Roman subjects paid emperor piles of silver to leave them alone, inscription reveals

By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer a day ago

A stone inscription immortalized the emperor's gratitude for the generous 'donation.'



"You are men of good will and loyalty," said Roman emperor Septimus Severus in the letter.
(Image: © Courtesy of Kalin Chakarov)

An ancient Greek inscription dating to the second century A.D. is essentially a thank-you note for a shady cash gift, a new translation reveals. The inscription immortalized the words of a Roman emperor who accepted piles of silver from a city anxious to demonstrate its loyalty.

During a time of political upheaval in the Roman Empire, residents of the city Nicopolis ad Istrum, in what is now Bulgaria, backed an unsuccessful contender for the emperor's seat. After their champion's loss, they promptly sent the victor — Emperor Septimus Severus — 700,000 silver coins, as a sign of fealty.

Emperor Severus openly acknowledged accepting their donation in a letter that was sent to the town in A.D. 198, written in ancient Greek. The letter's text was then immortalized by the city as a stone monument. Scholars recently restored the broken artifact and translated the inscription, making it available to the public for the first time, a researcher with the restoration project told Live Science in an email.

Few letters penned by Roman emperors survived the era. In this rare example, Severus tells the town that he accepts their bribe, which he called a "cash contribution," according to the new translation by Nicolay Sharankov, an assistant professor in the Department of Classical Philology at Sofia University in Bulgaria.

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