Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 4.-5. 1963-1964 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1965)

Közlemények – Mitteilungen - Fitz Jenő: A hasta in Gorsium. IV–V, 1963–64. p. 222–224.

not only illustrate the fact that the boundaries of the civitates were not identical with the ethnical ones of necessity,

26 they also convince us of the tendency of the Roman government to dismember the larger tribal territories and to use the organisation of municipia in order to restrict the civitates, preserving their ethnical character, as much as possible. Are we entitled to suppose that the Eraviscans, settled in a large territory, would have been left in the framework of a single extensive civitas on this much expoised stretch of the Danube? Also epigraphical and archaeological data may be enumerated in favour of an eventual division of the Eraviscan territory. Inscriptions mentioning the members of the or do decurionum of Aquincum

21 do not extend farther to the south than the line Veréb—Váí—

Êrd either in the second or in the third century.

28 .Nor is any inscription naming the civitas Eraviscorum known to the south of this line. The archaeological material, allowing an attribution to the Eraviscans, i. e. tombstones with figures in native attire and with vehicles, wagon burials etc., may be divided into two large groups. The northern group extends to Csákvár in the west, and to the Lovasberény—Velence—Ercsi line in the south; the southern group is aggregated on both banks of the Sárvíz. At two places in the zone between the two groups, at Pátka and Felsőcikola, we know of tumuli, having a dividing role, as it were; they are derived from an ethnically foreign element,

29 autochtonous in Western Pannónia, settled here at the turn of the first and the second centuries. At pressent we cannot do more than to give expression to these doubts. Should they be justified in time, 'the division of the territory inhabited by Eraviscans ought to be attributed to Hadrian who, possibly during his stay in Pannónia, set the rule for the inner organisation of the province for a long time.

30 This is borne out not only by the reorganisation of the entire province, the raising of Aquincum to the rank of munioipium and the new definition (attributio) of the legal status of the civitas Eraviscorum but also by a decurio's inscription, uncovered at Tác during 1961. If the southern Eraviscan aera, including Tác, did not belong to the civitas, attributed to Aquincum, from the reign of Hadrian on, the mentioned decurio was a member of the ordo of the municipium established in the southern Eraviscan territory. The inscription runs as follows: P. Ael. Respectus / dec. тип. v. f. s.

./ et Ulp. Amasiae I coniugi. Aelia / Materio fil. / ann. X. h. s. e. parantes t. m. p. The tombstone belongs to the era of Hadrian doubtless, thus the mentioned municipium i 26 A. MOCSY: Pannónia. RE suppl. 9 (1962) p. 606. 27 G. ALFÖLDY: AntTan 6 (1959) pp. 31-22. 29. 28 On the altar CIL III 13365 (Sárszentmiklós—Örspuszta) the solution co[(onia)] is at least open to discussion. 29 J. FITZ: Zur Frage der kaiserzeitlichen Hügelgräber in Pannónia inferior. IKMK А/в (1958) 18 p. 30 A. MÓCSY: Pannónia. RE Suppl. 9 (1962) pp. 598-599. In Hadrian* s age the coloniae and municipia are forming a network all over Pannónia, although in a somewhat uneven distribution. The only exception is the mighty stretch of Pannónia inferior between Aquincum and Mursa, void of any data on urban settlements. Are we to suppose the in this area Romanization went forward at a slower pace than ought to be derived from this- age as well. In this case the municipium could be indentif iecl with the large Tác settlement only: not a single settlement of a size even approaching this one is known in the southern Eraviscan territory. (The surroundings of Sárszentmiklós, the significance of which is raised above discussion by several outstanding finds, female sepulchral statues, a hasta etc., could not be a settlement of considerable size according to our present knowledge.) At Gorsium the extension of the second century settlement, the juncture of important roads, the evidently begun Romanisation on account of an early military occupation, the Romanized elements settled here (beside the Ulp. Revocatus tombstone uncovered in 1962 we may mentien the early gravestones with mounted figures,

31 found in the surroundings) are all the proofs of the statement that if the southern Eraviscan area was organized as a municipium by Hadrian, this is to be identified with Gorsium. This series of thoughts, generated by our doubt as to the indentification of the Eraciscan tribal territory and the extension of the civitas, may be justified by further research ; in this case the possibility, mentioned in the last place, while investigating the origin of our hasta, i. e. its attribution to a duumvir as a token of authority, would gain more strength. In this case we might look for its proprietor in a second of third century duumvir of the supposed municipium Gorsium. Looking back to all the enumerated possibilities, probable or less probable, regarding the use of the hasta, we are unable to find adequate solution for this problem, owing to the insignificant circumstances of finding. As a matter of fact, wo may regard only two solutions as real ones: on the basis of the overwhelming majority of the known hastae we may find the most justificatton for its military character, this were contradicted, however, by the known circumstances of discovery. If the hasta is not the badge of a second or third century beneficiarius, we are bound to suppose that it must have been raised from a relatively large depth (2.5 to 3 m) to the level where it was found, during the construction of the villa. It is just those doubts which may be raised in this manner against its military use, may advocate the sacral destination of the hasta; this would be borne out by analogies and corroborated by the neighbourhood of the sanctuary and the identity of level. The example of the Sárszentmiklós hasta leaves no doubt that it may have meant some civil authority too; in the case of the Tác hasta, however, our present knowledge leaves but a slight probability to the view regarding it as the token of municipal judical autority. J. Fitz otherwhere, e. g. in the surroundings of Mogentiana, in Inner Pannónia? The conspicous lack of cities on such a large stretch might be a further momentum for our doubts. 31 Beside the fragment unearthed at Tác in 1962 we may mention the tombstone with a mounted figure from the middle of the first century, uncovered at Szabadbattyán (F. ROMER: AK [1866] p. 101; A. SZ. BURGER: Arch. Ert. 83 [1956] p. 193; the tombstone is, however, by no means derived from the ala-camp of Aquincum) and perhaps the gravestone of Iszkaszentgyörgy, related in style to the circle of the tombstone with mounted figures (J. FITZ: Arch. Ért. 84 [1957] p. 135 and note 25). 224