I T A ⇒ P. B. 9782
Innocentius (350 – 360 CE?)
Vir perfectissimus and auctor, known as the writer of a tract entitled On explaining legal records and
signs (De litteris et notis iuris exponendis), extracted from Book 12 of a work otherwise lost,
probably devoted to surveying. The name, Innocentius, of this agrimensor, a high-level imperial
administrator of equestrian rank, is associated with five lists (Casae litterarum), recording the
boundaries of 107 properties (fundi), each identified by a letter of the Latin (lists 1, 4, 5) or
Greek alphabet (lists 2, 3). Critical analysis shows that only the 2nd, 5th and half the
material in list 1 are original, referring to genuine fundi, some along the uia Flaminia, perhaps
near Rome; the 4th list is interpolated and list 3 is just a catalogue of symbols. It is uncertain
if Innocentius authored the whole collection, the first delimitation, or just the revision as
interpolations to list 1 (in part) and list 4 (entire) intimate. The dates of the lists appear to
vary, but the emperor Arcadius (395– 408 CE), speaking about demarcation of properties
and letters, quotes a “12th Book,” surely Innocentius’. He is probably (1) the surveyor who
advised Constantius II near the Danube in 359 CE (Amm. Marc., 19.11.8); but he could be
(2) the Innocentius associated with a Paulus ( probably the jurisconsult, Praetorian prefect
ca 218 – 219 CE) in Gisemundus’ Ars gromatica; or even (3) the presumed author of the Ius
respondendi, written late in the 3rd c., before Diocletian’s reign (RE 9.2 [1916] 1558–1559).
However, the late-antique language and Christian allusions indicate a more recent date:
Constantius II’s surveyor would have written the 1st and perhaps 2nd and 5th lists.
Ed.: K. Lachmann, Die Schriften der römischen Feldmesser 1 (1848) 310–338.
Å. Josephson, Casae litterarum. Studien zum Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum (1950); L. Toneatto, “Note
sulla tradizione del Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum. I. Contenuti e struttura dell’Ars gromatica di
Gisemundus (IX sec.),” MEFRM 94 (1982) 191–313 at 223; Idem, Codices artis mensoriae. I manoscritti
degli antichi opuscoli latini d’agrimensura (V–XIX sec.) (1994–1995) 1002; J. Peyras, “Ecrits d’arpentage et
hauts fonctionnaires géomètres de l’Antiquité tardive,” DHA 21 (1995) 166–186, 29 (2003) 160–176,
30 (2004) 166–182; St. Del Lungo, La pratica agrimensoria nella tarda Antichità e nell’alto Medioevo (2004)
569 – 637; A. Roth Congès, “Nature et authenticité des Casae litterarum d’après l’analyse de leur
vocabulaire,” in Les vocabulaires techniques des arpenteurs latins, Actes du colloque international de Besançon
(19–21/09/2002) (2006) 71–124.
A. Roth Congès
Io ̄anne ̄s Archpriest (700 – 800 CE?)
Cited as “from the divine Euagia” in the list of poie ̄tai (makers of gold, CAAG 2.25). In the
treatise bearing his name, On the Sacred Art (CAAG 2.263–267), he invokes in Gnostic fashion
celestial and de ̄miourgic natures, Unity, and the Triad; he cites -D
and Z. The A A P (CAAG 2.424) cites him
as “Io ̄anne ̄s made archpriest in Euagia of the Tuthia and of the sanctuaries included.”
Berthelot notes that Euagia can either be a place-name or mean “sanctity”; whereas Tuthia
could indicate a location, or calamine, or even the place to prepare that substance
(Berthelot 1885: 118; CAAG 3.406, note). Berthelot considers Io ̄anne ̄s historical and notes that
the name is Christian, but his function seems to recall some Egyptian institution (1885: 186).
Ed.: CAAG 2.263–267.
Berthelot (1885) 186–187; ODB 55, s.v. Alchemy.
Cristina Viano
INNOCENTIUS