Ancient Epigraphic Inscriptions as a Source for Research of the Oldest Past of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Text Reconstruction and Analysis of Four Previously Unpublished Epigraphic Monuments

Abstract

: Epigraphic inscriptions hundreds of which have been found in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are an authentic testimony of the people of the time about the political, cultural and social life of provinces Dalmatia, and the two Pannonia provinces (Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior). Although a systematic research is lacking, the number of newly-found epigraphic monuments has significantly increased in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to that number four more will be added. Two monuments were found in the wider Trebinje area, while the other two are from the Crkvine near Makljenovac (Doboj) locality. Votive altar for Jupiter, Best and Greatest, from the soldier of Cohors prima Delmatarum milliaria is the first material evidence for which it can be certainly asserted that it is linked to the presence of the cohort in the area of Doboj. The cohort whose name is mentioned on the epigraphic monument from Doboj was probably made in the 80s CE, after the Roman legions retreated from the area of the province Dalmatia. It is considered that the cohort was stationed throughout the whole principate in its “birth” province Dalmatia and that it is, conditionally speaking, one of the autochthonous cohorts. The confirmation that the Cohors prima Delmatarum milliaria equitata was stationed in the castrum in Makljenovac is a good indicator that Romans accounted for the inter-provincial borders, not only for he limes.