Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
190 D. PeTRUT-R. ZÄGREANU The majority of the funerary monuments discovered in Porolissum, one of the most important military centres of Dacia Porolissensis, consist of stelae.2 Unfortunately all of the grave memorials discussed below have been removed from their original context, either during Antiquity - a number of them were used to block one of the entrances of the auxiliary fort on Pomet hill (Tóth 1978) or in more recent times. The stelae from Porolissum have benefited throughout the years from the attention of scholars, the majority of these monuments being published in a series of articles (e.g. Daicoviciu 1940, 323-327) and catalogues. The first comprehensive work on this subject dates from 1975 and consists of a corpus of Roman sculptural monuments from the collection of the County Museum of History and Art in Zaläu (Gudea-Lucäcel 1975, 15-20). An overview of the funerary monuments of Porolissum can be found in the studies of L. Teposu-Marinescu (1982, 105, no. 12-13; 107, no. 19-20; 109, no. 27-28; 123, no. 86; 152— 153, no. 218-225) concerning the funerary monuments from Dacia Superior and Porolissensis, and of L. Bianchi (1985, 277-278, no. 180-189) regarding the funerary stelae of Roman Dacia. Both authors classify the stelae from Porolissum according to a general typology elaborated for either the entire province or for Dacia Superior and Porolissensis. The most recent overview on the subject (Crängus-Balaci 2008, 289-290) examines the activity of the stone carving workshop from Porolissum, but doesn’t attempt a deeper analysis or a classification of the monuments. The aim of the present paper is to present a comprehensive perspective on the stelae of Porolissum. In addition to a typological approach, the iconography and the epigraphy of the monuments will be analyzed, in the attempt of acquiring as far as possible a complete view on the customs of funerary commemoration in Porolissum, as reflected by these grave-memorials. Our investigation also intends to explore to what extent can the different ways of commemoration expressed by the monument, be tied to some form of identity, social and ethnic assumed by the deceased.3 Among the 42 monuments and fragments discussed in this paper, five have been until now unpublished (no. 22, 24, 32, 34 and 35). In order to obtain an extensive view on the subject of the funerary stelae from Porolissum, the entire sculpted record belonging to this category will be considered, including the most fragmentary pieces for which we have the certainty that they belonged to the type of monuments discussed here. The integration of the pieces which exhibit a sufficiently high degree of preservation, into a typological system will constitute the framework of our investigation. In the second part of the discussion, the iconographical elements exhibited by the monuments will be grouped according to the nature of the depictions and analysed separately. Such an approach is necessary since it can provide insight into the ways of figurái representation of the deceased, of the decorative elements employed as well as their significance with regard to funerary art and symbolism. 2 A larger study which encompasses the funerary monuments of Porolissum (D. Petrut, The Funerary Monuments of Porolissum), is due to appear in the volume dedicated to the results of the investigations undertaken between the years 2006 and 2009 in the necropolis of Porolissum. 3 The question is, do the displays of identity specific to grave memorials belong to the deceased, or are they determined entirely by the commemorator? The evidence shows that the construction of ante-mortem funerary monuments, i.e. grave memorials constructed during the lifetime, and under the supervision of the person to be commemorated, was common place in the Roman world (Saller-Shaw 1984 126; Hope 1997, 251). In the case of post-mortem commemoration, it has been noted, that for the civilian population the overwhelming majority of the commemorators belong to the nuclear family of the deceased, while in the case of the military, the commemorators are usually fellow soldiers (Saller-Shaw 1984,134; Hope 1997, 251). As a result we can say that the commemorators typically have a similar status and background as the deceased, thus their interference at least theoretically should not alter the social and ethnic picture.
