Fitz Jenő (szerk.): Religions and Cults in Pannonia. Exhibiton an Székesfehérvár, Csók István Gallery 15 May - 30 September 1996 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: A. sorozat 33. (1998)

Nemesis The devotees of Nemesis, the goddess of Fate, came mainly from the soldiers and gladiators. When excavating all Pannonian amphitheatres - those of Carnuntum, Scarbantia, Aquincum - sanctuaries of Nemesis were uncovered. In the civil town of Aquincum a Nemesis sanctuary was built to the exit of the amphitheatre towards the gladiator barracks at a later date. The collapsed sanctuary preserved the inventory of the cult, twelve altar stones, fragments of statues and building inscriptions. The earliest date mentions a festivity on August 20, 162, when the sanctuary was consecrated on the birthday of the goddess. Of two further inscriptions one mentions a restoring of the sanctuary on April 24, 214, the other on April 24, 259; this feast the goddess shared with Fortuna. On the first occasion the festivities took place in the presence of Emperor Caracalla and the dowager empress, on the second one in that of Emperor Regalianus. The cult of the Nutrices The Latin word nutrix means a wet nurse. The cult of mother- and nurse-goddesses can be found, like in the religious life of the Celts of the West, also in Pannónia. Frequent relics of it are the devotional objects made of pottery and lead, found on several places. The cult of these goddesses had a special form in Poetovio, most of the relics came from here. The cult popular in all strata of the civic society had several sanctuaries here. On the representations of the votive reliefs the nursing goddess occurs accompanied by several female figures. On the inscriptions the parents make vows for their children, they are directed to several goddesses, as in the cult of the Western Celtic mother goddesses, the Maires. The Nymphs The most beautiful relics of the cult of the Nymphs in Southern Pannónia came from the bathing resort Aquae Iasae (Varazdinske Toplice), which was famous already in Antiquity. The names on the inscriptions give evidence that it were the well-to-do citizens of the province, the leaders of the state government who underwent a treatment at the mineral waters of the small town.The Nymphs were represented, similarly to the Three Graces, usually keeping tightly together. The young girls wear long mantles coming down from the girdle in folds or are represented as nudes, holding shells in their laps.The Nymphs are nature deities, bright, young women bringing blessing and fertility. They dwelt in groves, trees and waters and cured with the divine force of thermal and mineral springs. The forum of Aquincum was decorated with the figures of the Nymphae perennes, i.e. the deities of ever bubbling springs and rivers. Deities of the roads Along the Amber Road of high importance, connecting the Adria with the Danube, altar stones of different gods and goddesses of the roads came to light. Altars of the gods of travelling - Savaria (Szombathely, Fő-tér) Two big limestone altars next to each other were found during a rescue excavation in the southern part of the inner city of Savaria surrounded with walls in October 1992. The disturbings of the modern times, which cross one another, made the circumstances of discovery unobservable. The stones were surely dug into the bank of the earthwork of the Roman city wall. The altar pieces might get here from a near shrine. This is supported also by the fact that beside the stones a bronze tintinnabulum used for ceremonies was found, too. From the cults related to the roads and travelling the worship of Triviae and Qudriviae were wide-spread in Pannónia. A special type of the Silvanus cult, Silvanus viator defending the travellers being out, was spread in the northern and western parts of the province. Mainly personal belongings as rings and bulls are the relics of viator Silvanus' cult. This religious thinking appeares very rarely in stone inscriptions. Among them the inscription erected to Semitatrix, the god of the path is remarkable. It was found also in Savaria but, sorry, got lost {CIL III 4147. RIU 38). The dedication of the two altar pieces from Fő-tér has been unknown in the literature of history of religion. As the cultic bell and the two inscriptions came to the light together it may be supposed that the two altar pieces not only belonged to the same shrine and connected with each other but the Dii Itinerarii in the first inscription can be identified with Itunus and Ituna, the man-woman god-pair in the second inscription. So the two inscriptions are precious relics of the mostly local, native religious thinkings relating to the roads and travelling. L.B.-O.S. 125