GNGTS 2015 - Atti del 34° Convegno Nazionale

42 GNGTS 2015 S essione 1.1 • Epigraph of Otacilius Gallus. This epigraph (Fig. 2), probably an architrave, recalls the collapse of the Caesareum, which was built around 50-60 BC. ��� ���� ��� ��������� The text is: OTACILIVS EX TESTAMENTO OTACILI GALLI PATRIS CAESAREVM/ [TERRAE MOTV] CONLAPSVM P(ecVnia) [S(Va) R(estitVit)]. CVIVS OPER[IS] DEDICATIONE/ [DEDIT DECVRIONIBVS] (sestertios) XXX, AVGVSTA[L]IBVS (sestertios) XX, VICANIS (sestertios) XII, VX[ORIBVS]/ DECVRIONVM (sestertios) XVI, AVGVSTALIVM (sestertios) VIII, VICANORVM (sestertios) IIII. �� ��� ����������� �� If the integration of the missing text is correct (Bracco, 1977), the Caesareum was destroyed by an earthquake occurred before the end of the 1 st century AD, and then restored by Otacilius in the 2 nd century (G. Camodeca, pers. comm.). In the whole, the archaeological data evidence an abrupt discontinuity within the urban texture of the Roman Volcei, followed by a reconstruction phase focused between the 1 st -2 nd centuryAD. The great abundance of domestic pottery, tiles, bricks, stones in the dumping graves, summed to the existence of leveled rubble fills are the proof of extensive building collapses in the town. Moreover, the discovery of the pot with the dormouse, ready to be cooked when it was buried under the rubble, and the Otacilius’ epigraph, attesting the collapse of the Caesareum, are strong indications concerning the occurrence of this event. At the end, a further indication which could be evocative of a tragedy related to this earthquake derives from the funerary monument of Gresia Tertia, located only 10 km away from Volcey. Here, recent archaeological investigations unearthed an epigraph datable within the 1 st century, where an infelix mater cries the death of her family, namely all the four sons and the father. Even if the cause is not declared, the simultaneous death of five person of the same family could really be related to the collapse of their house. The Early-High Middle Age event(s). The evidence of this traumatic event are represented by the synchronous and total collapses of the buildings excavated below Amendola Square and in other neighboring insulae. Moreover, it is witnessed by the general abandonment of the surviving Late Antiquity buildings, which were still inhabited during the Langobardic period, and by the new urban topography that drifts apart from the Roman imprint, assuming a concentric Fig. 3 – Left panel, collapse of the incannucciato ceiling (unit 24) and of the plaster (25) over a mortar floor (30). Wall 21 is instead the foundation of a medieval wall which was carved within the previous Roman collapse. This medieval wall collapsed later, and its relics were found inside an adjacent room. Right panel, Amendola Square insula . View of the final collapse of the porticated house over the Decumanus (see the basoli in the upper side) before the roof removal (photos by PG).