Per la ricostruzione della storia di un'iscrizione zaratina (CIL III 2907)

At the Museo Lapidario Maffeiano in Verona is preserved one of the most important inscriptions for reconstructing the history of the Roman colony of Iader (CIL III 2907), the present-day city of Zara / Zadar, in Croatia. The titulus records the construction of the city’s defensive walls on the initiative of Emperor Augustus, partially echoing an inscription currently preserved at the Archaeological Museum of Zara (CIL III 13264). Unlike the Dalmatian exemplar, however, the Verona inscription also documents a later act of evergetism, aimed at the reconstruction of the towers, which were worn down by time. Transported to Venice in the early 18th century, the inscription preserved at the Maffeiano was reproduced multiple times due to its historical significance. Two ex- act copies are currently preserved, one in the courtyard of the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona and the other at the Museo della Civiltà Romana in Rome. This previously unpublished information serves as the starting point for a systematic investigation aimed at reconstructing the history of the titulus and its two copies, shedding light on the processes of production, acquisition and preservation that have shaped them over time.