FURIUS OCTAVIANUS, CLARISSIMUS VIR, PROPRIETARIO DI UNA VILLA NEL SUBURBIO DI ROMA

Abstract

This article discusses some recently discovered lead pipe inscriptions and their important contribution
to our knowledge of the patrimonial geography of Rome’s surroundings area. These lead pipes
were found near a thermal complex, belonging to the larger context of a villa, which was brought to
light along the via Aurelia, in the locality called Massimina - Casal Lumbroso, during the excavations
conducted between 2011 and 2017 by the Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti and
Paesaggio of Rome. Their stamps are of considerable interest since, on the one hand, they contain
the name of the plumbarius, C. Iulius Hermes (he would seem to be identical with the manufacturer
mentioned in the lead pipe stamp CIL, XV 7578) while, on the other hand, they reveal the name of
the conduit owner and, hence, the name of the owner of the villa supplied by the conduit, Furius
Octavianus, clarissimus vir, who could be identified with the clarissimus vir C. Furius Octavianus
signo Amphilochius, consul suffectus before 217 AD, or with the vir clarissimus Furius Octavianus,
curator aedium sacrarum under the emperor Maxentius.