§190 Lucius Tettius Crescens

Lucius Tettius Crescens

(0190) Text: L(ucius) Tettius Crescens, | domo Roma, | vix(it) ann(is). | expeditionib(us) interfui(t) | Daciae bis, Armeniae, | Parthiae, et Iudaeae. | se vivo sibi fec(it).

Translation: Lucius Tettius Crescens lived at his home at Rome for some years, took part in expeditions, twice to Dacia, Armenia, Parthia, and Judaea, erected this monument for himself while alive. (Trans. Fred Baxter)

Commentary: Pucci Ben Zeev demonstrates that this inscription is actively misleading: Lucius intended the reader to infer that he had served in the military, when it seems he was more likely a merchant who followed the military to sell his wares or possibly slaves. He may have gone through Judaea as part of the military’s campaign to suppress the War of Quietus.

Provenience: Cagliari, Sardinia 120-129 CE

Bibliography: AE 1929.167; AE 2000.647; Christer Bruun, “The Spurious “Expeditio Ivdaeae” under Trajan,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 93 (1992): 99-106; Miriam Pucci Ben Zeev, “L. Tettius Crescens’ Expeditio Iudaea,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 133 (2000): 256-258.