VORTUMNUS RITROVATO

Abstract

In 1549 a statue base with the inscription Vortumnus temporibus Diocletiani et Maximiani (CIL,
VI 804) was discovered along the vicus Tuscus. Traces of it had been lost until today. It is proposed
here to identify it with a “slab” preserved in the storerooms of the National Roman Museum (CIL,
VI 40841, inv. 72678). The expression temporibus Diocletiani et Maximiani, far from representing
a dating of the epigraph to the joint reign of the two emperors, constitutes instead a terminus post
quem for it. The Tetrarchic intervention is reconsidered in the context of the work following the fire
of 283 that affected this area of the Roman Forum, and various hypotheses are advanced as to the
historical context in which the inscription might have been engraved.

Keywords: Late Antiquity Roman Forum; vicus Tuscus; statue base; Vortumnus/Vertumnus; Diocletian;
Tetrarchy.