Roman property boundary sign Herculaneum
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This sign reminds us that nothing changes - disputes between neighbours over the boundary between properties. This side of the wall was the property of Marcus Nonius Dama and the other side of the stone lists the name of the next door neighbour Julia - same sort of sign. They must have had an arbitor decide the line. Thus the translation of the pictured text "(This) wall is the perpetual and private property of Marcus Nonius the freedman of Marcus Dama." In the word order on the marble - of Marcus Nonius of Marcus L(ibertus)Freedman, the wall (paries) perpetual and private. Dama was a freed slave of Marcus Nonius Babus a senator who basically ran the town- the patron of Herculaneum. To say "Godfather" of the town would come close.
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