Building Inscriptions of Flavius Silva at Urbs Salvia (AE 1969/70, 183)

The two stones carry the same text, and each lacks the beginning of its lines. What can be read on one or both is this: the names Silva Nonius Bassus; that he was consul and pontifex; the words provinciae Iudaeae, “of the province of Judaea”, lacking only their first two letters; that he was enrolled among the patricians by censors, of whom “the deified Titus” is named on the stone (the first two letters of divo are lost), and by the same men among those of praetorian rank; that he was legate of the legion XXI Rapax; the name of the legion IIII Scythica, where his post is lost; that he was triumvir capitalis, twice praetor quinquennalis, and patron of the colony; and that in his own name and in those of his mother and his wife he had something built with his own money on his own land and dedicated it.

The editors supply the rest. Restored, and not on the stones, are his first names Lucius Flavius, the title legatus Augusti pro praetore that governs the words “of the province of Judaea”, the name of Vespasian beside that of Titus, and the word “amphitheatre” for the building.

The inscription is Silva’s own record of his career. It shows a Silva Nonius Bassus holding office in the province of Judaea, and he is taken to be the Flavius Silva of Josephus. The order of his posts is the basis of the argument about the year in which Masada fell; see the Fall of Masada and Flavius Silva. The inscription does not mention Masada.