Centurioni e curatori in ostraka dall'Egitto

This essay examines a series of inscribed documents, mostly ostraka, found near the marble quarries of Mons Claudianus in Egypt and mentioning centurions and curators posted as controllers of that area. The marble-producing site, which yielded the so-called “Forum granite”, lay in the Eastern Desert. Alongside it stood a settlement that began to develop around the middle of the first century AD. In the marble quarrying area there was a dual management system, administrative and military, issuing from the Roman government and the emperor. The ostraka, found in situ in relatively high numbers, mention several offices connected both to military and administrative functions, such as that of centurion (ekatontarches/os or kenturion), who was the commander of the local military detachment and hence had an especially prestigious role carrying great authority. Another was that of curator, kourator, who worked in close collaboration with the centurion and sometimes replaced him in case of absence or illness.