New evidence of roman governors and officers on glandes inscriptae from Republican Hispania

Abstract

Four glandes inscriptae from the Iberian Peninsula are presented in this paper. For two of them a connection to the Republican governors C. Flaminius and L. Mummius is proposed, and therefore a date in the 2nd century BC. A third slingshot bullet was most likely cast at the beginning of the governorship of the proconsul C. Valerius Flaccus, c. 92/91 BC. On the fourth specimen two names are inscribed, Afranius and Messalla, presumably two military leaders; it is carefully suggested that they could have been active during the Sertorian War. The communis opinio regarding the use of glandes inscriptae on the Iberian Peninsula must be modified: rather than being a phenomenon of the 1st century BC, peculiar to the Sertorian War (82‑72 BC) and the confrontation between Caesar and the Pompeian faction (48‑45 BC), they can now be traced back as far as the early 2nd century BC.