Diocletian boundary stones

Diocletian boundary stones are inscribed Roman markers erected in the late third and early fourth centuries CE, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian and his co-rulers of the Tetrarchy. Concentrated mainly in the northern Hula Valley, the Golan Heights, and the hinterland of Caesarea Philippi (Paneas), these stones demarcated agricultural land, village boundaries, and fiscal jurisdictions.

The Diocletian boundary stones are the only surviving monuments directly connected to Diocletian’s fiscal reforms in the Levant. With 46 known examples, this corpus is unique in the Roman world, as no other province preserves such extensive epigraphic evidence for the naming of villages, the demarcation of rural boundaries, and the implementation of imperial taxation reforms. Thus, they are among the most important sources for understanding Roman administration and the rural geography of the Near East. However, the majority of the place names recorded on these stones are now lost to history and cannot be identified with modern locations, which presents a significant challenge to researchers.