DEDICATION OF THE DISSENII, C. 155 CE. PALAZZO COLONNA C(aio) Dissenio C(ai) f(ilio) Quir(ina) Fusco Hadriano C(aius) Dissenius Fuscus pater honore publice oblatae statuae content(us) sua pec(unia) fec(it). C(aio) Dissenio Quir(ina) Fusco praef(ecto) fabr(um) curatori et patrono Albani Longani Bovillensis ob merita eius h(onoris) c(ausa). C(aio) Dissenio C(ai) f(ilio) Quir(ina) Fusc[o] Sabiniano C(aius) Dissenius Fuscus pater honore publice oblatae statuae content(us) sua pec(unia) fec(it) "To G. Dissenius Fuscus Hadrianus, son of Gaius, of the Quirina tribe. His father Gaius Dissenius Fuscus, happy with the statue offered for the honour publicly (received) made (this) at his own expense. // To G. Dissenius Fuscus of the Quirina tribe, prefect of public works, curator and patron (of the city) the Albani Longani Bovillenses (dedicated this statue) for his honourable merits. // To G. Dissenius Fuscus Sabinianus, son of Gaius, of the Quirina tribe. His father Gaius Dissenius Fuscus, happy with the honour publicly (received) made (this) statue at his own expense." This inscription once fronted a base with three statues on it, two sons, Hadrianus and Sabinianus, of the Dissenii family on either side of their father Fuscus. The town of Bovillæ dedicated a statue to Fuscus, and he in his turn dedicated the others to his sons. The reference to the people of Bovillæ as "Alba Longani" derives from the tradition that the town's inhabitants came from the destroyed city of Alba Longa. This was a town where Aeneas was said to have ruled, and his son Iulus (Ascanius), and hence some of the town's refugees went to Bovillæ, including the descendants of Iulus, the gens Julia, from whom the Colonna family claimed descent.

#EpigraphyTuesday takes us into #palazzoColonna in #Rome to find a three-column #inscription which once corresponded with three statues of notables from #Bovillae, the ancestral city of the Julian gens that the #Colonna family claimed descent from. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺