The lettering is identical with that of the two building inscriptions for the fortification walls of Serdica dated between June AD 177 and March AD 180, IGBulg 1902 and IGBulg 5668.
The dedicant Lucius Fulvius Asticus bears the three names of a Roman citizen; his cognomen Asticus could have been derived from the name of the Thracian tribe of Astae. He is attested as thracarch (president of the Common council of the cities in Thrace) in an inscription from Philippopolis honouring Emperor Commodus and dated to AD 187 (AE 2006, 1246). Since Fulvius Asticus is still not a thracarch in the inscription from Serdica, the latter must predate the one from Philippopolis of AD 187. Lucius Fulvius Asticus's son or grandson, Fulvius Asticus, was one of the agonothetes (organizers) of the first Pythian Games in Serdica under Emperor Gordian III, ca. AD 240 (IGBulg 1910). A later descendant of the same family was Fulvius Asticus, member of the equestrian order ("vir perfectissimus"), attested ca. AD 301 as governor of Caria and Phrygia.
The dedication was made for Apollo, one of the most popular deities in Serdica (and probably main god of the city). The epithet Ρανισκεληνος, as indicated by the suffix -ηνός, was derived from a toponym (*Ρανισκελα, or with another ending; unlocated).
The dedication to Apollo Raniskelenos was found in re-use together with an altar for Sabazius Athyparenus, IGBulg 1927.
