DEDICHE DI MILITARI TRACI IN GRECO NELLA ROMA DI ETÀ IMPERIALE

Abstract

This paper analyses three Greek votive dedications by Thracian soldiers from imperial Rome. They belong
to a very limited group of dedications in Greek by soldiers enrolled in the capital troops (just six to my
knowledge), and are the only known Greek inscriptions set up in Rome by individuals from Thrace. As far
as concerns the recipient gods (and divine epithets) as well as their iconographical features, these three dedications,
which were set up by two praetorians and one frumentarius, do not differ from the other (Latin)
dedications by soldiers from the Balkan-Danubian area found in the Urbs. What sets them apart is the use
of Greek, which was the most widespread language in Roman Thrace. It is my contention that in this specific
case language was consciously used as a medium for the expression of the dedicants ethnic and cultural
identity.