At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, curious scholars began visiting the villages of Macedonia. In the area of the village of Čepigovo, near Prilep, they started noticing finely crafted marble pieces lying on the surface of the land, and several others built in as spolia in the local village church. In this way, they learned that a city once stood there, called Styberra, exactly as the ancient historiographers Strabo and Stephanus of Byzantium had written many centuries earlier. Around the site, fragments of statues of men and women of over-life size also began to appear. This was more than enough reason for the Archaeological Museum in Skopje, under the direction of Dušanka Vučković Todorović, to conduct the first systematic archaeological excavations of the city in 1953. Thus began the scholarly interest in Styberra, which continues to this day. 

Spread across the fertile Pelagonian plain at the confluence of the Blato River with the renowned ancient Erigon (today the Crna River), and situated near the road network of the Roman province of Macedonia, Styberra became a city of significance not only for this part of the Balkan Peninsula but for the entire Roman Empire. The proximity of the Sivec quarry, from which perfectly white marble blocks were extracted during Roman rule, was an additional factor that contributed to the city’s rapid prosperity.

In every ancient city there was at least one temple dedicated to a god or goddess whom the inhabitants regarded as their protector, usually located in the central urban area. In Styberra, this was the temple of Tyche, the goddess of fortune, wealth, and prosperity. Inside the temple stood a statue of the goddess, who most likely wore on her head a crown shaped like the city walls, while in her hands she held a cornucopia, a rudder, and a sphere. The statue was placed on a base with an inscription in Ancient Greek which reads: “The heirs of Anthestia Fusca, in accordance with her testament, restored for the city the statue of the goddess Tyche, together with the temple and the statues within it, and paid the council five thousand denarii: Titus Flavius Philoxenos, son of Orestes; Marcus Vettius Nicarchos; Gaius Iulius Capito; Publius Anthestius Trophimus; and Publius Anthestius Chrestos. Year 274.”

One question arises immediately: “Who was Anthestia Fusca, and who were her heirs mentioned in the inscriptions?” Anthestia Fusca was the daughter of Publius Anthestius, one of the earliest settlers in Styberra who came from distant Italic lands, most likely toward the end of the 1st century AD. Either he or his daughter freed two of Fusca’s heirs – Publius Anthestius Trophimus and Publius Anthestius Chrestus – from the status of enslaved persons.

In front of her statue stood two male busts. Additionally, five more inscribed blocks were found set in smaller niches, serving as bases for busts, as well as a small statue of the god Eros, a male head, and part of a male torso. Anthestia Fusca married Lucius Tiphanius Prudens, a centurion in the Roman army, who also belonged to the group of early settlers in Styberra from the Italian peninsula. On the inscribed blocks that served as bust bases, the names of their entire family are recorded – those of the parents on the left side, and of their three children on the right side of the entrance: Lucius Tiphanius Fuscus, Tiphania Anthestia, and Tiphania Nike.

The reasons for migration, both in ancient times and today, are usually sought in the wealth of the region to which people moved. The wealthy, native inhabitants of the cities also desired prosperity and power, and the newcomers or the Roman emperor who ruled at the time often granted them Roman citizenship. This allowed them to become full citizens of the Roman Empire, unlike the rest of the local population, who did not possess such rights. We learn this from their names. When the emperor granted Roman citizenship, the new citizen changed his name, adopting the name of the emperor. In this case, Titus Flavius Orestes, the father of the heir Philoxenos, received his name according to the imperial Flavian dynasty. Judging from this, they obtained citizenship around the same time that Publius Anthestius freed Trophimus and Chrestos. The two male busts found in the temple had bases inscribed with the names of father and son, Orestes and Philoxenos. They are also known to us from other inscriptions: the citizens of Heraclea Lyncestis erected a statue to their benefactor Titus Flavius Orestes, who served twice as chief priest of the city. Another of the heirs belonged to a prominent family known from inscriptions: Marcus Vettius Neikarchos, who was either the son or the grandson of Marcus Vettius Philon, known from the lists of the ephebes in the Gymnasion as the donor of the oil used to anoint the youths during their wrestling training. The last heir mentioned in the inscription, Gaius Iulius Capito, judging by his name, also belonged to the city’s aristocracy. From all of this, it is clear that wealthy and influential families in the cities were connected through kinship ties.

As a member of such a prominent family in Pelagonia, Fusca certainly possessed the financial means – 5,000 denarii, to provide this gift. Her donation also tells us that a woman in that society could control her own financial resources, most likely inherited property. By placing the busts and inscriptions of her family and heirs within the temple, she gave the sanctuary a familial significance; through this donation, she likely wished for her loved ones to receive protection and blessing from the goddess Tyche. However, the restored statue and the temple were ultimately gifted to her city, showing that she had a developed sense of responsibility and devotion toward the community in which she lived.

The year of the temple’s restoration under the patronage of Fusca is recorded in the last line of the inscription. In antiquity, numbers were written using letters. The ancient Macedonians counted years according to the reigns of their kings. However, when Macedonia was conquered by the Romans, they could no longer count time in this way, since they no longer had a king. Instead, they began to mark the years starting from the moment when Macedonia became a Roman province, in 148 BC. This way of counting time is known as the Macedonian Provincial Era. On this inscription it is written that the restoration took place in the year 274. When we subtract 148 from that number, we obtain the year according to our modern calendar, which is 126 AD.

The city of Styberra was destroyed in the second half of the 3rd century, but it was never inhabited again. Because of this, all of its structures remain undisturbed by later intrusions, and many of the artifacts remain in situ. This makes Styberra a true jewel of Macedonian archaeology and epigraphy, and it is often referred to as the “Macedonian Pompeii.”

                                                                                                                                                             Slavica Babamova