The Limici in Roman inscriptions: Celer’s gladiatorial tessera and Corellius Limicus

The word Limicus, "Limician", appears in Latin inscriptions far from A Limia. Two of them, gathered by the comarca website xinzodelimia.eu in its "Civitas Limicorum" section, are of interest because they show individuals bearing the name of the Limici people, that of the civitas Limicorum of the Conventus Bracaraugustanus, who lived or travelled elsewhere in Hispania ^[1][2].

The Niebla gladiatorial tessera

The website shows the piece and its entry: a tessera (rectangular bronze plate, 17 cm long and 4.3 wide, with four holes at the corners and a handle) found in 1867 on the banks of the river Tinto, between Niebla and Moguer (Huelva), and now kept in the National Archaeological Museum with inventory number 37.810; the entry dates it to the 1st century. The epigraphic field has four lines, surrounded by an incised line, and the letters are dotted ^[1].

The text reads:

CELER ERBVTI F(ilius) LIMICVS / BOREA CANTI(filio) BEDONIE(n)SI / MVNERIS TES(s)ERA(m) DEDIT / AN(n)O M(arco) LICINIO CO(n)S(ule)

The translation given by the website, attributed to Professor J. González, is: "Celer, son of Erbutius, native of the city of the Limici, gave this gladiatorial tessera to Borea, son of Cantius, native of Bedunia, in the year of the consulship of Marcus Licinius" ^[1]. According to the Museum’s entry, Celer would be an organiser of games (munus) and Borea a gladiator native of Baedunia, near La Bañeza (León). The piece must have hung on a house wall, vertically or horizontally, as a souvenir of those games; its exact function is not known ^[1].

Discrepancy in the date. The website itself offers two incompatible datings: the Museum’s entry suggests "possibly the year 64", while a note from an Ancient History department links the consul Marcus Licinius Crassus with the date of AD 27. The translation and reading have been interpreted in different ways, as the source acknowledges ^[1]. There are no data here to decide between them.

What it says about A Limia. The comarca website interprets Celer as a native of the civitas Limicorum, and the section that hosts it identifies that civitas with Roman Xinzo. That location is disputed in the historiography: some researchers placed the Forum Limicorum in Nocelo da Pena and others in Xinzo. What the tessera proves, in any case, is that in the 1st century a man presented himself as a "Limicus" hundreds of kilometres away, in southern Hispania, and took part in the world of public games ^[1]. See The Civitas Limicorum.

Corellius Limicus at Complutum

The second inscription, found at Complutum (modern Alcalá de Henares), is a funerary tablet whose text reads: D(is) M(anibus) / CORELLI SATVRNINI / ANN(orum) XXX / CORELL[i]VS LIMICVS / FRATRI PIISIMO / S(it) T(ibi) T(erra) L(evis), that is, "to the Manes gods; of Corellius Saturninus, aged thirty; Corellius Limicus to his dearest brother; may the earth lie light on you" ^[1]. Julián Hurtado Aguña’s study of population movements in the north of the Conventus Carthaginensis considers that the cognomen Limicus may refer to the civitas Limicorum and dates the tablet to the late 2nd century AD. The deceased’s name also appears in an inscription at Las Cuevas (Soria) ^[1].

What these pieces teach

Although they are not finds from A Limia, the two inscriptions support the idea that the ethnonym Limici was present in Roman Hispania and that people from the territory moved for work, trade or military service. It is a useful context for the Festival of Forgetting, which re-enacts the crossing of the Lethe by the Roman legions, and for the history of the Civitas Limicorum itself ^[1][2].

Monte do Viso: mines and inscriptions

In A Limia itself, Monte do Viso (Nocelo da Pena, Sarreaus) concentrates, in under four square kilometres, four groups of tin mines and two streams that served as washing places (the Roupeiro and the Regueiro do Lobo). A new reading of an altar attributes it to Ulpius, an imperial freedman and procurator of metals (2nd century), and nine inscriptions have appeared on the Viso, including one to Nabia and one to Jupiter, according to García Valdeiras in Minius IX ^[3]. This mining activity helps explain the Roman presence in the territory.

Frequently asked questions

What is a gladiatorial tessera? A small tablet commemorating gladiator games that could be given as a souvenir or proof; in this case, of bronze and inscribed ^[1].

Where is Celer’s tessera? In the National Archaeological Museum, according to the entry on the comarca website itself ^[1].

Links

• History of Xinzo de Limia
• Prehistory and castros
• Roman Xinzo: seated statues and ivory piece
• The Civitas Limicorum

Sources

1. «Civitas Limicorum», xinzodelimia.eu (arquivo web), sección de inscricións romanas, con ficha do Museo Arqueolóxico Nacional e cita de J. González, Corpus de Inscripciones latinas de Andalucía, Huelva, vol. I, 1989, e Hispania Epigraphica 2, 1990, n.º 428; e de Julián Hurtado Aguña (USAL). http://www.xinzodelimia.eu:80/civitas_limicorum.htm
2. Copia en Wayback da mesma páxina. https://wayback-xinzodelimia.xinzodelimia.com/civitas_limicorum.htm
3. García Valdeiras, Minius IX, citado nas notas internas de investigación do proxecto (a URL orixinal non se conserva).