- Source: Museiliha inscription
The Museiliha inscription is a first-century AD Roman boundary marker that was first documented by French orientalist Ernest Renan. Inscribed in Latin, the stone records a boundary set between the citizens of Caesarea ad Libanum (modern Arqa) and Gigarta (possibly present-day Gharzouz, Zgharta, or Hannouch), hinting at a border dispute. The personal name of the involved procurator was deliberately erased. The inscription was named after its reported findspot, the medieval Mseilha Fort, located in Northern Lebanon; it is now held in the Louvre's collection.
Description
The Museiliha boundary marker is crafted from limestone, it measures 40 cm (16 in) in height, 54 cm (21 in) in width, and 23 cm (9.1 in) in depth. The stone bears and inscription of six lines in Latin:
The inscription, translated, reads: "Boundaries were established between Caesarea of Lebanon and the Gigartenians of the vicus of the Sidonians, by order of ..., procurator of Augustus, through Domitius..."
Discovery history and interpretation
The marker was reportedly found at the Mseilha Fort by residents of the nearby village of Aabrine, who brought it back to their town. Nineteenth-century French orientalist Ernest Renan acquired the inscription and documented it in his Mission de Phénicie. The stone was later transferred to the Louvre, where German archaeologist and then-museum curator Wilhelm Fröhner studied the inscription and provided the first authoritative translation of the text in 1863. Fröhner's reading was corrected by German classical scholar and epigrapher Theodor Mommsen. Renan identified Gigarta as modern Gharzouz, approximately 45 kilometers away. In his 1873 commentary, Mommsen suggested that because the cities of Caesarea ad Libanum (modern Arqa) and Gigarta were not neighboring, the land in question likely was an enclave that belonged to Caesarea of Lebanon and was situated beyond its territory, adjacent to an area inhabited by the Gigartans living in a Sidonian vicus. French archaeologist René Dussaud proposed that Gigarta might correspond to present-day Zgharta.
Later scholars reexamined the question of the status of Caesarea ad Libanum, Gigarta, and the vicus of the Sidonians. French archaeologist Daniel Schlumberger believed that the vicus was one of the three districts of Tripoli, to which the administration of the village of Gigarta would have been entrusted, while scholar Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais posited that it was a village under the jurisdiction of the city of Gigarta. French historian Julien Aliquot supports the latter proposition as the text clearly indicates that the vicus of the Sidonians depended on Gigarta. More recently, Lebanese archaeologist Hassan Salame-Sarkis suggested that Gigarta could be identified with the site of Hannouch (or Selaata), near the coast close to Batroun. Sarkis based his hypothesis on archaeological findings at Hannouch, including remnants of a Byzantine basilica and other ancient structures, suggesting historical importance that aligns with classical accounts of Gigarta. Sarkis argued that Hannouch’s proximity to the ancient route toward Arqa, along with its closeness to the findspot of the Museiliha inscription, supports the identification its identification with the ancient settlement.
The inscription hints at a border dispute which was probably settled through a legal judgment defining the boundaries. Starting from the fifth line of the inscription, personal names appear to have been carefully chiseled out, erasing the identity of the procurator to whom the inscription referred.
Dating
Nineteenth-century scholars initially dated the Museiliha inscription to the second century AD. Scholars since have revised this dating to the first century AD, based on evidence of Roman administrative practices and language usage. The presence of Latin in the inscription points to an early Roman period, likely soon after the region became part of the Roman Empire, when Latin was still the primary language in official matters. The specific involvement of a Roman procurator to resolve a territorial dispute between Caesarea of Lebanon, a recognized city, and Gigarta, which was not a recognized civitas, further supports a mid-first-century date, aligning with the period shortly after Sohaimos, the Iturean king of North Lebanon, died in 49 AD. At this time, the Iturean territories, including Gigarta, likely fell under the direct oversight of a procurator within the Roman province of Roman Syria, a model similar to administrative solutions implemented in neighboring regions such as Palestine. According to the official website of the Louvre Museum, the inscription is dated to the fourth quarter of the first century AD (75–100 AD).
Disposition
The boundary stone was acquired by the Louvre, and is cataloged under inventory number AO 4898 in the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities.
See also
Mseilha Fort – Fortress in Batroun district, Lebanon
Notes
References
= Citations
== Sources
=Aliquot, Julien (2009). La Vie religieuse au Liban sous l'Empire romain. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique (in French). Beyrouth: Presses de l’Ifpo. ISBN 978-2-35159-299-1.
Dussaud, René (1927). "Chapitre II. De Tripoli à Carné. — L'Émésène" [Chapter II. From Tripoli to Karnos. - The Emesene]. Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale [Historical topography of ancient and medieval Syria]. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique (in French). Beyrouth: Presses de l’Ifpo. pp. 75–115. ISBN 978-2-35159-464-3. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
Harrer, Gustave Adolphus (2006) [1915]. Studies in the History of the Roman Province of Syria. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59752-463-6.
Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (2009). "Inscription from Aabrîne (Syria)". EDH: Inscription Database. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
Ledrain, Eugène (1888). Notice sommaire des monuments phéniciens du Musée du Louvre (in French). Imprimeries réunies.
Louvre Museum (2024). "inscription ; borne". Louvre. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
Mancini, Carmelo (1884). "Note e Emendazioni ai Primi Quattro Capitoli della Storia di Elvidio Prisco". Atti della Reale Accademia di archeologia lettere e belle arti (in Italian). Naples: Stamperia della Regia Universita.
Fröhner, Wilhelm (1863). "Unedierte inschriften aus Phönikien und Nordgriechenland" [Unedited inscriptions from Phoenicia and Northern Greece]. Philologus - Zeitschrift für antike Literatur und ihre Rezeption. 19 (1–4). Retrieved 2024-11-15 – via De Gruyter.
Mommsen, Theodor; Hirschfeld, Otto; Domaszewski, Alfredus (1873). Inscriptiones Asiae provinciarum Europae Graecarum Illyrici Latinae (in Latin). Georgius Reimerus.
Renan, Ernest (1864–1874). Mission de Phénicie Dirigée par M. Ernest Renan [Mission to Phoenicia, directed by Mr. Ernest Renan] (in French). Paris: Imprimerie impériale. OCLC 763570479.
de Ruggiero, Ettore (1893). "L'arbitrato pubblico in relazione col privato presso i Romani". Bullettino dell'Istituto di Diritto romano (in Italian). Rome: Pasqualucci. pp. 49–443.
Salame-Sarkis, Hassan (2005). "Le dieu de Râs ach-Chaq'a-Théouprosopon". Syria. Archéologie, Art et histoire. 82 (1): 173–188. doi:10.3406/syria.2005.8689.
Schlumberger, Daniel (1940). "Gigarteni de vico Sidoniorum". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 84 (4): 335–342. doi:10.3406/crai.1940.77335.
External links
Epigraphic Database Heidelberg entry
