DEDICATORY INSCRIPTION TO M. NONIUS BALBUS, C. 20 BCE. MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE DI NAPOLI This inscription is one of several from Herculaneum that commemorate the single biggest public benefactor the city ever had. Marcus Nonius Balbus, son of Marcus, was a native of Nuceria, another Campanian town, but he made his home in Herculaneum. He held important positions in the faltering Roman Republic: prætor and then proconsul of Crete and Cyrene, and tribune of the plebs in 32 BCE, in large part because he had the support of Octavian. His generosity, though self-aggrandising on an Augustus-like scale, was impressive. He set up an equestrian statue of his father in the town theatre, a statue of his mother Viciria, and after his death the city (and at least one of his freedmen) erected ten statues of him around Herculaneum, including a huge equestrian statue in the town forum. His main benefaction was the reconstruction of the city's walls and gates, and its law court, the Basilica Noniana. He even had a city square dedicated to him posthumously, in front of the Suburban Baths, with a standing statue of Nonius in armour and a huge funerary altar dedicated to him by his grateful fellow citizens.

#EpigraphyTuesday reminds us of the great patron of #Augustan #Herculaneum, M. #NoniusBalbus, from the slab on the base of a #statue of Nonius made by his grateful fellow citizens. The Nonii Balbi were everywhere in the ancient coastal town, both descendents and freedmen. #AncientBluesky 🏺