The honorary inscription from the Roman period was discovered in early 1916 by the 8th Royal Scottish Fusiliers during the excavation of a trench between Aivati (modern Lete) and Lagyná between Aivati and Lagyná (ancient Lete), in Roman and Early Christian cemetery of ancient Lete.

In AD 121/122, the city of Lete honours its gymnasiarch and benefactor Manius Salarius Sabinus. According to the decree, during times of famine he repeatedly supplied the city with grain at reduced prices. He also provided inexpensive wheat, barley, beans, and wine so that the city could ensure the provisioning of Roman imperial troops passing through or temporarily stationed in the region. In addition, he financed the repair of the city’s Gymnasium and contributed to the feeding of councilors, other high-ranking officials, and citizens who took part in public banquets.

According to epigraphic testimonies, the honoured individual was a descendant of the Manii Salarii, one of the oldest families of Italian traders in Thessaloniki. The immigrants of Italian descent, known as italikoi, were an important community of immigrants who had settled in the city as early as the 1st century BC and organized into a cohesive group (negotiatores) with common economic interests, primarily commercial ones. Manius Salarius Sabinus, in addition to being a citizen of Lete, was most probably also a citizen of Thessaloniki.

An exceptionally interesting episode in the “biography” of the ancient monument is the very story of the discovery of the honorary inscription. It was found during the First World War, the “Great War” for the people of the time, when Allied Entente forces (Great Britain France, Italy, Russia) were stationed in Thessaloniki for the Macedonian Front.

Photographs like cinematic frames record its story: the moment the Roman-period stele was discovered by Scottish Fusiliers of the British Salonika Force, and the Lieutenant and professor of archaeology Ernest Gardner studying it at the White Tower of Thessaloniki, where antiquities, unearthed by the British expeditionary force, were kept.

Lete was an important city located near the strategic passage of the Via Egnatia, a military road throughout the centuries. Through the decree, it honours one of its citizens for his benefactions, one of which was the provision of inexpensive food and wine to the Roman imperial army passing through the area. Soldiers of another foreign army, stationed in the same region some 2,000 years later, brought the inscription to light once again. A strange coincidence and a reminder that history never ceases to repeat itself.

The honorary stele MTh 924 was included in the temporary exhibition of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, “Archaeology Behind Battle Lines: In Thessaloniki of the Turbulent Years, 1912–1922”. It can now be seen in the permanent exhibition of the AMTh, “In Macedonia from the 7th Century BC to Late Antiquity”.