Costantino nell’epigrafia delle province africane, con particolare riferimento al periodo successivo alla battaglia di Ponte Milvio

Unsurprisingly, the provinces of North Africa provide a substantial part of Constantinian epigraphy. In the first part of the paper some of the characteristic of epigraphic evidence from Africa are discussed, focusing on continuity and discontinuity issues. In the second part , the author considers two single cases which concern the representation of the emperor during the very first years of reign: the milestones with the monogram, which appear already during the winter 312-313; and the probably oldest appearance of the word tyrannus, used to define the political rival, in a public inscription from Thugga in Africa proconsularis . This evidence raises questions about the dissemination of imperial representation. The author suggests that both the symbol and the word tyrannus reached Africa through some official document coming from the court, very early after October 312.