Dialoguri păgâne: formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | Romanian |
| Published: |
Iaşi
Ed. Univ. "Alexandru Ioan Cuza"
2012
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| Series: | Antiqua et mediaevalia, judaica et orientalia
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Inhaltsverzeichnis Abstract |
| Item Description: | Zsfassung in engl. Sprache u.d.T.: Pagan dialogues: votive formulae and figurative language in Roman Dacia |
| Physical Description: | 268 S. Ill. |
| ISBN: | 9789737038296 |
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Record in the Search Index
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| adam_text |
CUPRINS
Cuvânt înainte
/ 7
Introducere
/11
Religia Daciei romane. O perspectivă istoriografică
/ 21
I.
Numele zeilor/
39
Formularul
epigrafie votiv
în Dacia. Mesaj religios şi
reprezentare socială
/ 41
Zeii fără nume în Dacia romană
/ 73
Nume şi imagini. Invocaţii magice în Dacia
/113
II.
Imaginile zeilor/
141
Soteriologie şi simbolism astrologie în iconografia mithraică din
Dacia
/ 143
Mit şi ritual. Naraţiune şi simbolism în cultul Cavalerilor
Danubieni
/ 167
Iniţiere şi simboluri
/ 193
în loc de concluzii
/ 207
Abstract
/ 211
Abrevieri
/ 261
Lista ilustraţiilor
/ 265
ABSTRACT
Pagan Dialogues. Votive Formulae and
Figurative Language in Roman
Dacia
Introduction
As the title indicates, the present study analyzes the
dialogue between representative of the divine and human
worlds in the context of Greek-Roman polytheism. The title was
inspired by
Lucian
of Samosata's dialogue that he labeled
Dialogi
deorurn and it intends to suggest the fact that the problem under
analysis is divine-human communication in the province of
Dacia,
its means, possibilities, and results. The different chapters
developed from older or more recent studies focusing on the two
fundamental issues underlining antique polytheism, namely
votive practices (the nucleus of antique religiosity) and figurative
communication (playing a decisive role in a restrictively literate
society) that grants access to mythological and ritual data.
The main corpus of sources consists of votive and cult-
related epigraphic and figurative materials from the Roman
province of
Dacia
and our conclusions mostly apply to provincial
religiosity. Nevertheless, since
Dacia
was part of a wider cultural
and religious entity
—
i.e. the Hellenistic-Roman world
—
our
analyses focused on provincial realities can also answer more
general questions, according to the pars pro
toto
principle.
Throughout the present studies, the main analysis method
employed is comparative-inductive: religious data is explained
starting from analogous situations and comparisons are restricted
to cases inside the framework of Greek-Roman polytheism. I
believe that Greek-Roman antique polytheism can be envisaged
212_
SORIN
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as a continuum, starting with the Homeric poetry and ending
with the disappearance of paganism. Issues raised by antique
polytheist religiosity must be solved inside this continuum and
comparisons outside this system (in other cultural and historical
contexts, beliefs of ethnological populations) must only be tentative.
In organizing the present material I started from the
antique perception of knowledge of the divine, utilizing concepts
such as „naming" and „learning about" the gods. The divine is
only accessible to human knowledge through the images of the
gods
-
which art presents to humans
-
and through their names.
The limit of piety
(kosion)
prevents people from talking about the
divine, about the rituals that priests perform in the obscurity of
their temples. Antique people knew that the „true names" of the
gods, those that they give themselves, are inaccessible and that
humans only use names they gave to the gods; such given names
are transmitted through tradition and inspired people (poets or
those serving the oracles where the gods spoke directly, like
Pythia for example). Just as, in their dreams or visions, people
see the gods in the shapes of their corresponding statues (shapes
created by artists under divine inspiration), they also employ just
the gods' earthly names (that gods communicated to the inspired).
This conception, underlining antique polytheism, was
expressed by
Proculs, a
neo-Platonian, in his commentary on
Plato's dialogue Cratylos. He was aware of three levels of
knowledge on divine names: Ist degree names, the true ones
(established by the gods themselves, names used only by the
gods)
-
humans were unaware of these names, just as the
divine could not be directly known or experienced; the essence
of the gods was ineffable, and their participation to The One
generated the lower degrees of divine names (i.e., allowed
people to know divine essence);
11^
degree names, that Proculus
labeled as demonic, manifested on an intellectual level as
similitudes to the real names, while IIIrd degree names, those of
ABSTRACT
213
human discourse, were produced by theologians through divine
inspiration. The neo-Platonic philosopher took his speculations
even further
-
the gods have planted the signs and traces of their
own triadic aspect in all beings and all things: the first among
such signs were ineffable and uncognoscible
-
they were luminous
chamcteres; medium signs were placed somewhere between
things that can and those that cannot be expressed, they were
symbola of the gods; manifestations of third degree names were
those humans applied to the gods, those that people used to
invoke and celebrate the gods.
Only symbola, second degree names, that inspired artists
transposed into images of the gods and third degree names,
onomata, currently employed in votive rituals, were accessible to
ancient people and their use lead to the creation of enduring
artefacts such as statues and inscriptions.
Since religious experiences do not last through time,
modern historians only have access to human language that
transcribes such experiences: artistic images that approximate
the face of divinities (symbola) and names employed in human
discourse (onomata), that were preserved in votive and cult-
related epigraphy.
Religion in Roman
Dacia
from a Historiographical
Perspective
In order to evaluate the position of the present analysis of
divine-human communication and other specific religious
phenomena typical to late ancient paganism, one needs to
perform a brief historiographical overview, focusing on research
carried out during the last two decades. This short chapter aims
at presenting the real progress made by Romanian historiography
in this field of historical-religious studies, but drawbacks, errors,
and survival of common places that block this discipline's
development are also discussed. I believe such a presentation of
214_
SORIN
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the state of the art is necessary both due to the fact that we often
start from the premises that modern science and knowledge are
cumulative and that methods evolve continuously, and because
we believe modern historians are but
nani gigantium
humeris
insidentes.
Prior to the Second World War, researchers of ancient
history who turned to topics of religions during the age of the
Principate
wrote synthesis works on cults and religions in
Dacia,
ordering their material according to the principle of the so-called
„ethnical origin" (i.e. ethnical-geographical origin) of the cults or
followers of deities placed in the center of such cults. The model
proved very enduring in the mind of historians and is still
adopted nowadays, just as it was throughout the twentieth
century. Since these were significant gods, immigrated divinities,
such a classification was perceived as essential and there were
very few those who presented problems related to religions in
the province of
Dacia
without the aid of deceiving categories
labeling cults as Greek-Roman, oriental (Persian, Egyptian,
Anatolian, Syrian, and Palmyrian), Celtic-German,
Danubian,
and so on. The framework of such plurimorphous religiosity,
subdivided into ethnical compartments, allows for
a positivist
description of employed documentation (mainly consisting of
votive epigraphs, cult-related and votive sculptural monuments,
and cult edifices), but in the same time it constitutes an obstacle
to analytic studies of religious phenomena.
Research of Religion in the Province of
Dacia
between
1990
and
2010
Political and social change after the fall of the Communist
regime in December
1989
opened new horizons for historical-
religious studies. The new dimensions of this historiographical
phenomenon cannot be easily summarized. On the one hand, it
becomes apparent that historical-religious topics have multiplied,
ABSTRACT
_ 215
as reaction to the new condition of historians who were no
longer ideologically constrained and due to the wide and direct
access to similar productions in the European area. In the same
time, one must note a marked tendency of finding the spiritual
part in everything.
During the
90s,
the study of religion in Roman
Dacia
underwent a specific development. Published studies and
monographs still follow the old system of classification, i.e. the
ethno-geographic origin of the cults, but there new approaches
are also employed and new research questions addressed.
I grouped bibliographic novelties following the same
model that envisages the ethnical-geographic origin of the
divinities, since it was also employed in approaching topics
related to religions in Roman
Dacia
during this period as well.
The methodology of source and document analysis remained
very simple: one mainly finds a positivistic presentation of
monuments (votive inscriptions,
figurate
monuments, cult
edifices), sometimes of good quality, certainly better that in older
studies. The analysis of this corpus of sources is in most cases
limited to the creation of a map indicating the distribution of
cults, to pointing out the ethnical and social extraction of their
donors or of people involved in religious deeds, but also certain
statistic calculations meant to underline the predominance of
certain cults in specific contexts (military
/
civilian). Thus, as
previously mentioned, this analytical model focused on the
ethnical and geographic origin of cults has allowed for the
restitution of an abundant religious epigraphic and sculptural
material and the general identification of certain religious
phenomena that nevertheless remain to be studied in their full
complexity.
The new research directions especially envisage the analysis
of these religious phenomena (religious dynamics and the
interaction between ethnic groups and official civilian religion,
216 _
SORIN
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syncretism and the various interpretationes, the social structure of
the believers, the religious preferences of the different social and
professional groups, religion inside provincial families etc.).
In conclusion, one must note the absence, in Romanian
academic environment during the last two decades, of an extended
project aimed at clarifying the problem of religions in the Roman
province of
Dacia.
Freedom from ideological restrictions has
allowed for an enthusiastic and anarchical approach of this field
of study. The chaos that characterized Romanian society over the
last
20
years reflected directly in most academic research fields.
One can note few published monographs on „pagan" religion in
Roman
Dacia.
Significant efforts are yet to be made in this field
of study: there are no monographs dedicated to the cult of
Mithras, the cult of Cybele and Attis, the cult of local divinities
originating in Asia Minor, or the Egyptian cults. The most notable
absence is nevertheless that of corpora complied according to the
model offered by the Coitus
Signorům
Imperil
Romani
series; it is
thus difficult to identify and collect the numerous figurative
monuments (stone and bronze statues and reliefs, terracotta, lead
reliefs and various artefacts depicting divinities) spread in
specialized periodicals and exhibition or museum collection
catalogues. Once such a toll is compiled, researchers must re¬
analyze the entire material from a new perspective that should
envisage religious dynamics, rituals, social diffusion and the
development of pagan cults, theological perceptions, and
mythological data associated to divine figures. Following this
brief bibliographic overview, one can only conclude the fact that
Romanian historiography has always been eager for the new, but
constantly embodies the old.
ABSTRACT
217
Votive Epigraphic
Formularies
in Dacia.
Religious
Message and Social Representation
Written communication in the province of
Dacia
is well
represented by numerous epigraphic inscriptions on various
materials. I have selected votive epigraphy in order to illustrate
the means of communication between humans and the divine in
the Imperial Era's polytheism and, as subtopic, the inter-human
communication in the province. The chosen source material
includes various types of messages sent by people to
representatives of the divine world. These various voices were
preserved carved in stone and are significant primary sources for
the reconstruction of religious life in the area under discussion.
The present analysis focuses on epigraphic votive
formulae that will be researched so that the obtained data can
allow for the recreation of the spiritual profile of provincial
people. The analysis is restricted by the fact that votive
inscriptions in the province of
Dacia,
written vows for the gods,
are usually stereotypical.
All votive altars dedicated to the gods are prayers per
se.
All prayers, ancient or modern, can be formally divided into
three parts: the invocatio (invoking the gods through names,
epithets, and descriptive predicates), pars
epica (in
which the
believer explains why he/she addresses a certain god for help,
what is his/her relation to the god in question and why does
he/she believe divine assistance will be granted), and
preces
(the
content of the prayer itself).
The epigraphic form is simple and repetitive, and the
three parts of a prayer can only be partially recognized. One can
identify certain headings included in votive inscriptions:
(1)
the
theonym,
(2)
sometimes a worship formula
—
sacrum,
(3)
the
donor's name (plus the positions he occupied at that moment
and other details on his career) and
(4)
dedicatory formula
218
SORIN
NÉMETI
(votum
solvit libens
merito,
in most cases). Inscriptions that also
include
(5)
mentions of the fact that the dedication was made to
the health of other people (mentioned): family members,
colleagues, and especially emperors. The mention of emperors
reveals the political and public dimension of that votive gesture.
According to the preference given to one or another of these
headings, or their absence in some cases, one can analyze the
social implications of votive acts (meta-communication).
All votive inscriptions, no matter how brief or complex,
contain a double message, or, more precisely, messages that can
be interpreted according to two levels: religious and social.
Headings
1, 2,
and
4
(the theonym, the worship, and dedicatory
formulae) are to be placed on the religious level, allowing for a
direct communication with the gods. Headings
3
and
5
(the
donor's name, position, and reasons, other people mentioned)
reveal the social, civic, and political dimensions of the votive act.
This is what J.
Rüpke
labels as secondary or meta-communication,
thus defining the case in which people, pretending to talk to the
gods, actually address their own contemporaries or posterity. On
the basis of where the ex-voto stood
—
consecrated place
(temple,
fammi),
public urban environment, public buildings, or
in the courtyard of personal villas, one can extract extra
information on the public/private character of the dedication.
Unfortunately, many epigraphs from
Dacia
have been
discovered in secondary positions, being so-called „wandering
stones"; some have been lost and one only knows them through
later manuscripts. We must note that there are very few votive
inscriptions erected in public spaces (thus authorized by
decurions' decree
—
loco dato deciirioniim decreto).
Nevertheless,
votive altars are an efficient means of public representation: they
stood in temples, public spaces by excellence, frequented by all,
from members of the political and administrative elite to the
urban
plebs.
ABSTRACT
219
Tlieonymy
The donor's
direct speech
often
features
in an inscription's
first line, but it can also be located elsewhere. In some cases, the
dedication, in Dative, features in the middle of the inscription.
Quite often the name of the god to whom the ex-voto is
placed is missing. In such cases, the image (representation of the
god) is associated to the written text of the dedication. This
economy of written speech indicates the religious parsimony of
the „Romans".
The same religious and social minimalism can be invoked
in the interpretation of the very numerous siglae and abbreviations
that dominate votive epigraphy in
Dacia.
Since literacy was little
spread, many provincials could say, just like
Hermeros in
Satyricon, that only
lapidarias
Hueras
scio.
Writings on votive
monuments consisted of short texts, siglae
-
abbreviations, with
simplified syntax, thus a language strongly encoded that was
accessible to those possessing reading skills in the recognition of
short texts written in capital letters.
Knowing the god's name was thus essential to the votive
act. Archaic Roman religion knew general formulae such as
sive
mas,
sive
f
emina.,
si
deus,
si dea.,
.
sive
nos que
alio nomine
fas
est nominare
(Macrob.
Sat. III.
9.10),
while in the Imperial era this
fear of mistaking the addressee, of omitting some god that might
help, is translated into general invoking formulae:
dis deabusqiie
itnmortalibus, ceterisque
dis deabusqiie, dis deabusqiie
omnibus etc.
Modern researchers interpret theonymic translation (that
Tacitus called
interpretatio
Romana
-
Tacit. Germ.,
43.3)
as a sign
of tolerance on the part of the (Latin speaking) majority and of
availability for communication on the part of the minority
(ethnical enclaves of emigrant conservative groups that brought
their religious traditions with them). It is unlikely that
Turmazgada of Commagene became Jupiter Turmazgada and
220
SORIN
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Sarnendenus of
Galatians
became
Zeus Sarnendenus so
that the
neighbors would understand what lies underneath the epichoric
epithet.
How are we to understand „Roman tolerance" in a
system based on religious pluralism? There was a public, state
cult relevant for the religious civic spirit of every Roman.
Individuals took part in rituals of the public cult as member of
the social body. In the same time, Romans inherited their
cultural-religious background (traditional cults that might have
coincided with public ones). A family's and an individual's
religion is the result of the ancestors' or the individual's choices
and selection. Adding a new god, to adore on the home lararium,
did not mean an old god had to be replaced. The initiation in the
ritual of a mystery cult did not equal abandoning the traditional
inherited religious stock. In order to remain inside A. D. Nock's
framework, we must keep in mind the fact that conversion was an
inappropriate concept in Greek-Roman paganism.
What modern, Christian culture labels as tolerance can be
called religious relativism in connection to ancient polytheism.
This relativist view can be translated by the formula: gods are
essentially the same; it is just the names people give them that differ.
Gods cannot be known; we, people, have no knowledge of the
names gods attribute themselves in the Olympus, but only know
the names people give them. These people are those inspired by
the divinity, oracles or poets like Homer and Hesiod. People give
such names in their own language, according to their own
traditions, thus interpretation
(interpretatio)
is a simple
equalizing process that re-establishes conceptual unity.
Worship and Dedicatory Formulae
This heading, of the worship and dedicatory formulae, is
the place where the person details his relation to his god.
ABSTRACT
221
In most cases, epigraphic formulae are stereotypical. The
worship formula is often missing, or it is reduced to a simple
sacrum. As for the dedicatory formulae, the most frequent form is
the abbreviation v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito), with variants
such as v(otum) s(olvit) and v(otum) l(ibens) m(erito). Other
formulae like
ex voto posuit
and
votum posuit,
or donum dedit,
consecravit feature rather frequently. They all illustrate a usual,
classical contract between the divine and humans, of the do
ut des
type, in which the believer usually has the initiative (asking the
god for something and promising to give sacrifice, to
plaće
offerings, build an altar or a temple etc. in return, for seeing his
wish fulfilled).
£x
visu
/
ex iussu dedications. Mentions of the fact that the
dedication was made at the god's command are interesting for
the direct communication between the human and divine realms:
in such cases, as well, one finds notes like iussu
dei,
ex visu,
ex viso
posuit (the so-called
kať
onar or
ex visu
dedications). Gods give
commands through signs or most often through dreams; recipients
interpret such divine visions as oracles. There is a consistent
corpus of inscriptions in
Dacia
attesting commands given in one's
dream, but almost all inscriptions talk of dream-oracles: direct
orders received from the gods in dreams that do not require
subsequent interpretation (inscriptions dedicated
ex visu
/ex viso,
iussu
dei, ex imperio, ex
praecepto, ex designatione,
kat' epitagën).
We know the Greek and Roman stand on dream
experiences due to an abundant analytical antique literature on
the topic. As
E. R.
Dodds noted, the main distinction that Greeks
performed was between significant and insignificant dreams.
Philosophers and dream interpretation theorists invested
significant efforts in exploring the world of dreams that they
perceived as being equally real to the world of waking hours.
Multiple versions of dream classifications circulated in
Antiquity, but all contained the useful (for the ancient people)
222_
SORIN
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distinction
between predictive and non-predictive dreams,
between those of divine origin and those that are the result of
physical processes.
The terminology employed in inscriptions from
Dacia
does not fit the terms suggested by dream theoreticians. In
inscriptions,
visum
is used exclusively to designate a dream
oracle
(chrësmatismos, oraculum)
and never with the meaning
attested in Macrobius who equals
visum
-
phantasma.
Most dreams noted in inscriptions from
Dacia
belong to
the category of dream oracles. The employed terms are
visum
and somnium for the same category of dreams, i.e. omculum
-
chrësmatismos.
Visum
is the predominant term, and in most cases
formulae such as
ex viso
/
ex visu
are employed. In one cases we
find the extra mention
visu monitus.
The analogous formula
somnio monitus or somno monitus indicate that in these cases as
well, the donors understand somnium as a dream oracle (a direct
predictive dream that does not require interpretation); in this
case somnium is a synonym for
visum.
Dreams sought for/requested through incubation rituals
performed in temples of medicine gods form a sub-category of
oracle dreams. This is the case of three inscriptions from Apulum
in which donors of votive altars mention the fact that they had
parts of porticoes built.
Somnium is used according to its meaning in Cicero and
Macrobius in a single case in
Dacia,
i.e. translating
allëgorikos
oneiros, an allegorical predictive dream that requires the subsequent
interpretation on the part of a specialist. This inscription is
placed on a fragmentary altar discovered in
Inlăceni.
Through dreams, gods manifested their omnipotence:
believers were so dependent on and submitted to the gods, that
they felt they were their slaves. Inscriptions belonging to the ex
iiissu
/
kat' epitagën
category reflect this attitude. Formulae such
as ex iussu
/
ex iusso, with variants like iussu
dei, a
deo iussus, and
ABSTRACT
223
iussu
nutninis
are predominant in votive epigraphy in
Dada.
Other expressions used to express the same thing
-
a votive deed
performed on the command of the divinity
-
are
kat' epitagën
(in
Greek inscriptions) or
ex imperio
and ex designatione.
Reasons behind Votive Dedications
Ex
visu
/ex iussu dedications are exceptions among votive
inscriptions in
Dacia.
Most inscriptions thus belong to the genre
of votive contracts ending with formulae such as
votum
solvit
libens
inerito, ex voto posuit,
and donum dedit (each with variants).
From a statistical perspective, the stereotype formula
votum
solvit
libens
merito
is clearly the most frequent. There are very few
special cases when the believer gives extra data on the reasons
behind his dedication. In this category one must place votive
inscriptions (altars or building plaques) that mention the erection
of cult edifices or parts thereof, reconstructions, and renovations.
In these cases the donor places accent on a solo
restituit,
a solo
fecit,
pecunia sua,
meant for the eyes of his/her fellows living in
the same city.
The reasons behind other inscriptions relate to social
accomplishments, travels, healings, and gods removing danger.
Most cases consisted of thanks addressed to the gods after
healings.
Donors
If theonymy and dedicatory formulae are mostly relevant
for the relations between believers and representatives of the
divine world, headings
3
(name and functions of donors) and
5
{pro salute dedications) of the votive epigraphic form refer
directly to the donor and his/her social relations. Ancient
written prayers contain in most cases the name of the author.
Besides his/her name, they can include also data on the donor's
social position (his/her functions and status at that moment,
224_
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family ties by associating family members to the votive gesture).
When someone makes a dedication for the health of another, not
a member of his family, the reasons relate to relations established
between such persons, placed on different social levels. Thus the
presence of the names and details on the social standing of
donors for the health of notables, patrons, imperial clerks, and
even pro salute imperatoris,
-onim,
directly relate to the manner in
which the subject of the religious deed, the donor of the
inscription, presents him/herself in front of society. One can
note a gradual self-representation in inscriptions, varying from
modest anonymous ex-votos or those only featuring the initials
of the donor's name, to cases including only one's personal
name, then those featuring one's personal name and function or
quality, and, eventually, to extreme cases that include an actual
municipal
cursus
honorum.
This self-presentation differs according
to the place where the altar or votive statue base was located:
anonymous or brief inscriptions might have been placed in the
donor's private garden, but most were located in public spaces
(cult edifices -temples,
fana,
sacrario)
frequented by all, from
members of the political and administrative elite to urban
plebeians. The central square of the city (forum) was the public
space par excellence; placing ex-votos there required the
ordo
deciirionum granting permission. Thus, various possible situations
could be placed between the anonymous ex-votos placed in
possessiune
sua
and those ending with
¡(oco)
d(ato) d(ecurionum)
d(ecreto) often including data on the donor's social status. There
was a direct relation between the place an ex-voto was erected
and the presence of names and career details. But anonymous
ex¬
votos
were not always determined by the place where they were
displayed: one can take into consideration other factors such as
modesty and piety (as in the case of the inscription in
Băile
Herculane dedicated to Aesculapius and Hygia for the health of
a certain Iunia Cyrilla by a certain T.B.A.
eins).
ABSTRACT
225
Provincial
votive epigraphic
forms still offered ample
possibility for the expression of one's religious feelings, twinges
of pride, or political loyalty.
Conclusions
In getting to know a society one must also know the
means through which it transmits ideas, notions, and facts. In
historical societies, such as that of the Roman Empire that
produced internal written evidence, the primary level of direct
communication is easily grasped. The Romans spoke and wrote
in Latin to a large extent and their preserved inscriptions allow
for an analysis of their means of written communication.
The present research of the written communication with
the divine world has attempted to clarify two major aspects of
ancient religiosity:
1)
the theological concept, the main ideas on
the divine world, that can be studied on the basis of theonyms,
divine epithets, associations, and ritual (the practice of votive
dedications) and
2)
the social dimension of religious gestures in
classical polytheism. In order to understand these aspects, on the
basis of epigraphic messages, I tried to answer two questions:
how and why did the Romans address the gods? The answer to
these essential questions is relevant for both the pagan religious
vision and intra-community relations in a society with multiple
ethnicities and languages such as that of the province of
Dacia.
Behind the ex-votos one finds strategies of social representation,
political loyalties, contractualism, deisidaimoinia, or sincere piety.
The Nameless Gods
In
Lucian'
s
Zeus the Tragedian
(Zeus trag. 6),
Hermes, the
gods' herald, calls them for a meeting: „And you, second-rank
gods, and you, who stay behind, you as well, that do not even bear
names, sit by the empty altars". As E. Bikerman noted, the
emergence and persistence of anonymous gods is one of the
226_
SORIN
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most complicated problems of Greco-Roman religion; it was
tackled by important historians of classical religion such as Otto
Weinreich, Eduard Norden,
E. Bikerman, Michel
Simon, and
Pieter
Willem van der Horst.
Nameless gods also feature in
inscriptions from
Dacia. In
order to understand this religious
attitude, noted by Paul in his speech to the Athenians held in
Athens' Aeropagus, on which occasion he mentioned the existence
of an altar dedicated to an unknown god
(agnosthos theos),
we
will group the nameless gods in
Dacia in
four categories:
1)
inscriptions dedicated to a foreign god, perceived as a
supreme god, bearing an ineffable name and whose cult image is
unknown. Its presence in epigraphs is connected to sectarian
henotheistic tendencies that build a theological pyramid dominated
by a god that has no name because he has them all, that exists
beyond the sky of the known stars, in the Aether (so he is Most
High, Hypsistos) and therefore Master of Time (Aeternus).
2)
the second category includes cases when the donors
avoid naming the gods to whom they address their prayers. The
gods remain nameless but not entirely anonymous since
inscriptions include appellatives and figurative monuments show
their canonical iconography. The names of the gods are replaced
by appellatives for various reasons: first, for the personal safety
of the believer who addresses gods that hold power in
maiam
щпет,
inhabiting the lower regions of the universe, i.e. chthonian
and infernal gods. Others, connected to magical practices, have
nomina arcana.
In order to invoke these gods one must use
appellatives, propitiatory epicleses, to attract their benevolence,
such as
Dea Placida,
Dii
propitii, Theoi Charistoi. A similar case is
that of very strong „monarch" gods whose (true) names are
prohibited and thus replaced by appellatives that suggest their
dominating, superior, majestic status:
Dea Regina,
Domnus
et
Domna, Dominus
/
Comes.
ABSTRACT
227
3)
the third group consists of cases when the name of a
god responsible for a particular event or phenomenon (earthquake,
epidemics, flooding etc.) is not known. In such cases pagans
invoke the plurality of gods and employ a formula that leaves
the group of invoked gods anonymous.
4)
gods are sometimes perceived as mere collective
categories, in this balance of alterity between gods back home
and gods of the new homeland:
Dii
Ártani
(gods of groups and
communities),
Dii
patri,
Dii
paterni (ancestral
gods)
or
Dii hospites
huiusce loci,
Dii deaeque
Daciarum,
Terra Dacia, Genius
Daciarum,
Fortuna
Daciarum.
Theos
Hypsistos
and Deus
Aeternus
The first category is illustrated in Roman
Dacia
by the
introduction of dedications made in honor of a deity called
Theos
Hypsistos (in a fragmentary inscription) and
Theos
Hypsistos
Epekoos (on an altar dedicated by a certain Aelia Cassia). Both
ex¬
votos
were found in
Colonia
Dacica Sarmizegetusa,
where,
considering the special character of the cult of
Theos
Hypsistos, I
have suggested the hypothetic existence of a small group of
hypsistarians.
The issue of gods labeled as eternal in Latin inscriptions
discovered in the western part of the Empire, in
Dacia, Pannónia,
Italia, Africa,
Hispánia,
and Britannia, is more complex. Most
dedications are addressed to a god called
Deus
Aeternus or
Aeternus, but one must also add to this group dedications made
to lupiter Optimus
Maximus
Aeternus.
Employing an abstract epiclesis (aeternus) in association
with the term dues indicates a non-personalized, anonymous god
and not a god whose origin can be identified (Syrian, Hebrew, or
Iranian) in the sense sought for by modern religious science. In
cases when the formulary epithet aeternus is attached to the god's
name, one can speak of that god's spiritualization (or of his
228_
SORIN
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Syrian avatar known in the Roman Empire under a compound
name based on a toponymical epiclesis, as lupiter Dolichenus). In
fact, in my opinion, identifying lupiter Aeternus with lupiter
Dolichenus explains the numerous ex-votos dedicated to Aeternus
in
Dacia
(in the centers of Apulum, Ampelum, and
Şarmizegetusa,
where the cult of Dolichenus was extremely popular).
Appellatives of the Almighty Gods
With this second category, we go on discussing the gods
deemed so powerful that their names cannot be spoken; they
were „explosive." All their appellatives attested on inscriptions
in
Dacia
-
Dominus
(Dommis),
Domina
(Domna)
-
and epithets
Regina,
Placida,
Propitius,
-ii
-
testify to the same religious idea of
dominating, almighty divinities whose benevolence the faithful
must gain by using propitiatory epithets, qualifying them as
„good/all too good", „master" and „queen." One revealing
example is that of a goddess called
Dea Placida:
once she features
as
Dea Placida,
then as
Domna
Placida,
and eventually as
Placida
Regina.
A unique inscription attests the building of a temple
(templům
a solo fecerunt) to an anonymous divinity simply called
Dea Regina.
An official of
Şarmizegetusa,
together with his wife,
built a temple to the health of his mother-in-law, but instead of
recording the name of the divinity, the inscription only reads
Dea
Regina.
A divine couple, only known through the appellatives of
Domnus
et Domna
(or Dominus
et Domina),
is attested by
11
ex¬
votos
discovered in the
Danubian
provinces alone (in
Dacia,
the
Moesias, the
Pannonias,
and one case in
Dalmaţia).
A small sanctuary, attributed by its researchers to this
anonymous divine couple, was recently discovered
archaeologically in the capital of the province. Domnus and
Domna
are
dii
maiores
(the traditional gods) of a centurion
ABSTRACT
229
bearing a Latin name,
С
Postumius
Pansa,
who dedicated the
ex-voto in the small sanctuary of Sarmizegetusa. Despite his
Latin names, this centurion might have been a Romanized
Danubian
and thus one cannot exclude the hypothetical local
origin of this anonymous divine couple. It is possible that the
titles of Dominus and
Domina
were also given to other gods, but
the constant elements of their cult, popular in the
Danubian
area,
resides in their collective adoration, as a couple. This is thus a
minor cult, spread in the provincial environment, of local, little
individualized gods, qualified as
maiores
(ancestral), but also as
propitii.
Among the Greek inscriptions in
Dacia,
one discovered in
Ilişua
was dedicated to three anonymous gods, only invoked as
Tlieoi, along an uncertain formulary epithet (due to the lacuna in
the text). The dedication is addressed either to Theois Chtoniois,
or, rather, to Theois Charistois (the gods full of grace); in both
cases, the supplicated divinities are anonymous, unknown gods,
adored by means of a general formula.
The last situation refers to the gods known as the
Danubian
Riders. A recently-published lead plate from
Pannonia
contains an invocation to one of the members of this divine
dyad/ triad: Domino. Six other plates (discovered in Apulum, in
Dacia,
Oescus in Moesia Inferior, and four part of private
collections, with uncertain places of discovery) contain short
declarations of the
Danubian
god: Comes tibi so(m) instead of
Comes tibi sum («I am your companion»). Other hundreds of
known reliefs containing the depiction of this dyad/ triad
include no votive dedications or the names of these gods;
researchers concluded that they must have had
nomina
arcana.
The appellatives employed, Dominus and Comes, make us include
the god of the
Danubian
dyad in the category of anonymous,
almighty gods, masters of each believer, with truly prohibited
names.
230_
SORIN
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Unknown Gods and the Plurality of the Gods
Not knowing the real god responsible for certain calamities
made believers invoke anonymous gods instead. Another
possible votive gesture in such cases was invoking all gods and
goddesses. Such dedications are attested by a series of inscriptions
spread throughout the Empire, containing the invocation
dis
deabusque secundwn interpretationem oraculi
Clarii
Apollinis (ten
cases were written in Latin, and one in Greek, dedicated to theois
kai
theais
apo
exegeseos chresmon
Apollónos Klariou).
These inscriptions
were discovered in Britannia (Vergovicium),
Dalmaţia (Corinium),
Africa (Cuicul,
Volubilis,
Banasa), Italia
(Gabii,
Marruvium,
Cosa),
Sardinia (Nora),
Hispánia
(Ponte de
Garcia Rodriguez),
and Pisidia (Melli
-
Kocaaliler).
No dedications to
dis
deabusque secundum interpretationem
oraculi
Clarii
Apollinis are yet known in
Dacia,
but there are
similar cases that must be discussed in this context. One such
case is an inscription discovered in
Gherla
and dedicated to
dis
deabusque immortalibus, pro salute
domini
nostri, in honorem
nocturnontm by a certain M. Aurelius
Frontonianus.
I believe such a gesture fully reflects the theological belief
spread through the
Ciarían
theological oracles that elaborate on
the existence of a supreme, primordial, unique, nameless, and
ineffable divinity, only accessible to humans through a multitude
of intermediary beings (daimones,
angeli).
It is precisely the text of
the partially preserved oracle in Lactantius' Divinae Institutions,
the so-called Vieosophia Tubigensis, or the oracle-inscription from
Oinoanda: «we the angels (Apollo included), are but a small part
of the god.»
In conclusion, no
dis
deabusque have yet been discovered
in
Dacia,
according to Apollo's oracles in
Claros,
but one can
find reverberations of a significant religious phenomenon with
public impact: the emperor consulting the oracles, followed by a
displayed public supplication. Dissipated evidence of this
ABSTRACT 231
includes inscriptions dedicated to the
dis
deabuques immortalibus
(in explicit connection to Caracalla) and the votive altar in
Inlăceni
that contains the syntagma secundum interpretationem.
Anonymous Gods of the Communities
Another category of nameless gods consists of anonymous
gods protecting constituted groups and local communities. They
are not anonymous, but perfectly-well individualized; they are
adored together, as a group, through collective invocations. As
in the case of the third category, plurality triggers anonymity. In
this final category one needs to mention the numerous „parental
gods"
(dii
patrii)
and
Dii
Ártani,
the ancestral gods of a
community immigrated to Alburnus
Maior.
Names and Representations. Magic Invocations in
Dacia
According to current research, antique gems depicting
classical or Egyptian divinities, teriomorph figures of the snake-
legged giant with cock head type, along cryptic inscriptions in
Greek letters and symbols from esoteric alphabets (characteres)
are no longer considered instruments used by Basilidian Gnostics,
but tools employed by antique magicians. During the age of
collections and even later, until
de
beginning of the twentieth
century, such gems (called gemmae abraxeae) were connected to
adepts of Gnostic movements during Late Antiquity, in
particular the sect of the Basilidians from Alexandria. Writings
against heresy indicated that members of such sects adored
Abrasax. During the twentieth century, under the impact of
significant authors such as P. Perdrizet,
A. Delatte
and Ph.
Derchain, C.
Bonner,
A. A. Barb, M. Philonenko, Louis Robert
etc. foreign historiography promoted the idea that most users of
such gems were ancient magicians and not members of an
obscure Gnostic sect from Alexandria. The discovery of Egyptian
magical papyri, some containing recipes for the making of such
232_
SORIN
NÉMETI
magical amulets, indicates that both categories of artifacts belong
to the same phenomenon, i.e. international magic.
During the same century, Romanian specialist works
underwent a similar development, such artifacts being interpreted
as „Gnostic paleochristian". Reuniting different mystical traditions,
international magic is a phenomenon with a relatively unified
distribution throughout the Roman Empire. Gems bearing
various mystical-occult depictions and inscriptions
-
cryptic or
illegible
-,
in most cases containing magical incantations, were
used at time for medical magical purposes as well. The benevolence
or aid of certain divinities and divine powers was requested
through engraving their figures, associated symbols, or magical
incantations. Among the numerous gems in
Dacia,
I selected
here but a few in order to illustrate the manner in which divine
and demonic powers populating the world of antique magic
were invoked. The analysis of images and associated invocations
on gems will indicate the manner in which provincial inhabitants
of
Dacia
attempted to communicate with the powers above
-
demons and gods
-
in other ways than through the usual
framework of votive religious practices, the main means of
regulating the relations between the two worlds in classical
Greek-Roman polytheism.
I will not discuss here all artifacts with magical function
from
Dacia or
Romanian collections, but only gems I was able to
interpret up to the present state of research or those that, on
different occasions, I re-analyzed, completed, or defined as
magical artifacts (one gem depicting Ororiouth, the matrix
demon, another decorated with the image of Artemis Ephesia
and inscribed
παντί βίω,
gems showing the goddess with the ant,
Chronos the reaper, the bird Ibis and the hieroglyph dbh
-
one
each
-,
all given medical use, and those decorated with
representations of Amor bearing a torch and Psyche as a
butterfly, used in erotic magic).
ABSTRACT
233
Opał gem
with
Greek
inscriptions. There are two different
inscriptions on the same side of the gem: one circular legend and
a nine-row inscription.
The circular legend, to be read from right to left, reads:
ΣΦΡΑΓΕΙΣ ΣΑΟΛΟΜΩΝ(ΟΣ) ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ΝΑΗΘ
translated as „The Seal of Solomon, Lord of Naioth", Naioth
being the town where David as refugee found shelter.
The nine-row inscription is written in Greek characters
and can be read from left to right starting with the first line in the
upper part. In the first three lines the author of the carved
inscription has attempted to reproduce a popular magic formula
known as Aianagba
-
Logos. Therefore the text, that includes many
mistakes, starts with the four divine names (the first two letters
of the word Anabakma are placed in the beginning of the second
row):
(AN)ABAKMA
AMO
PPAXI
ΣΑΜΑΝΖΑ
<ONO> BABIAZA<AZAA>
.
The correct formula, as encountered in many other cases, is
Aianakba
/
Aianagba, Amorachthi
/
Amorachthei, Salamaza
/
Salamaxa, Bameaza
/
Bameaxa, but magical gems display an
array of variants (see Table II). These might be the names of
certain powers invoked for some sort of general protection
because in one case we find the imperative
φύλαξον.
Only the
Αμοραχθει
name is known from magical papyri where it is used
as an epithet for
κύριος κόσμου,
together with
Sabaoth.
The Aianagba-Logos is associated with numerous cryptic
inscriptions, magic characteres, and symbols, the most frequent
being divine names such as Iao,
Sabaoth,
Meithras, Ablanathanalba
palindrome, formulas like Soumarta and Sesengenbarpharanges.
234
SORIN
NÉMETI
The formula
Σφραγίς Σολομονος
is only one to appear later in the
field of Aianagba-Logos associations: we know only a half-
formula
Salamasa Bameaza
next to the image of „Solomon's
Choice" displayed on Byzantine bronze medals.
King Solomon the exorcist belongs to Jewish magic of
Late Antiquity, and probably the so-called Aianagba-Logos has a
Jewish background as well. Gems, lead pendants, and bronze
medals depicting the Holy Rider Solomon were used against the
evil eye
(jasanům, baskania),
and also in medical magic believed
to provide the cure for several diseases. Amulets with the
Aianakba-Logos seem to be the more powerful and mysterious
artifacts, because of their association with cryptic inscriptions
and strange symbols and characteres.
Opal gem with Greek inscription. The six-row inscription
is to be read from right to left starting with the first row on the
upper part of the gem. The text is a very well known magical
logos and ends with the Chnoubis Sign (three
Zet
or Sigma cut by
a line):
ΣΘΟΝΒΑΘΛΗ
ΝΑΛΑΚΣΘΟΝ
MAKAMYOMH
ΑΒΡΑΜΜΑΩ
ΑΒΡΑΜΗΛ
ZZZ
The text is a magical formula known as
Stochbathlë-Logos
which begins with the divine name
Σθονβαθλη
/
Σθοχβαθλη.
In
addition to the gem under discussion here, this formula appears
on other four items preserved in European collections (Table I).
There are some variations, due to erroneous copying or differrences
in pronunciation:
Στοχβαθλη
or
Σθονβαθλη, Μαλακισθομ
'
Μαλακσθον, Αβραμμαωθη
'
Αβραμμαω, Αβραμηλ
'
Αβραμεα.
The
proper form in line
3
should be
Μακαχψοχ
(like the one that can
ABSTRACT
235
be read on the two gems), but there are several other variants,
like
Μαλακοχψοχλ, Μακαμυομη
op
Βααακαμψολλη.
Most often, this formula is associated with the Chnoubis-
Sign (in four out of five cases).
Stochbathlê
is a divine name that C.
Bonner
encountered
in relation to the solar gods of Egyptian magic. Here it is related
to god Knum
/
Chnoubis, figured on the gems as a lion-headed
snake wearing a crown of solar rays (nimbus).
Stochbathlê-Logos
also contains two words composed with the Jewish particle
abra-:
Αβραμμαωθ
(with the suffix -aoth, like
Sabaoth)
and
Αβραμελ
(with the angelic suffix -el, like Michael, Uriel, Raguel), both
common on gems carrying the image of the lion-headed snake
Chnoubis.
Therefore, the
Stochbathlë-Logos
has to be considered an
invocation addressed to five divine powers. The presence of this
magic formula next to the Chnoubis-Sign shows the medical
purpose of the gem, which was probably used in the cure of
stomach diseases.
Soteriologi/ and Astrological Symbolism in Mithraic
Iconography from
Dacia
The Iranian god Mithras underwent deep transforma¬
tions after his integration into a Hellenistic mystery structure,
where he has always manifested himself as a triumphant god
(invictus), as creator and savior of the world. His cult enjoyed a
wide popularity in the province of
Dacia
as well, as indicated by
votive altars dedicated to him and by reliefs depicting Mithras as
bull-killer, the main image of his cult. Given the multiple
meanings of religious symbols in general, we intend to
investigate from a global perspective the phenomena which lead
to the appearance of this cult's icons in
Dacia.
Our approach
emphasizes the astrological meaning of the tauroctony symbols,
in an attempt to overcome the 'personification' language used by
236
SORIN
NÉMETI
F. Cumont. In
order to explain the tauroctony, some authors
have turned to Iranian religious literature (F. Cumont, G.
Widengreen, L. A. Campbell), Greek-Roman art (F. Saxl, E. Will),
but also astral symbolism (K. B.
Starek,
R.
Beck,
R. L.
Gordon).
The Astral Journey of the Soul: Grades and Planets
The degrees of initiation that the worshippers of Mithras
went through have been known for a long time
-
due to
preserved literary texts
-
but two discoveries from the twentieth
century have revealed the relationship between the seven grades
and the planetary gods who had the protective power over each
of them: the pavement mosaic inside Felicissimus' mithraeum in
Ostia
and the graffiti from the mithraeum in Santa
Prisca.
Researchers thus discovered that every grade was placed under
the protection
(tutela)
of one of the planetary gods: Pater
-
Saturnus,
Heliodromus
-
Sol,
Perses
-
Luna, Leo
-
Iupiter, Miles
—
Mars, Nymphus
-
Venus, and Corax
—
Mercurius. Origen's
testimony (Contra Celsum,
6. 22)
regarding the symbolon of a
ladder with seven gates on top of which an eighth gate was
situated
-
a clear Mithraic symbol
-
has generated different
interpretations regarding the planetary gates that the soul of the
initiated person had to go through in its journey (diexodos).
Celsus, quoted by
Origen,
enumerates the metals that the gates
and the tutelary planets were made of: lead for
Saturnus,
tin for
Venus, bronze for Jupiter, iron for Mercury, alloy for Mars, silver
for Luna, and gold for Sol. These metals are also directly
connected to the qualities which define the planets as well as
with the personalities of the tutelary divinities of each gate.
Celsus was seeking for an explanation of this cosmic display by
attaching musical reasoning to Persian theology. Although the
existence of this „seven
—
gated ladder of Celsus" in the
mysteries is not accepted by modern exegesis, the idea of the
initiated person's soul passing after death through the planetary
ABSTRACT
237
spheres had an important scientific career thanks to F. Cumont.
By applying the principles of ancient astrology to the mysteries,
he assumed that the soul, whose essence was divine and
ethereal, was returning after death to the Empyrean. This way,
the soul went beyond the sphere of the fixed stars, along the
planetary spheres, renouncing the virtues or the flaws it had
obtained from the same planets when it descended on Earth, at
the time of its birth. However, Mithraism holds no evidence of
the doctrine of qualities and passions associated to the planets.
Cumont's idea was continued by the common opinion that
Mithras, as god of a „mystery religion", provided his adepts
with the guarantee of a salvation that was transcendent, beyond
the world, of immortality and ascension to heaven. Excepting the
ambiguous text of Celsus and some Platonic hints in Porphyrius,
straightforward evidence is also missing.
Grades of Initiation
This attempt of revealing the structure of Mithraic
communities using inscriptions as a starting point is quite
difficult given the fact that worshippers avoided disclosing their
hierarchical grade. The symbols of the ranks present in
Felicissimus' mosaic allowed R.
Merkelbach
to connect the altars
with these symbols to certain ranks. An altar from Apulum and
another one discovered somewhere in Transylvania share the
same representation on one side: a man dressed in Oriental
costume, wearing a Phrygian bonnet and ridding a bull, while
holding a torch in his right raised hand. R.
Merkelbach
believes
that this is not Mithras but Cautes-Lucifer and because of the
torch's symbol he thinks it was dedicated by a heliodromus. A
more relevant altar is another item from Apulum dedicated
Invicto
Myth
rae
by Dioscorus
Marci,
with a dolphin and a trident
on each of its lateral sides. The dolphin is the symbol of goddess
Venus and she was the tutelary planet of the grade of Nymphus.
238_
SORIN
NÉMETI
Planets and Fixed Stars
Celsus, quoted by
Origen,
declares that Mithras'
worshippers had a symbolon of „the two celestial revolutions, one
of the fixed stars and one of the planets, and of the road that soul
takes through and beyond them". The symbol is that of the
seven-metal ladder under the patronage of the planets. Mithraic
monuments indicate that the mysteries displayed certain interest
in the two celestial revolutions. Viewing the tauroctony from an
astrological perspective, the presence of the zodiac constellations
and of the planetary busts or altars in the iconography of
Mithraic monuments from the Empire confirms Celsus' words.
Our intention is to discover the preoccupation for the
celestial diexodos of the soul, emphasized by the paranatellonta's
constellations or by the celestial revolution of the planets in
Mithraic monuments from
Dacia
—
which are generally
characterized by
stereotypy
and a redundant repetition of the
iconographie
pattern.
The attempt to interpret the tauroctony scene from an
astrologie
perspective lead to
a
communis opinio,
namely that
before being the actors of an Iranian myth of avestic Mithras, the
characters and objects represented in the scene are the image of
the equatorial constellations. We are dealing with the zodiacal
signs between Taurus and Scorpius and paranatellonta, namely
those constellations that appear north or south of the zodiacal
signs; when referring to the tauroctony scene, we are dealing
with the Southern constellations, situated below the summer
zodiac signs. Therefore, the summer zodiac signs from Taurus to
Scorpius are: Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, and
Scorpius, while South of them there is the paranatellonta of the
summer signs (from left to right):
Spica (Incida
from Virgo, Alpha
Virginis), Corvus, Crater, Hydra, and
Canis
Minor. We can
recognize most of these constellations in the characters involved
in the tauroctony scene: Taurus is the bull sacrificed by Mithras,
ABSTRACT
239
Spica
is the ear of wheat that sometimes ends the bull's tail,
Corvus is the raven from the god's mantle, Crater and Leo often
form a symbolic group
-
the
krater
vessel and the lion
-
placed in
different parts of the scene, and in the lower part, from left to
right we find the following constellations: Scorpius (the scorpion
that stings the bull's genitals), Hydra (the snake) and
Canis
Minor (the dog stretching towards the bull's stabbed neck).
Given the fact that the bull, the raven, the scorpion, the snake,
and the dog are the characters involved in the tauroctony act and
their presence is therefore necessary in that scene not only for
astrological reasons, we will analyze only those monuments on
which the complementary symbols are present: the ear of grain
and the lion-krater group.
The lion-krater group is present on the reliefs with three
registers from Apulum and Sarmizegetusa from
Dacia.
The
group is located behind Cautes, near the right edge, either as a
lion with
a
krater
in front of him, or
-
in the simplified version
-
as a lion head above
a
krater
(8
pieces). Thirteen items belonging
to some special
iconographie
types only contain the
leo
symbol.
Spica
is only present on seven
Dacian
reliefs, and all of them
contain complementary symbols and keys for deciphering the
astrological and soteriological message.
Some tauroctony icons contain explicit or implicit
references to the revolution of the fixed stars, by displaying some
zodiacal signs. On a relief from Ulpia Traiana, consisting of a
single register, a tree can be seen above a lion (Leo) that rests his
paw on a ram's head (the Aries zodiacal sign), placed under Sol,
to the left, instead of Cautopates. Most Mithraic zodiacs start
with Aries and in the zodiacal semicircle whose first sign is
Aries, the Leo sign is placed toward the zenith, while the last
visible sign is that of Libra. This is the display of the vault of
heaven during the vernal equinox.
240
SORIN
NÉMETI
One encounters the same situation on a relief from
Doştat
that displays the torchbearers in the same manner and with the
same attributes, and in the case of statuary groups from the
mithraea in Ulpia Traiana and Apulum. Ascribing torchbearers
the signs indicates that their scene corresponds to the zodiacal
semicircle between Taurus and Scorpius (the signs from Taurus
to Scorpius, with Leo to the zenith and the paranatellonta). In
Taurus, the sun is rising from the vernal equinox toward the
summer solstice; therefore Cautes is lifting the torch, while in
Scorpius it descends from the autumnal equinox toward the
winter solstice, so that Cautopates is lowering the torch. We
discover the same situation in the statuary groups from mithraea:
two statues of Cautes with the bull head were found in Apulum
and two other statues of Cautes with the bull head and one of
Cautopates with the scorpion were discovered in Ulpia Traiana.
As preserved cultic monuments and texts indicate, the
initiation used to take place under the tutelary power of the
planets. Some exceptional Mithraic monuments display the
seven planetary gods' busts in different order (such as the relief
from Bologna, the plate from Brigetio, the mosaics from the
Ostian mithraea
(Sette Sfere, Sette
Porte, Felicissimus)), but most
of them only show a row of seven (or more) undifferentiated
altars, grouped between the symbols of the day and night stars,
Sol and Luna. For R. Turcan, the seven altars represent the
planetary multiplication of the tauroctony, the saving multipli¬
cation of this sacrifice that brings the total renovation of the
world and, implicitly, of the souls. The sidereal group of seven
represents the world above the terrestrial sphere, but when
related to the tauroctony it involves its universal meaning, which
is both spatial and temporal and the seven altars symbolize not
only the planetary gods but also the time lapses dominated by
the wandering stars
-
the great cyclical week.
ABSTRACT
241
In Dacia,
the row of altars
(7
and
9)
has been found on
20
monuments and probably in two other uncertain cases. Only two
monuments
-
from
Vint
and Apulum
-
display a sequence of
nine altars; on all the other monuments where the row was
preserved intact, there are seven altars that have been
interpreted to represent the group of the seven planetary gods.
Ancient astrology and mysteries certify the existence of
several competing planetary orders. The lack of additional clues
makes it difficult to specify the order in which the sequence of
the seven altars should be read. The analogy between a relief
probably originating in Potaissa and the relief from Bologna
might shed some light in this problem.
The relief from Bologna, an adapted
Danubian
model,
displays the busts of the seven planetary gods on the upper
arched edge, having Sol to the left extremity and Luna to the
right. In order to discover the meaning of the planets' order, R.
Beck has distributed the zodiacal signs divided into decans
(circle segments of
10°,
three decans for each zodiac sign); the
planets start with the first
decan
from Aries (the vernal equinox)
and the first planet in the Chaldean order is Mars. Therefore, the
order of the planets on the relief from Bologna is the order of the
tutelary planets of the central
decan
from the zodiacal signs
situated between Taurus and Scorpius: Luna, the central
decan
from Taurus, Mars from Gemini,
Mercur
from Cancer, Jupiter
from Leo, Venus from Virgo,
Saturnus
from Libra and Sol from
Scorpius.
A relief discovered at Potaissa shows the same way of
connecting the planets with the zodiacal constellations by using
the
decanat.
A lion mask is placed above Mithras' head, having
Sol in the left and Luna in the right. The explicit presence of this
central term discloses the planetary order from Bologna, where
Jupiter, the tutelary god of the
leo
grade is watching over the
central
decan
from the Leo constellation. This planetary order
242
SORIN
NÉMETI
that begins with Luna ends with Sol, having Jupiter in a central
position; the order of the planets that dominate the central
decan
of the constellations between Taurus and Scorpius is the reverse
order of the week days, from Monday to Sunday. It doesn't
correspond to the order of the initiation grades' patronage, but to
the order of the planetary gates that has been transmitted by
Celsus (the reverse order of the week days, from Saturday to
Sunday, namely Saturn, Venus, Iupiter, Mercury, Mars, Luna,
Sol).
This assumption seems to be supported by a sequence of
different altars and symbols that appear on a relief from
Apulum. Mithras as a bull killer is present in the center,
accompanied by all the elements, including
Spica. Sol
is situated
to the right and a sunray descends from him towards Mithras,
while Luna is situated to the left. A raw of seven altars separated
by groups of two or three symbols appears above: a stick with a
Phrygian cap, a tree, a knife. Four altars are accompanied by all
the three symbols, while the other three only by two, every time
in a different combination (the first altar from the left
-
tree and
knife, the second
-
stick with cap and knife, the last from the
right
-
stick with cap and tree). If we consider that out of the
seven altars only those accompanied by two symbols are
differentiated and if we interpret the altars as planetary gods
using the order of the relief from Bologna, we obtain the
following sequence: Luna (the bust of the moon, altar, stick with
cap and tree), Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus (altars and groups
of three symbols), Saturn (altar, stick with cap and knife), Sol
(the bust of Sol, altar, tree and knife). This way, the tutelary
planets of the first three grades are differentiated: Pater (Saturn),
Heliodromus (Sol) and
Perses
(Luna), the altar of Saturn
-
pater
being accompanied by symbols such as the stick with the
Phrygian cap and the knife, just like in the mosaic from
Felicissimus' mithraeiwi.
ABSTRACT
243
Dacian
monuments
that present the sequence of altars,
the additional constellations
(Spica,
Crater, and Leo), and
zodiacal signs that divide the scene in an astral way during the
vernal equinox (Aries, Taurus, Scorpius) are large size monuments,
cultic reliefs which used to serve as models for votive ones. They
come from those mithraea whose inner sides were cosmically
oriented, reliefs that display a cosmic map of the salvation path
that has been conceived by
a
pater, studiosus astrologiae.
Myth and Ritual. Narrative and Symbolism in the Cult
of the
Danubian
Riders
In the polytheistic system of the Roman world, images
mainly fulfill an informative function. They function as a means
of communication, transmitting mythological and theological
knowledge. Divine images, statues, and ritual and votive reliefs
depict the canonic type of representation of the gods, with
attributes that make their role explicit, with accompanying
animals (that play certain roles in the mythical framework or
stand as symbols of divine powers). In the world of images
created by provincial artisans, the fix and stereotypical
iconographie
types sometimes transcend provincial frontiers,
being copied and multiplied in large series. Sometimes though,
the development of regional variations allows for the creation of
new
iconographie
patterns, whose deciphered symbolic codes
reflect secondary mythological traditions.
As an example I chose the iconography of a regional cult,
spread over an area limited to the region marked by the Balkans
and the Danube, the cult of the so-called
Danubian
Riders.
Taking into consideration the fact that monuments in this
category lack dedications and epigraphic formulae, one must
observe the primordial role of the image in the economy of the
cult. The icons on these reliefs are everything to this cult: they
depict the gods in their mythical actions, explain the ritual and
244 _
SORIN NEMET!
symbolically codify the soteriological messages. Unlike the
moderns, ancient people were familiar with the tenets of the cult,
were able to read and interpret the series of images, and could
decipher the symbolic series that today seem obscure and
unintelligible.
Precautions
None of the antique literary sources speak of the gods
known today under the conventional name of
Danubian
Riders.
The older literature identified them with the gods of Samotrake,
the Cabirii, and an entire mythological tradition was attached to
them. It was in the spirit of that
religionsgeschichtliche Schule
of
philological extraction that also produced the Cumontian theory
of the Persian origin of Mithraism, reading the icons of the
Roman cult in strict comparison to the description of avestic
Mithras' profile. The symbolic-allegoric reading of the tauroctony
scene, as it was interpreted by F. Cumont, is out-of-date. An
astrological reading of the tauroctony, the key-scene of Roman
Mithraism, prevails among present-day interpretations. One
must thus have in mind the following precaution: in the case of
antique cults, finding literary support for the iconographical
field is not an imperative. The images must be analyzed in their
own right, positively reconstituting the myth and the ritual
(through the so-called heuristic procedure: iconography to story
to doctrine and belief). The case of Mithraism shows that a single
lecture is not possible, that an image is open to several
interpretations. Even if Cumont's extraordinary erudition
accredited for a while the symbolic-allegoric reading, recent
interpretations open new ways of interpretation, such as the
astrological reading or the analysis of symbols in the context of
the Greek and Roman world.
ABSTRACT
_ 245
Technical
Issues
Some authors accept while others reject D. Tudor's
typology and chronology, and implicitly the thesis regarding the
Dacian
origin of the cult. A tentative typology, using as criteria
for analysis the shape of the monuments, the organizing of space
and positioning of scenes, in connection to the primary material
in which the reliefs were carved, included three-registers stone
reliefs in type B2a
—
rectangular stone stelae with the field
divided into three registers. The numerous plaques belonging to
this type found in the cities of
Dacia
suggest that the pattern was
created by local workshops. The partitioning of the field in three
registers is an artistic innovation of workshops in the Trajanic
province, as E. Will observed and as Mithraic reliefs indicate.
Out of all
18
Mithraic monuments divided in three registers,
14
come from
Dacia
(six from Apulum, five from Ulpia Traiana
Sarmizegetusa, and three from southern
Dacia).
The distribution
of Mithraic stelae and three-register reliefs depicting the
Danubian
Riders indicates the existence of workshops responsible for the
creation and diffusion of this type in
Dacia:
Apulum, Ulpia
Traiana Sarmizegetusa, Potaissa, and maybe Tibiscum (in the
case that reliefs depicting the
Danubian
Riders found there were
not created in Sarmizegetusa as well). An isolated group is to be
found in
Dalmaţia
(Salona
and Aequum); few monuments
related to this cult have been discovered in this latter province.
The fact that these monuments belong to type B2a and their
stylistic details indicate that were produced in
Dacian
workshops.
1
believe, therefore, that three-register reliefs, no matter if
they contain one or two riders (class A and
В
according to D.
Tudor) were produced during the same period and represent a
regional, complex, and evolved variant for the iconography of
this cult, with scenes and symbols grouped in three registers and
adopting a pseudo-narrative scheme. Stone craft sculpture
246_
SORIN
NÉMETI
allows for variations of the same given theme. Thus, despite the
fact that rectangular reliefs with three registers belong to type
B2a, according to the symbols and scenes contained by each
register and their combination, one can establish four distinct
variants. If the accent is placed on the stylistic details, one can
note that each item is in fact a unique product.
The Iconography of Myth and Ritual
Establishing the
iconographie type
(B2a, rectangular
stone stelae with three registers) and its variants (I through IV,
with intermediate sub-variants) allows for an analysis of the
scenes contained in the canonic type that circulated in the
province of
Dacia.
One can thus identify scenes making reference
to mythical episodes, others that describe ritual procedures and a
complex of cult symbols that accompany the respective scenes.
Aspects of the Myth
The key scene is the one in the central register, just like
Mithras sacrificing the bull is the key scene in Mithraism.
Identifying the number of characters taking part in the myth is
more difficult due to the fundamental iconographical contradiction
between the two classes (A
-
variant
І, В
-
variants II-IV). Variant
I reliefs depict three main characters taking part in the action: the
rider, the goddess, and the character defeated by the rider,
placed under the hoofs of his horse. The visual field may also
include one or two companions of the rider, Nemesis and a
worshiper. The accepted theory holds that class A reliefs in D.
Tudor's typology (variant I) are inspired by the
iconographie
pattern of South-Danubian reliefs depicting the Thracian Rider.
On reliefs belonging to variants I-III, four (or five)
characters are directly involved in the mythical action: two
riders, the goddess and one (or two) characters defeated by the
ABSTRACT
247
riders. Iconographically, these
reliefs
are inspired by the cannon
of the „Dioscuri in the service of a goddess."
In conclusion, one faces iconographical adaptations of a
local myth that owes to the cannons circulating among craftsmen
of that era. But who were the main characters of this local myth?
Reliefs belonging to variants II-III contain in the upper
register what D. Tudor called „the anthropomorphic triad": a
central female bust flanked by two male busts (the gods are
wearing Phrygian caps). A hybrid relief in Tibiscum depicts a
single rider and the goddess in the central register, while the
„anthropomorphic triad" features in the upper one. The other
variant I reliefs have the „symbolic triad" in the upper register:
an oval object and a pot flanked by two approaching snakes. The
hybrid reliefs in Potaissa and Aequum depict two riders and a
goddess in the central register, and the „symbolic triad" instead
of the „anthropomorphic triad" in the upper register, leading to
the conclusion that the first is an allegorical depiction of the
latter: the pot or the oval object stands for the goddess and the
two snakes stand for the two riders. The presence of the
„anthropomorphic triad" on the relief from Tibiscum with one
rider and the identical significance of the two triads suggests the
fact that the main myth contained three main characters (two
riders and a goddess) and two (sometimes just one) defeated
characters, fallen under the hoofs of the horse(s).
One can decant the primary meaning of this obscure local
myth: two divine warriors defeat their enemies and are received
by a goddess that has their horses fed and awaits them behind a
mensa Delphica
with a fish placed on it. Other regional variants
(such as that on lead reliefs from
Pannonia)
depict extra details: a
large fish instead of the human character under the hoofs of a
rider's horse. According to the mythical-allegorical language of
the reliefs, one of the defeated characters is synonym to the fish.
Is it the same fish as that served on the goddess' tripod?
248
SORIN
NÉMETI
I will try to answer this legitimate question by analyzing
other scenes illustrating secondary mythical episodes. On reliefs
belonging to variants I-III, a fish is always shown on the
mensa
Delphica, but on those belonging to variant I, the
mensa Delphica
is
depicted in the lower register and on it there is always a ram's
head. A „fisherman" is nevertheless represented near the
mensa:
a seated character who catches a fish with a fishing rod. „The
fisherman" only features in the lower register of reliefs
belonging to variant I and on a hybrid relief. In most cases, the
mensa Deìphica
with a ram's head is depicted in the corner of the
relief, in front of the „fisherman", and only in two cases it is
depicted behind him and associated to other symbols. „The
fisherman" is a mark of
Dacian
workshops, since
9
out of the
11
reliefs that include him have been discovered in settlements in
Dacia. In
most cases the fisherman's head is uncovered, and only
rarely does he wear a Phrygian cap. The recurrence of this motif
on reliefs from
Dacia
(and its absence from other
iconographie
types of the
Danubian
Riders) indicates the fact that the mythical
scheme described by these reliefs privileges a secondary
mythical episode that explained something to the believers (yet
mysterious to modern researchers), related to the role of the fish
in this cult (as a sacrificial victim? as divine food?). One must
note that reliefs belonging to this variant do not include other
depictions of fish besides the scene of the „fisherman" where it is
represented or hinted at (through the fishing gesture). The fish
on the
mensa
Delphica always features on variant II-III reliefs and
in other
iconographie
types, indicating the fact that it had an
essential role in the cult. In my opinion, it is not ignored in reliefs
type I, but extra data is given: someone (one of the riders? and
acolyte? one of the defeated characters?) caught a fish that later
became the main food in the divine banquet.
The upper register in variant II depicts another scene
featuring the fish that might offer clues as to the identity of the
ABSTRACT
249
„fisherman". Here, two acolytes (wearing Phrygian caps) walk
towards the „anthropomorphic triad" either both holding fish, or
one holding fish and the other an altar. The reconstructed
succession of sequences in the myth illustrated by these images
would thus be: a secondary character catches a fish (the scene of
the „fisherman"), the sacrificial victim is presented to the divine
triad (the fish and the altar held by the acolytes) and the sacred
banquet is held (the fish placed on the
mensa Delphica
in front of
the goddess).
Criobolium and Occultatio
/
Ostentatio. The Ritual of the
Mysteries
The images on the reliefs also contain ritual scenes. The
inclusion of scenes in the two categories
—
mythical and ritual
—
is formal, knowing that the characters involved in performing
the ritual reproduce mythical actions, repeating the gestures of
the gods. Theoretically, the „fisherman" scene can be the
illustration of a preliminary ritual action, but this does not
exclude the possibility that it reproduces a mythical episode.
Two other
—
explicitly ritual
—
scenes populate the
lower registers of reliefs depicting
Danubian
Riders. One scene
that features exclusively in the lower registers of reliefs
belonging to variant I is that of „the preparation of the
criobolium." It is a scene that predates the sacrifice: a character
wearing a Phrygian cap extends his right hand towards an altar
and with his left pulls a ram by its horns towards the altar. In all
the cases where this character appears, there is a ram's head on
the
mensa
Delpliicn in the same register. The
mensa
Delphica with a
fish on it never features in front of the goddess on the central
register of these reliefs. Thus, the ram is the sacrificial victim and
his flesh is the offering food for the gods. Still, the presence of
the „fisherman" signals the existence of other traditions, and on
the lead reliefs that are iconographically more developed and
250_
SORIN
NÉMETI
already talk about the establishment of a tradition and of certain
rites, the two sacrifices are not mutually exclusive: the fish is
placed on the
mensa Delpliica
and behind the rider's horse hoofs
and the sacrifice of the ram is explicitly depicted in the lower
register (a tree, a hanging ram, a character wearing a ram-head
mask).
The scene called
occultano
/
ostentaţie,
the concealment
and revelation of the
mysts,
features in registers belonging to
variants I-IV. Two bearded men, wearing Phrygian caps, flank a
kneeling character that holds an animal skin in front of him
(identified by modern exegesis with the ram's skin). The
interpretation of the scene as an occultatio (the simulation of a
ritual, a liturgical death) and an ostentatio (the rebirth as a
spiritually regenerated initiate) was first formulated by M.
Abramić
and M. Rostovtseff, and accepted by D. Tudor. In fact, it
is the only scene explicitly referring to initiation, to the
„Danubian
mysteries" (goddess Nemesis, the guardian of
mysteries, is depicted besides, making the gesture of silencing,
with her finger raised in front of her lips). The mystagogues
cover the
myst
with the sacrificed animal's skin, simulating a
ritual death (occultatio). The ram's skin is then taken off and the
myst
is „revealed", reborn, to the assistance (ostentatio).
In conclusion, the three-register reliefs depict a scene that
belongs to the public ritual of this cult
—
the sacrifice of the ram
(criobolium) and one that is part of the secret ritual of the
initiation of the
mysts
—
the occul
ta tio
/os
ten
ta tio
scene.
Lead Reliefs
In order to examine sacrificial and food rites involved in
the cult of the
Danubian
Riders, I have selected two developed
variants of such reliefs: three-register stone reliefs and lead
plates with two, three, or four registers (variants A, B, and
F
according to R. F. Ertl's typology). This selection envisaged cases
ABSTRACT
_ 251
where scenes and symbols were associated on a single
monument. I did not take into consideration here the method of
globally analyzing symbols featuring independently in all
iconographie
variants since this method allows for the arbitrary
association of symbols taken out of their context.
On group A lead reliefs, the fish is only depicted on the
mensa Delphica,
in the lower register. The symbolic grouping of
tripod and fish is in such cases associated to the ram sacrifice
scene (criobolium) (variants A5 and AT). One can also note a tree
in the leftmost part of the relief; a four-legged animal hangs by
its branches and is being skinned by a male character. The
animal is most likely a ram, as one can identify on variant
В
lead
reliefs, where in this scene, a man wearing a ram mask or even
the head of the sacrificed animal are depicted.
Variant A8 reliefs depict in the lower register the tripod
with fish and in the central register the scene of the criobolium
sacrifice (tree, suspended animal, human character). A banquet
scene also features besides that of the sacrifice (an iconographical
pastiche of the Mithraic banquet, where Mithras and Sol eat the
meat of the sacrificed bull). Three characters are depicted on
reliefs dedicated to the
Danubian
Riders: in the center, the
goddess flanked by the two riders, in front a tripod with an
object placed on it (interpreted by most researchers as a fish).
On four-register reliefs belonging to variants F2-F3, the
tripod with fish is depicted in the lower register, and the third
register contains the scene of the divine banquet and, to its left,
the scene of the criobolium sacrifice. The same pattern is repeated
on lead reliefs belonging to variants B1-B3, the most numerous
group. These two variants,
В
and F, are the only cases when a
large fish is depicted in the main register bellow the horses'
hoofs, instead of the fallen human. As such, the fish is depicted
in three cases; in the second register, the equivalent of the person
fallen under the horse's hoofs, in the third register as main food
252_
SORIN
NÉMETI
during the divine banquet, and in the fourth register, as essential
symbol of the cult (fish on tripod).
If one attempts to apply the read reading key (as in the
case of three-register stone reliefs) to lead reliefs, it becomes
apparent that both scenes depicting the criobolium and the divine
banquet belong to the ritual dimension, with already mentioned
precaution that the characters involved in the rites only
reproduce mythical gestures and actions. The presence of the
fish in the second register, oversized and symbol of the defeated
character fallen under the horse's hoofs, is the only direct
indication on the mythology of the
Danubian
Riders.
Conclusion. The Language of Instruction
Three-register stone reliefs and lead plates reveal
themselves as evolved forms of this cult's iconography, narrating
mythical episodes in symbolic scenes and describing ritual acts.
In the mythical register must one place the rider's victory over
the fallen enemy, him being presented in front of the goddess,
and the „fisherman" scene, while the occultatio
/
ostentatio scene
and the sacrifice of the ram must be placed in the ritual register.
These complex icons are pseudo-narrative because they resume,
through diachronically placed key scenes, essential data
—
both
mythical and ritual
—
of the cult. They differ from Mithraic
reliefs (that show the chronological development of Mithras'
gest
in successive, orderly scenes) through the fact that they depict
exponential moments selected from the mythical and ritual
registers. They nevertheless preserve the narrative intention and
the succession of episodes can be thus reconstructed:
1)
a fish is
caught (the „fisherman's" scene),
2)
the fish is presented to the
divine triad (the scene with the acolytes holding the fish and the
altar),
3)
the rider(s)'s victory and them in front of the goddess,
4)
the place where the sacred banquet takes place (the fish on the
mensa Delphica
in front of the goddess). Three-registers reliefs
ABSTRACT
253
contain only two ritual scenes, others being illustrated in other
iconographie
variants, and one can reconstruct several sequences
of the public and secret ritual.
Initiation and Symbols
Aniconic Attisfrom
llişua
A major impediment in analyzing the ancient religions
resides in the existence of some disparate and unequal sources.
The mysteries cults were a phenomenon that F. Cumont
considered peculiar to the Late Antiquity, a period when these
„new religions" grew in importance against the background of
the believer drifting away from the traditional cults, regarded as
too „cold", scarred by excessive pragmatism and rigid
contractualism. The mystery cults, with their exotic ceremonies,
of Oriental origin, bring a new dimension, a soteriological one,
and express preoccupation for the afterlife. W. Burkert amended
this scenario, emphasizing the fact that some mystery cults are
archaic (the Eleusinian Mysteries, Dyonisius' mysteries), while
others acquire a mystery aspect only after their Hellenization
(Mithraism, Isianism). F. Cumont, by focusing on literary sources
comprising the philosophical criticism of the mythological
tradition and describing mystery rituals, seized their soteriological
and esoteric dimension as being essential. W. Burkert, benefiting
from the enormous amount of epigraphic and sculptural
documents introduced in the scientific circuit during the
twentieth century, remarked that these mystery cults were not
spiritualized and not concerned with the afterlife, but with
earthly salvation and success in every day life; the presence of
votive practices, the old contract with the deity, a factor of man's
becoming „cold" and drifting away from the divinity, was
identified as probable cause. In other words, the majority of the
preserved artifacts which speak to us about the existence of these
254
SORIN
NÉMETI
mysteries' religions in the Roman Empire are the result of this
contract: ex-votos, altars, statues, or votive reliefs.
Very few epigraphic and sculptural documents from the
province
Dacia,
connected to the Mysteries' cults (Dyonisos,
Mithras,
Isis, Cybele
and Attis), allow us to see beyond their
main destination, i.e. the contract with the deity.
As for the Phrygian
cult in Dacia,
preserved sources
speak almost exclusively about the votive, contractual dimension.
Four altars from Apulum, two from Drobeta, and one from
Romula are dedicated to Matri Deum Magnae. Other statues
from other settlements are known to represent the goddess
(some with uncertain interpretations
-
Romula, Ulpia Traiana
Sarmisegetuza,
Gherla, Cioroiu Nou).
There is no votive
dedication to Attis.
The inscription from Apulum which attests a patronns
coiłegiorwn fabnim
et dendrophororum
from
Colonia
Aurelia
Apulense,
С.
Nummius Certus, eqites Romanns, is in fact the only
solid proof for the existence of the Phrygian mysteries in
Dacia.
Attis tristis, represented in his mourning attitude, with
his legs crossed, an elbow leaning against the pedum and an arm
supporting his head, appears frequently on funerary monuments.
The workshops in
Dacia
adopted and popularized this general
funerary symbol which appears on several categories of
monuments (stelae, aediculae, altars, pyramidal shaped pediments,
monument bases etc.). A recent repertoire includes
64
items
decorated with this image of Attis tristis in
Dacia.
It is hazardous
to establish a direct connection between the presence of the
image of Attis tristis on a funerary monument and the
identification of the one for whom the monument was built as an
initiate in the Pessinuntine mysteries. The model was employed
by provincial artisans as a symbol of the sadness and grief
caused by death, maybe also a hint to some form of rebirth in the
world after (which did not imply that the defunct people whose
ABSTRACT
255
monuments
are decorated with this image were initiates, only
that they were acquainted with the soteriological propositions of
the Phrygian cult).
A monument recently discovered on the territory of the
Uriu village, in the area of the necropolis belonging to the
settlement of
Ilişua,
alludes to another dimension of Attis' cult. A
peculiar combination of symbols is depicted in relief on its
frame: a bull's head can be seen in the lower part. A pine tree
with two rows of branches springs from the bull's horns and a
pine cone stands against the sky above the branches, so that the
represented tree must be identified with a pine tree. One has to
analyze the symbolic group together, in this case, the pine tree
and the bull's head. As identified analogies indicate however,
the main character in this symbolical group is not the bull's head,
but the pine tree. It is a symbolical, vegetal interpretation of the
Phrygian god Attis, identified with and symbolized by this tree
in myth and the ritual.
The pine tree is one of the main symbols employed in the
cult of Cybele and Attis, present in their myth, ceremonies, and
iconography. The ship which brought the Great Mother in Rome
in
204
B.C. was made of pine wood, and the legend has it that
Attis died under a pine tree. But this tree is firstly the symbol of
Attis himself: forever green, it becomes an emblem of
immortality, symbol of the eternal life. March celebrations show
that Attis was explicitly identified with the pine tree (Arbor
intrat,
March, 22nd): a pine tree which represents Attis' body is
cut and taken by the dendrophori to the temple, where, adorned
with ribbons and violet coronets, it is displayed to the believers
for worship.
That fact that the ancients were acquainted with this
identification is proven by both texts (Arnobius, Firmicus
Maternus, and
Ovidius)
and iconography. At times, Attis
becomes one with the pine tree, as on the taurobolic altar from
256_
SORIN
NÉMETI
Périgueux
where the tree seems to stem out of Attis' head and
bonnet or on the bronze plate from
Bavai
where the god's head is
placed on a pine tree cone representing his body.
There is yet another case, where anthropomorphism is
out of the question, namely „the aniconic Attis" where he
completely identifies with the pine tree in such a manner that the
god is no longer shown but by means of this tree. For instance,
the ceramic medallion from Amay (Belgium) where, in the
centre, one sees a pine tree surrounded by symbols of the Frigian
cult (bonnet, Pan's flute, pedum, and others) or the funerary
stella
from Skoplje which displays a „trophy-tree" (Cybele's
symbol) framed by two pine trees (Attis' symbols).
A stella
from
Brescia anthropomorphously reproduces the same pattern, with
Cybele framed by the two Attis, providing the key for the
interpretation of the symbolic schema from the
stella in
Skoplje.
The adorned Attis pine tree, placed between a ram and a bull,
also appears on the back side of L. Cornelius Scipio Orfitus' altar
from Villa
Albani.
Thus, on the altar from
Ilişua,
the intention to define the
identity of the tree which arises from the bull's head is obvious:
the pine cone is carved above the first two branches. Attis,
symbolized by the tree, is here directly associated with the bull's
head, just as a bull appears on the altar from
Périguex
beside
Attis' bust and the pine tree or as the pine tree adorned as in
Arbor
intrat
flanked by the ram and the bull features on the back
side of Scipio Orfitus' altar. I thus believe that the pine tree
associated with the bull's head on the
Ilişua
altar is a
representation of the aniconic Attis, a symbolical construction
with a soteriological message: the dedicator or the defunct will
be reborn like the Attis pine tree because he has received the
taurobolium, that is, he is tauroboliatus.
ABSTRACT
257
The Isiac Child
in Orobeta
If in the case of the altar in
Ilişua,
depicting Attis
aniconically, one can identify a transparent allusion to initiation,
the case of the marble sculpture of a child, discovered at Drobeta,
contains an explicit reference to initiation: the child's coiffure
qualifies him as an initiate in the Alexandrine mysteries of Isida.
The monument is the head of a real-size ronde-bosse
sculpture made of
Paros
marble. It was part of the old Bolliac
collection and was discovered in Turnu
Severin
(Drobeta). The
head once belonged to a real-size sculpture depicting a 4-5-year
old child.
As
Gabriella Bordenache
correctly noted, the special
coiffure (shaven head and two hair extensions falling from the
back of the skull down to the neck) holds religious significance.
Children with such coiffures were consecrated to the cult of
Isis
by their family and the hair extensions imitated those worn by
the child Horus (Harpokrates) in Egyptian iconography. It was
usually a simple hair extensions, worn on one side of the head
(behind the right ear), but double extensions are depicted in
some cases, as on the monument from Drobeta.
Numerous such examples of Isiac child portraits are
known from the Roman Empire, both ronde-bosse sculptures
and reliefs (especially on funerary monuments). An older
catalogue recorded
33
portraits with such coiffure
(23
in Italy
and Gallia,
2
in Greece and Eastern Mediterranean, and
8
in
Egypt) dated between the 1st and the 4th century
A.D.
The portrait in Drobeta does not bear any resemblance to
child emperors and
caesars, nor
to teenagers depicted during the
third century (Elagabalus, Severus Alexander, Gordianus III,
Philippus II, Diadumenianus), thus it must remain anonymous
and lacking a narrower chronological frame.
258_
SORIN
NÉMETI
It is nevertheless important that it is part of a series of
good-quality child portraits showing children initiated in the cult
of Isida in the 3rd century, reproducing Horus' coiffure and their
hair cut and consecrated to the goddess' ritual. Rich parents
ordered such statues in times of anxiety, when oriental
soteriologies emerged, in order to openly state their belonging
(their child's and implicitly their families') to the Isiac cult. One
must note the difference between votive altars dedicated to
Alexandrine divinities (indicating a votive dimension of those
cults) and the sculptures under discussion that depict children
with Isiac coiffures and testify to the mysteries dimension of
those respective cults. There is also a significant difference between
the gesture of sculpting a portrait with Horus' hairdress, abruptly
stating Isiacus sum, and symbolic allusions present on Mithraic
monuments or the
Ilişua
altar containing the symbols of aniconic
Attis.
Instead of Conclusions
Historical writings can be divided into distinct varieties
according to the formation of their authors. I. Sevcenco
distinguished between the so-called vivid or butterfly historians
and technical or caterpillar historians. The first believe that a
complete history is impossible and should not be desired, that
facts themselves are not important, and that one must select facts
in order to identify the principles behind historical development.
The latter aim at discovering new facts and deem their
interpretation as of secondary importance. One can thus make a
distinction between deductionist, conceptualist, and model-
builder oriented butterfly historians and
positivist, inductionist,
narrativist caterpillar historians.
The present work belongs to the first category. It starts
from noting the supra-abundant epigraphic and sculptural
material that translates the religious experiences of provincial
ABSTRACT
259
inhabitants of
Dacia
and goes on to selected several examples,
deemed relevant for illustrating the means of communication
between the human and the divine world in ancient polytheism.
The envisaged material cannot be presented systematically or
exhaustively from the perspective of such communication means,
and complete history of the topic cannot be written because
modern historians can only gain mediated, indirect access to
such phenomena.
Sources facilitating such access can be divided in two
main categories: epigraphic and sculptural. Epigraphy and the
analysis of written ex-votos provide numerous data on how
believers approached the divine world in the context of votive
practices, on the answers granted by representatives of the
divine world in this process of bidirectional communication. The
main obstacle that modern historians face in their task relies in
the stereotypical character of votive dedications and the discursive
parsimony of the religious gesture's subjects. For this reason, the
present selection favored relevant cases, chosen from the large
mass of preserved sources. The general picture thus obtained
was completed and detailed with the aid of iconographical
sources, with artistic representations bearing religious functions.
In the filed of knowledge on the gods, beyond the standardized
canon of votive epigraphy,
iconographie
compositions also
reveal encoded symbolical discourses. In this case, the main
obstacle refers to the fact that we are not always in possession of
the reading keys that would facilitate decoding such symbolic
messages and the language of the images. One can reach correct
readings of such messages only through accessing background
mythological and theological knowledge on the gods of ancient
polytheism, preserved by documents that have survived the
shipwreck of antique literature. The authors of such documents
are our direct witnesses, eloquent and credible speakers that
know antique reality much better than any of us.
260_
SORIN
NÉMETI
One can eventually decipher epigraphic and
iconographie
language and the few examples selected here aimed at
demonstrating this working hypothesis of the present research:
the analysis of votive epigraphic formularies, the adoration of
anonymous gods, the invoking of divine-demonic figures of
magic, the analysis of soteriological contents of
astrologie
symbolism in Mithraism, the analysis of the myth and ritual of
the
Danubian
Riders starting from the figurative discourse of
reliefs, and the symbolic identification of initiates in Metroac and
Isiac mysteries. The present analysis aimed at illustrating,
through several examples, the communication established with
the divinity in the religious life in Roman
Dacia,
under its two
aspects. Written communication was illustrated through the
analysis of Latin and Greek inscriptions contained by ex-votos
dedicated to anonymous gods and of magical inscriptions, while
visual communication was illustrated through the analysis of
astral iconography on Mithraic reliefs, narrative scenes of reliefs
depicting the
Danubian
Riders, and symbolism of initiation.
Naturally, there are numerous relevant examples, as well as new
methods of analysis and witty observations that will identify
other cases of human-divine communication in
Dacia, some
maybe even more relevant than those presented here. History is
nevertheless written on the basis of sources and methods
available at a certain time; there is longer a single, but multiple
histories, and we are no longer dominated by founding meta-
narrations, nor constrained by rigid and
infaillible
methods of
historical investigation. I chose instead the positivist-narrativist
model of a complete history of religious communication, these
non-systematic, personal, partial histories, simple thoughts of a
butterfly historian.
(translated by Ana Maria
Gruia) |
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| id | DE-604.BV041115678 |
| illustrated | Illustrated |
| indexdate | 2024-10-06T14:01:57Z |
| institution | BVB |
| isbn | 9789737038296 |
| language | Romanian |
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| spelling | Nemeti, Sorin 1973- Verfasser (DE-588)1036622347 aut Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană Sorin Nemeti Iaşi Ed. Univ. "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" 2012 268 S. Ill. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Antiqua et mediaevalia, judaica et orientalia Zsfassung in engl. Sprache u.d.T.: Pagan dialogues: votive formulae and figurative language in Roman Dacia Geschichte gnd rswk-swf Götter (DE-588)4021469-2 gnd rswk-swf Weihinschrift (DE-588)4189429-7 gnd rswk-swf Religion (DE-588)4049396-9 gnd rswk-swf Dakien (DE-588)4070197-9 gnd rswk-swf Dakien als Provinz [Barrington p. 21] (DE-2581)TH000004287 gbd Dakien (DE-588)4070197-9 g Religion (DE-588)4049396-9 s Götter (DE-588)4021469-2 s Weihinschrift (DE-588)4189429-7 s Geschichte z DE-604 Digitalisierung BSB Muenchen 2 application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=026091778&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis Digitalisierung BSB Muenchen 2 application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=026091778&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Abstract |
| spellingShingle | Nemeti, Sorin 1973- Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană Götter (DE-588)4021469-2 gnd Weihinschrift (DE-588)4189429-7 gnd Religion (DE-588)4049396-9 gnd |
| subject_GND | (DE-588)4021469-2 (DE-588)4189429-7 (DE-588)4049396-9 (DE-588)4070197-9 |
| title | Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană |
| title_auth | Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană |
| title_exact_search | Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană |
| title_full | Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană Sorin Nemeti |
| title_fullStr | Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană Sorin Nemeti |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dialoguri păgâne formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană Sorin Nemeti |
| title_short | Dialoguri păgâne |
| title_sort | dialoguri pagane formule votive si limbaj figurat in dacia romana |
| title_sub | formule votive şi limbaj figurat în Dacia romană |
| topic | Götter (DE-588)4021469-2 gnd Weihinschrift (DE-588)4189429-7 gnd Religion (DE-588)4049396-9 gnd |
| topic_facet | Götter Weihinschrift Religion Dakien |
| url | http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=026091778&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=026091778&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nemetisorin dialoguripaganeformulevotivesilimbajfiguratindaciaromana |