[1] Some of the Imperial estates in question are from the Bagradas Valley region of Africa Proconsularis (modern day Tunisia, around c.50 km west of the ancient city of Carthage.
The inscription from Henchir-Mettich (c. AD 116-117 [2]) consists in an adaptation of the Lex Manciana for the fundus Villa Magna Variana.
[3] Several additional inscriptions dealing with a similar subject matter, also in the same region, are known, for example from Ain-el Djemala (Hadrianic period) and from Ain Wassel c. AD 198-209).
[4] The inscription from Henchir Mettich details the tenancy agreement for coloni tenant farmers on the Fundus Villae Magnae Variane (an Imperial estate).
Preamble – Identifies Licinius Maximus (an Equite) and Felicior (a freedman of Trajan) as the procurators who oversaw the establishment at Henchir-Mettich.
[5] Sharecropping forces the colonii to cultivate their land with more effort to attain a minimum level of income than they would otherwise have to supply.