K. Palágyi Sylvia szerk.: Balácai Közlemények 2005/9. (Veszprém, 2005)
GÁBOR, OLIVÉR: Suburbanum Sopianarum and Roman Villas around Sopianae
concentration of the smaller fundi around Savaria was already at an advanced stage, it was just beginning around Aquincum. So, according to him, the thesis of the 3 rd century land concentration is only true with the formation of the imperial estates that may mostly have been the results of political squaring accounts and confiscations. He brings up two further cases besides the former location name, Caesaria. 29 It was in the 4 th century when Sopianae and its surroundings were flourishing. The town became a provincial seat /this is also proved by the surviving, early Christian finds besides Ammianus Marcellinus 30 that must have had an effect on its vicinity, too. The region could join in the crops import from Pannónia to Italy in 383 31 , and at the end of the century, governor Valerius Dalmatius also settled down here. 32 The second most important settlement of nowadays Baranya, Lugio also flourished at this time: its counter fortress (contra Florentiam) was built. It is thus apparent that apart from the general, Pannonian tendencies, the flourishing and appreciation of the 4 th century Sopianae had its effect on the surrounding villas, as well. According to the location of the villas in the map, we can state that they congest around Sopianae. This, at first sight, is in accordance to the thesis that the number of archaeological finds is in inverse ratio to the distance from the museum. At the same time, we must not forget that the centre of Pécs was built over the ancient Sopianae, which means that the sites congesting around the city also mark the contemporary, wider vicinity of Sopianae, where we can certainly expect settlement concentration in Roman times. The spread of the villas, on the other hand, is also in accordance with the whole of Roman sites drawn up by F. Fülep. Also, three of the roads in the network provided by him is marked by the locations of the villas. Along the one running towards the Danube, there are the villas in Berkesd (10), Szilágy (21, 22), Szebény (20) and Somberek (19); along the road to Aquincum, there were the villas of Vasas (27), Hosszúhetény (2), Komló (3, 4) and Magyaregregy (13) while along the road to Savaria there are those of Kővágószőlős (5, 12), Pellérd (15), Bakonya (8) and Almamellék (7). Two of the „newer" villas, Egerág (28) and Rádfalva (29), that are probably connected to a southern road of secondary significance. The late 4 th century reconstruction and fortification of the villas can also be proved which was needed because of the hinterland defence system gradually formed from the late 3 rd century on one hand and of the immigration of the foederati on the other. The early 5 th century history of the villas, immediately before the Hunnish conquest, is dubious. The population in the villa of Babarc may have still been present, for here the late Roman, early 5 th century pottery can still be found. 33 Without the proofs of the excavations, there are just faint traces of the early 5 th century usage of the villa in Bakonya, namely the destroyed grave, that can be connected to the early 5 th century by some burnt small bronze coins, of a supposedly high-bom barbarian between two buildings of the villa. The gold coin, that was minted by Theodosius I between 379 and 395, from Beremend, can also be connected to a nearby villa (Beremend-Idamajor). On the basis of the coin, the villa may have been inhabited around 400. The mausoleum of the villa in Kővágószőlős may also have been intact at the beginning of the 5 th century. 34
