Inscriptions of Adrastus, guardian of the Column of Marcus Aurelius

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Inscriptions of Adrastus, guardian of the Column of Marcus Aurelius
Inscriptions of Adrastus, guardian of the Column of Marcus Aurelius
Section III. Institutions of government in Rome and the Empire

The two epigraphic texts, engraved on a slab and a parallelepiped block, were found in situ near Piazza di Montecitorio. They belonged to the house of Lucius Septimius Adrastus, freedman of the two emperors Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus and guardian of the Column of Marcus Aurelius. The first is a request to Septimius Severus for a building permit. The second, consecutive to it, contains three letters from the emperor’s accountants regarding the supply of stone and brick materials, wooden beams, and for the payment of rent for public land. The name of the monument is noteworthy: Column of Marcus and Faustina, a hundred feet (centenaria, alluding to the height of the stem). The inscriptions were made shortly after 10 September 193 A.D. (year of the consulate of Falco and Clarus), the day on which Adrastus received from the accountants the final document closing his request.