriptions for Salonina, Gallienus and Valerianus is very irregular.