IGII25 13294 Milestone, 12 miles from Megara

Milestone, 12 miles from Megara

IG II² 5 13294 Date: 3rd-4th centuries AD

Face A (front)

Text I From Megara 12 (miles).^[1] Text II To the Augusti (5) . . . . . . having turned (?) Text III (Milestone) of Flavius Constantius (10)and Galerius Maximianus with the most prominent Caesars.^[2] Text IV To the universe’s (kosmou) (15)[saviours] . . . and to Constantine the Augusti . . . (20) . . . ^[3] Text V and of our Lord . . . . . . mother of the camps (25)12 (miles).^[4]

Face B (back)

Text VI (In Latin) [Our Lords] Arcadius and Honorius (erected this) in the time of the most brilliant (30)and prominent man (viro clarissimo et spectabili), proconsul Eysebius (in Greek) To the proconsul.^[5] Text VII To [our] masters, (35)the eternal Augusti Valentinian and Valens, 12 (miles).^[6]

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References:

IG II² 5 13294 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 5203 (PHI)

CIL III 7308 (EDH)

SIA VI 55

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Pillar

Inscription type: Milestone

Findspot: Mandra, near Eleusis (Lost)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is a Roman-period milestone, found at the village of Mandra near Eleusis, which is indeed 12 Roman miles (ca. around 17750 m) from Megara, as Texts I, V, and VII indicate. The stone appears to have been lost when the chapel of St. Catherine in Mandra was built in 1882. Milestone inscriptions developed during the Roman Republic and were erected along major roads throughout the Empire into the sixth century AD. They served to indicate distance from a reference point (in this case Megara), to commemorate the emperors and officials who had overseen construction or repair work on the road, and to proclaim the legitimacy of the reigning emperor, who was notionally responsible for all road building carried out by Imperial authorities (see A. Cooley, Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy, 2012, 159-168). As inscriptions emanating from the Imperial power, milestones were usually in Latin, but the majority of the milestones known from Attica are in Greek. The earliest milestone attributed to an emperor in Attica is IG II² 5, 13295 in the name of Severus Alexander, but most are in the names of emperors of the fourth century AD (IG II² 5, 13295-13300). Often, as with this stone, they have been reinscribed in the names of multiple successive authorities. Most Attic milestones take the form of large stone pillars with rough inscriptions, but a large subgroup are in the shape of herms (see I Eleusis 647, IG II² 5, 13295-13296, IG II² 5181-5182, SEG 44.173-174). These appear to date to the second century AD and were probably designed to recall the archaic herms of Hipparchos (IG I³ 1023). IG I³ 1092bis is another pre-Roman inscription acting as a milestone. [2] Text III is attributed to Constantius I Chlorus and Galerius, who were co-emperors between 1 May 305 and 24 July 306. Their Caesars (junior co-emperors) were Severus and Maximinus respectively (D. Kienast, W. Eck, and M. Heil, Römische Kaisertabelle,⁹ 2017, 272-75). They are also the dedicatees of IG II² 5, 13297. [3] Text IV, which was apparently located below ant to the left of Texts II and III was dedicated to Constantine I and a co-emperor whose name is lost. It must belong to the period between 307 AD, when he was acknowledged as an Augustus in the east and 324, when Constantine became sole emperor. [4] Text V, located below Text III, refers to a Mother of the Camps as wife or mother of the reigning emperor, whose name is lost. This title was held by the empresses Faustina Minor (wife of Marcus Aurelius and mother of Commodus), Julia Domna (wife of Severus and mother of Caracalla and Geta), Julia Mamaea (mother of Severus Alexander), and Salonina (wife of Gallienus), among others. [5] Text VI, on the back of the stone, is in Latin, apart from the final acclamation of the proconsul, and is part of a set of milestone inscriptions erected around 397 AD (see IG II² 5, 13295 with notes). [6] Text VII is dedicated to the brothers Valentinian and Valens, who were co-emperors from 364 to 375 AD, with Valens as ruler of the East. IG II² 5, 13295 II is another milestone from the same set.

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
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ID: AIO_3676