Words in context: The use of Fecit in the milestones of Roman Hispania

In epigraphy, the word fecit frequently appears in association with public works and infrastructures, indicating that the person associated with this verb was the investor in such facilities. We can find this word in some milestones dated from the age of Trajan, Hadrian, and Severus Alexander. The context of these inscriptions could reveal that their original meaning (‘made by’) is not correct and these cases reveal a means of propaganda using fecit instead of other epigraphic formulae. This paper deals with these inscriptions and with those that speak about repairing/rebuilding in order to understand the whole process. The conclusion can be that the intention of these emperors was to generate the idea that society owes the vital axes of terrestrial communication to Trajan and Hadrian, since they constructed them, even though in fact, they did not.