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Qasr Bshir: Inscription over fort entrance gate



Qasr Bshir: Latin inscription over entrance of fort (CIL 3.14149.)

The Roman fort at Qasr Bshir was built between AD 293-305, based on a Latin inscription still above the gate. After naming the emperors of the first Tetrarch, this records that Castra Praetorii Mobeni was built by Aurelius Asclepiades, governor of Arabia:

"Optimis maximisque principibus nostris Caio Aurelio
Valerio Diocletiano Pio Felici Invicto Augusto et
Marco Aurelio Valerio Maximiano Pio Felici Invicto Augusto et
Flavio Valerio Constantio et Galerio Valerio Maximiano
nobilissimis Caesaribus Castra Praetorii Mobeni fossamentis
Aurelius Asclepiades praeses provinciae Arabiae perfici curavit."

"In honor of our best and greatest rulers, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian, our pious, lucky, and unconquered emperor, and Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximian, our pious, lucky, and unconquered emperor, and to Flavius Valerius Constantius and Galerius Valerius Maximianus, our noblest caesars, has Aurelius Asclepiades, praeses of the province of Arabia, ordered to build Castra Praetorium Mobene from its foundations." [CIL 3.14149]. 

The fort is not named in the Notitia Dignitatum, and the name in the inscription may suggest it was built as a fortified residence for the governor when visiting the area. 


[Sources: Kennedy and Riley 1990, Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air; Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) vol. 3.] 

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