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)

AUTOCHTHONOUS CULTS BETWEEN EMONA AND POETOVIO M. §asel Kos The regions extending from the Karst hinterland of Aquileia and Tergeste to the hilly lowlands along the Dravus (Drava) River and the Pannonian Plain, beginning east of Poetovio (Ptuj), were extremely heterogeneous from various aspects, not only geographically. A traveller had to cross the partly mountainous and partly marshy ager of Nauportus (present-day Vrhnika, a Roman Republican period viens) (HORVÁT 1990), and Emona (modern Ljubljana), gloomily, but to some extent pertinently described by Tacitus' remark in the Annales (1.16 ff.)1,

that soldiers upon their discharge complained about being granted land in rough mountains or in marshes, land impossible to cultivate. Next came the mountains and high hills, divided by deep river valleys, of the ager of Celeia (Celje); to reach Pannonian Poetovio it was necessary to pass through Norican Celeia. The regions just described belonged administratively to three different units: Emona with its territory was part of Italy proper, from the reign of Augustus onwards being the extreme northeastern part of the X Italic region (later called Venetia and Histria). At least since Caesar's proconsulate in both Gauls and Illyricum, the Emona basin had been included in Cisalpine Gaul, which was important strategically in order to strengthen the defence of the so-called Illyro-Italian Gate near Postojna, through which Italy was directly and easily accessible from the Balkan peninsula (SASEL 1976, 71-90 = SASEL 1992,408-431 ; SASEL KOS 1995,227-244; FITZ 1993-95, I, 11-12; ROSSI 1981, 71-87). The town of Emona was founded as a colonia Iulia (it undoubtedly was partly a veteran colony) as early as the end of Octavian's campaigns in Illyricum after 33 ВС, or after Tiberius' Pannonian war, shortly after 9 ВС - hardly later (SASEL KOS 1995, 227-244). Ptolemaeus described Emona's geographic-administrative position ambiguously (Geogr. II 14.5): according to him, the town would have been situated between Italy and Noricum, while Pliny the Elder is the only source that mentioned it as belonging to Pannónia (N.h. Ill, 147). His data, however, should not necessarily be explained in an administrative sense, but rather geographically, since it cannot be denied that Emona always had close connections with the neighbouring Pannónia, as well as with Noricum (SASEL 1968, 540-578 = SASEL 1992, 559-579; SASEL 1989b, 169-174 = SASEL 1992, 707-714). Formerly, as a Tauriscan settlement, it may have belonged to the sphere of influence of the Norican kingdom, although, as is indicated by coin finds, the Taurisci may have endeavoured to gain independence (KOS 1977). To understand better the worship of autochthonous divinities in a given area it is necessary to know at least its basic geographic features and possibilities of communication, as well as its ethnic structure. The Pannonian town of Neviodunum, a Flavian municipium Latobicorum (present-day Drnovo near Krsko) could have rather easily been reached through the road station of Acervo (in the vicinity of Stari trg near Visnja Gora) - most probably thus named after the huge funerary mounds erected by the Hallstatt period settlers of the famous hill-fort of Sticna in its proximity - and Praetorium Latobicorum (Trebnje), the first important Pannonian road station and a station of the beneficiarii consularis. However, to arrive at Poetovio, a legionary fortress of the VIII Augusta and XIII Gemina, and after the departure of the legion colonia Ulpia Traiana, it was necessary to pass through the province of Noricum by way of the pass at Atrans (Trojane) and the city of Celeia, a Claudian municipium. It is thus evident that the main feature of the regions in question was their frontier, as well as transit, character. In terms of broad geographic context, the area was crossed by two major routes: the ancient Amber Road, leading from the Baltic regions through Carnuntum, Savaria, Poetovio, Celeia, Emona and Nauportus to Aquileia; and the route of the Argonauts which connected the Black Sea regions with Italy along the Danube, Sava, and Ljubljanica Rivers, passing by Sirmium, Siscia, Neviodunum, Emona, and Nauportus. Ethnically, too, the area was far from uniform. The Nauportus and Emona basin were settled by the Taurisci (Strabo, VII. 5.2 С 314), Celeia had always been part of the Norican kingdom, and was almost certainly inhabited by the Taurisci, while the Neviodunum area was settled by the Latobici, and the Poetovio territory perhaps by the Serretes and Sirapilli, mentioned by Pliny as being settled along the river Dravus (Drava), but not located more precisely (N.h. Ill 147). The La Tène period Mokronog culture is characteristic for all the mentioned regions (BOZIC 1987, 855-897), thus it may be assumed that the Taurisci might have possibly been a collective term for the populations that inhabited the southern Norican regions, of which the Latobici, and perhaps the Serretes and Sirapilli are known by their individual names. The name of the pre-Celtic inhabitants is not attested in the Greek and Latin literary sources, although later authors, notably Cassius Dio, Appián, and others do indeed use the general name of Illyrians for them. This was due solely to the administrative usage, since Illyricum was the official name of the later provinces of Pannónia and Dalmatia until the reign of Vespasian (SASEL 1989a, 57-73 = 1992, 690-706; TÓTH 1980, 80-88; also FITZ 1993-95,1, 126). Illyrian customs posts (portorium publici Illyrici), too, extended from Raetia to the Black Sea coast (DE LAET 1949). Such a 1 This remark almost certainly refers to the Emona ager, see J. SASEL 1959, 118. 17