Sanctuaries in Roman Dacia: Materiality and Religious Experience (Archaeopress Roman Archaeology)

This book is the first comprehensive work focusing on lived ancient religious communication in Roman Dacia. Testing for the first time the ‘Lived Ancient Religion’ approach in terms of a peripheral province from the Danubian area, this work looks at the role of ‘sacralised’ spaces, known commonly as sanctuaries in the religious communication of the province. The author analyses the role of space sacralisation, religious appropriation, embodiment and the social impact of religious communication in urban contexts (Apulum), military contexts (Porolissum and Mehadia), and numerous examples from rural (non-urban) environments (Ampelum, Germisara, Ad Mediam, and many others). The book concentrates not only on the creation and maintenance of sacralised spaces in public and secondary locations, but also on their role at the micro-level of objects, semi-micro level of spaces (settlements), and the macro-level of the province and the Danubian region as a whole. Innovatively as regards provincial archaeological research, this book emphasises the spatial aspects of lived ancient religion by analysing for the first time the sanctuaries as spaces of religious communication in Dacia. The work also contains a significant chapter on the so-called ‘small-group’ religions (the Bacchic, Mithraic and Dolichenian groups of the province), which are approached for the first time in detail. The study also gives the first comprehensive list of archaeologically- epigraphically- attested, and presumed sacralised spaces within Dacia. Cover 1 Title Page 3 Copyright page 4 Contents Page 5 List of Figures 7 Acknowledgements 9 Abbreviations 10 I. Introduction 13 I.1. Space sacralisation and the Lived Ancient Religion approach 14 I.2. Rethinking sacralised spaces in Roman Dacia: a research history 17 I.3. The material: sources of the book 20 II. Sacralising the space in urban context 23 II.1. Urbanism and religious communication 23 Urbanism in Roman Dacia: general and local specificities 23 The city, as a religious agent 25 The city as religious agent in Roman Dacia 26 II.2. Walls and religious experience 26 Walls in Roman Dacia: some short remarks 27 Apulum 28 Colonia Sarmizegetusa 28 II.3. The Roman fort and its sacralised spaces 32 The fort as a space of religious communication 32 The case of Apulum: the topography of the fort and its finds 34 The Principia as sacralised space in Apulum: some notes 36 The Eagle and its officers in peace and war: religion and military morale 38 Between moral individuality and lived experience: further case studies 43 II.4. The omnipresent god: locating Jupiter 47 Jupiters everywhere: the topography of the finds 48 Jupiter and the memory of the place: two case studies 52 II.5. Sanctuaries and spectacles 54 Amphitheatres as places of religious communication 54 Sacella of Nemesis: analogies from Dacia and the Danubian provinces 55 The archaeological record from Apulum: topographic and iconographic aspects 57 A case study: Nemesis in the camp? 58 II.6. Monopolising space: religious competition and the power elite 59 Religion and competition in Apulum: the urban elite 59 Religion and the senatorial elite in Apulum 63 Hidden religion: the Praetorium Consularis 65 The ‘visible’ senators: the accessibility of the socio-political elite 68 Providing religion: priesthood beyond the titles 70 Sacerdotes: beyond religious specialization 75 Social networks between urban and provincial 75 Read the liver to be famous – the case study of Caius Iulius Valens 76 Religious specialists of small religious groups 78 Conclusions 80 II.7. The Asklepieion in Apulum: a regional centre for healing 80 Creating sacred landscapes: transformation and manipulation of the natural environment 81 Choreography and commemoration: actions and events from the healing sanctuary of Apulum 85 Individual options in the Roman health-care system of Apulum 87 II.8. Lived religion in secondary spaces 90 Discovering Liber Pater in Apulum: a short overview 90 From sanctuary to dining room: redefining the space of small religious groups 92 Limits of a lived ancient religious experience: the shrine of Liber Pater in Apulum 92 More equal among equals: various identities within a religious group 98 Communal identity as mental constructions in small-group religions 101 The lost lamps of the eternal god: a curious case study 104 Spatial aspects and cultural identities in small-group religions 105 Sacralisation and spatial dynamics of identities: some analogies 107 II.9. Mithras in Apulum: between local and universal 110 Appropriation and religious bricolage between local and universal 111 Creating, maintaining and ending a Mithraic sanctuary 112 Mithraic groups in Colonia Aurelia Apulensis 112 Mithraic groups in Municipium Septimium Apulense 118 The Mithraeum: religious network and local appropriation 122 The building: between pragmatism and religion 123 The group and its individuals: power, hierarchy and religious communication in the mithraeum 126 Representing Mithras in Apulum: some considerations on iconography and production 128 Final remarks 132 II.10. The missing church: questioning Christianity in Apulum 132 A critical re-assessment of the so-called Early Christian artefacts from Apulum 133 Christianities in Romanian historiography 133 Early Christianity before AD 313 in provincial contexts 133 III. Sanctuaries and networks in military settlements: Porolissum and Praetorium 140 III.1. The ‘plateau of the sanctuaries’ in Porolissum: an overview 140 III.2. The Dolichena from Porolissum and Praetorium: a comparative study 142 The Dolichenum from Porolissum 144 Praetorium (Mehadia): some further remarks 147 IV. sacralised spaces in the countryside 153 IV.1. Landscape of Dacia: between myth and reality 153 Tales about Dacia: the imaginary landscape of the province and its inhabitants 153 Geography of Dacia: some recent results 154 IV.2. Memory of the sacred: on the continuity of pre-Roman sacred spaces 155 IV.3. Transformation of the natural environment: Ad Mediam and Germisara 157 IV.4. Deep in religion: space sacralisation in the mining settlements of Ampelum and beyond 166 Discovering and forgetting Ampelum: a brief history of research 167 Religion outside the mines: case studies of religious appropriation 168 Religious entrepreneurs from Commagene: Syrians in Ampelum 174 Mithras for your home: a particular case study from the private sphere 176 Religion in mining settlements: further case studies 177 IV.5. Religious appropriation in rural contexts: further case studies 180 Mithras in rural Dacia 180 Production and religion in the countryside 183 V. Beyond Lived Ancient Religion in Dacia 187 Facts and results: how ‘lived’ was Roman religion in Dacia? 187 The story of Dacia: culture, religion and memory 190 VI. Annexes: Sanctuaries of Roman Dacia 192 VI.1. Archaeologically attested sanctuaries of Roman Dacia 193 VI.2. Epigraphically attested sanctuaries of Roman Dacia 196 VI.3. Presumed sanctuaries of Roman Dacia 197 VII. Összefoglaló 202 VIII. Bibliography 206 Figure 1. Altar dedicated by Dasas and Dazurius in Alburnus Maior (source: AE 1990, 831=ILD 363, lupa 15241) 13 Figure 2. The LAR space taxonomy in Roman Dacia 16 Figure 3. Roman Empire and it’s spaces in D. Clarke’s space theory 18 Figure 4. Map of Dacia with the archaeologically, epigraphically attested and presumed sanctuaries (map based on Schäfer 2007, 357, abb. 1. with the kind permission of the author) 21 Figure 5. Map of Roman Dacia with the urban settlements (after Höpken et al. 2016). 24 Figure 6. Urban plan of Colonia Sarmizegetusa (after Boda 2015a, 304, fig.1.) 29 Figure 7. Map of the legionary fort of the XIII Gemina in Apulum (based on http://castrul-apulum.ro/) 30 Figure 8. Topography of Colonia Aurelia Apulensis (with the contribution of L. Korodi-Vass) 31 Figure 9. Urban plans of cities with archaeologically identified walls (from left to right: Municipium Septimium Apulense, Romula, Napoca and Sarmizegetusa). 32 Figure 10. Plan of the aedes principiorum from Apulum (based on http://castrul-apulum.ro/) 36 Figure 11. Excavations in the aedes principiorum from Apulum in the autumn of 2011 (photo: author) 37 Figure 12. Figurative representation of an Aquila on an architrave from the principia (photo: author) 38 Figure 13. Plan and reconstruction of the Principia with the aedes signorum from the legionary fort of Potaissa (after Bărbulescu 1994, 40). 39 Figure 14. Statue base of L. Aninius Firminus from the fort (photo: author) 39 Figure 15. Altar or statue base of P. Catius Sabinus from the fort of Apulum (photo: author) 41 Figure 16. Statue base or altar of Olus Terentius Pudens Uttedianus (photo: Ortolf Harl - lupa 6737) 43 Figure 17. Altar or statue base of Caius Aurelius Sigillius (photo: Ortolf Harl - lupa 11522) 44 Figure18. Principia buildings from Dacia: aedes with apsidal and rectangular forms (based on Marcu 2009) 46 Figure 19. Statue of Jupiter from Apulum (photo: Ortolf Harl - lupa 17354) 48 Figure 20-21. The dedications of the Tapetii from the Colonia Aurelia Apulensis (photo: Ortolf Harl - lupa 11504, 11505) 49 Figure 22. Dedication for Diana from the Colonia Aurelia Apulensis (photo: Ioan Piso, EDH) 50 Figure 23. Construction plaque of a sanctuary from Colonia Aurelia Apulensis (photo: Ioan Piso, EDH) 51 Figure 24. Monumental statue of the Capitoline Jupiter from the territory of the Municipium Septimium Apulense (photo: author) 52 Figure 25. Altar dedicated in a bidental (photo: lupa 12241) 53 Figure 26. Plan of the Nemeseion from Porolissum (after Wittenberg 2014, 111, fig. 30.) 55 Figure 27. Plan of the Nemeseion from Colonia Sarmizegetusa (after Schäfer 2007, 381, abb.29.) 56 Figure 28. Statue of Nemesis (after Alexandrescu 2013) 59 Figure 29. Marble plaque erected by Publius Aelius Rufinus in the Asklepieion (lupa 10943) 61 Figure 30. Inscription from the time of Volusianus in Colonia Aurelia Apulensis Chrysopolis (lupa 10937) 63 Figure 31. Plan of the Palace of Governors (praetorium consularis) from Apulum (after Schäfer 2014b, 273, abb. 281) 66 Figure 32. Sacralised space within the palace of governor from Apulum with the altar dedicated to Minerva Victrix (photo after Szabó 2016a, fig.89) 68 Figure 33. Construction plaque of a Dolichenum from Apulum (photo: Ioan Piso, EDH 038325) 78 Figure 34. Geophysical survey results of the Asklepieion area from Apulum (Source: http://foto.cimec.ro/cronica/2004/030/rsz_0.jpg) 82 Figure 35. Construction plaque of a Roman bridge near the Asklepieion of Apulum (lupa 11021) 83 Figure 36. Dedication plaque with anatomical representation from the Asklepieion of Apulum (lupa 10968) 86 Figure 37. Statue base dedicated to Glykon from Apulum (lupa 11284) 89 Figure 38. Preliminary plan of the Liber Pater sanctuary (after Schäfer 2014a, 49, pl.I.1.) 93 Figure 39a-b-c: statues of Liber Pater from its sanctuary from Apulum (lupa 19339, 19340, 19341) 96 Figure 40. construction plaque of the Liber Pater sanctuary from Apulum (photo: Ioan Piso, EDH 38362). 100 Figure 41. Bronze statuette of Artemis Ephesia form Apulum (photo: MNUAI, Szabó et al. 2016a). 103 Figure 42. Map of the Municipium Septimium Apulense (photo: author) 106 Figure 43. Funerary monument of Neses, son of Ierheus from Palmyra buried in Tibiscum (photo: lupa 15016) 108 Figure 44. Plan of the Palmyrene sanctuary from Colonia Sarmizegetusa (after Piso-Țentea 2011, 114, fig.2.) 109 Figure 45. Album of the cultores of Malagbel from the Syrian sanctuary from Colonia Sarmizegetusa (after Piso-Țentea 2011) 110 Figure 46. Statue of Mithras Tauroctonos from Apulum (Lupa 17291) 113 Figure 47a-b. Column and altar dedicated by Dioscorus in Apulum (photos: Szabó et al. 2016b, fig.1 and 3.) 114 Figure 48. Statue base dedicated by Statorius mentioning the rebuilding of a mithraeum from Apulum (lupa 12244) 117 Figure 49. Mithraic relief from the so called mithraeum of Oancea (lupa 19324) 121 Figure 50. The mithraeum discovered in 2008 in Apulum (photo after: Rustoiu et al. 2015, 260, fig. 1.) 123 Figure 51: The ‘road of the sanctuaries’ on the southern part of the Municipium Septimium Apulense. The mithraeum is marked in red (I.7.). Photo: author. 124 Figure 52. Large Mithras relief from Colonia Aurelia Apulensis (photo after: Szabó 2015a) 130 Figure 53. Cautes with a bucranium from Apulum (photo: author) 130 Figure 54. Mithras Petrogenitus from Apulum (lupa 17355) 131 Figure 55. Mosaic from Apulum (after Snogov 1996: 37-38) 135 Figure 56. Cross-marked pottery fragments (after Moga 2007) 136 Figure 57. Gemstone discovered in Apulum (after Nemeti 2013b, fig. 133a). 137 Figure 58. Menas ampulla from Apulum (after Moga 2000). 138 Figure 59. Sucidava belt-buckle from Apulum (after Moga 2007) 138 Figure 60. Late antique lamp with cross-mark (MNUAI, photo: author) 139 Figure 61a-b. The fort of Porolissum and its environment with the so called road of sanctuaries (after Opreanu et al. 2013, 104, fig. 20 and 24) 141 Figure 62. Construction inscription from the Dolichenum of Porolissum (after EDH 043639) 144 Figure 63. Plan of the dolichenum from Porolissum (photo: author, after Gudea-Tamba 2001) 145 Figure 64. Column from the Dolichenum in Mehadia with a local iconography (after Boda-Szabó 2011) 150 Figure 65. Relief representing Jupiter Dolichenus and Juno Dolichena from Porolissum (photo by Dan Deac, Museum of Zalău) 151 Figure 66. Map of the Dacian Kingdom with possible pre-Roman sacralised spaces (after Pescaru 2005) 156 Figure 67. Map of Ad Mediam drawn by Griselini (after Benea-Lalescu 1998) 159 Figure 68. The modern site of Germisara (photo: Aurora Pețan) 160 Figure 69. Gold plaques from Germisara (after Rusu 1994 and Ardevan-Cocis 2014) 161 Figure 70. Topography of Roman Germisara and its sites (after Pescaru-Alicu 2000) 162 Figure 71a-b. Monumental inscription dedicated by C. Sentius Iustinus in Germisara (after Piso 2015) 164 Figure 72. Healing sites and sacralised spaces in Roman Dacia (map based on Schäfer 2007, 357, abb. 1. with the kind permission of the author) 166 Figure 73. The gold and iron mines of Roman Dacia (after Hirt 2010) 169 Figure 74. Topography of Roman Ampelum (after Pătrășcanu 1967): purple – cemetery; red – civilian settlement; nr. 1 – Jupiter temple/Capitolium; nr. 2 – Asclepeion; nr.3 – Fortuna Salutaris sanctuary; nr. 4 – dolichenum (map after Pătrășcanu 1967) 170 Figure 75. Jupiter Verospi head from Ampelum (after Diaconescu 2014) 172 Figure 76. Mithraic sanctuaries in Roman Dacia (map based on Schäfer 2007, 357, abb. 1. with the kind permission of the author) 181 Figure 77. Plan of the mithraeum from Marosdécse/Decea Mureșului (after Takács 1987) 183 Figure 78. Mithras Petrogenitus from Romula (after Sicoe 2014, cat. nr. 236) 184 Roman Dacia,Religious communication,sanctuaries La 4e de couv. indique : "This book is the first comprehensive work focusing on lived ancient religious communication in Roman Dacia. Testing for the first time the "Lived Ancient Religion" approach in terms of a peripheral province from the Danubian area, this work looks at the role of "sacralised" spaces, known commonly as sanctuaries in the religious communication of the province. The author analyses the role of space sacralisation, religious appropriation, embodiment and the social impact of religious communication in urban contexts (Apulum), military contexts (Porolissum and Mehadia), and numerous examples from rural (non-urban) environments (Ampelum, Germisara, Ad Mediam, and many others). The book concentrates not only on the creation and maintenance of sacralised spaces in public and secondary locations, but also on their role at the micro-level of objects, semi-micro level of spaces (settlements), and the macro-level of the province and the Danubian region as a whole. Innovatively as regards provincial archaeological research, this book emphasises the spatial aspects of lived ancient religion by analysing for the first time the sanctuaries as spaces of religious communication in Dacia. The work also contains a significant chapter on the so-called "small-group" religions (the Bacchic, Mithraic and Dolichenian groups of the province), which are approached for the first time in detail. The study also gives the first comprehensive list of archaeologically-epigraphically- attested, and presumed sacralised spaces within Dacia."