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Columna Rostrata C. Duilii: that one of the two columnae rostratae, erected by C. Duilius in honour of his naval victory over the Carthaginians in 260 B.C., which stood 'ante circum a parte ianuarium' (Servius ad Georg. III.29).
Columna Rostrata C. Duilii: the second and more famous of these two columns mentioned above (Serv. loc. cit.; Plin. NH XXXIV.20; Quint. I.7.12). It stood either on or near the rostra, and with its archaic inscription seems to have been restored about 150 B.C. (CP 1919, 74‑82; 1920, 176‑183), and again later by Augustus (CIL I225) or Tiberius (or perhaps Claudius).a Part of this restored inscription (CIL VI.1300 =31591; Münchener Sitz.-Ber. 1890, 293‑321) was discovered in 1565 (LS II.188) and is still preserved in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (HF 890).1
1 Cf. Mitt. 1890, 306; 1891, 90; DR 471, 472; CIL VI.31611 (= I2 p193, xi). The inscription of the column has since been transferred to the Museo Mussolini (Bocconi, Musei Capitolini, 278). There are records of payments for placing it in its niche in 1572 (Arch. Boccapaduli Arm. II. Mazzo iv. No. 52), while Marchionne was not paid till 1574 'per hauer fatto la colonna rostrata di suo marmo et li sei rostri et il capitello et la basa di marmo del po(polo Romano) et ristaurato il piedistallo et messolo insieme co(n) le inscrittioni antique' (ib. Arm. II. No. iv f79).
a Platner, concerned chiefly with topography, did not go into details about just how archaic the inscription actually might be, but other archaeologists did, and opinion is divided. It may be a sort of fake; the emperor Claudius loved everything archaic, and quite possibly someone accommodated him. . . . The journal articles linked above give some inkling of the details; see also a rather unexpected source: J. Eason's note on Sir Thomas Browne's Miscellany Tract "Of Languages".
The edges of the inscription have worn somewhat since the 16c, and the text of the inscription as we have it today is hard to read. Here is Gordon's version, as printed in his Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy (1983), pp125‑126:
Consol Segestanos, socios p(opli) R(omani), Cartaginiensiom
opsidioned exemet legionesque Cartaginienses omnes
maximosque magistratos luci palam post dies
novem castreis exfogiont Macellamque opidom
pugnandod cepet. Enque eodem magistratud bene
rem navebosº marid consol primos geset copiasque
clasesque navales primos ornavet paravetque
cumque eis navebos claseis Poenicas omnis, item ma
xumas copias Cartaginiensis praesented Hanibaled
dictatored olorom in altod marid pugnad vicet
vique naveis cepet cum socieis septeresmom I, quin
quesresmosque triresmosque naveis XXX, merset XIII.
Aurom captom numei ↀↀↀÐCC (?). (space)
Argentom captom praeda numei (a symbol for 100,000) space for 5 or 6 more symbols.
Omne captom aes (8 symbols for 100,000) space for 5 or 6 more
2 symbols for 100,000 (13 more such) space for 5 more.
Triumpoque navaled praedad poplom donavet
multosque Cartaginiensis ingenuos duxit ante
curum space for ca. 24 letters capt —
A very different transcription, and also somewhat truncated, may also be found online, in Chapter I of A History of Roman Literature by Charles Thomas Cruttwell (1877).
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Page updated: 19 May 20