Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 32/2. (2012)
Articles
Apollo and Iuppiter Dolichenus in Roman Dacia 149 In order for a cult to be lively there must exist, besides a certain material organization, groups of believers and priests (Merlat 1960, 190-197). When it comes to the dolichenian cult the study of religious communities is more difficult because of the absence of literary or liturgical texts. The iconography of the god and different inscriptions offer us more information. The believers were grouped in colleges around the sanctuaries. The inscriptions from Aventin shed some light about the internal structure of a community. We have terms that refer to well defined functions, such as brothers, cultores, patroni, princeps huius loci, candidatus, pater candidatorum, lecticari dei, inaurator, scriba respectively notarius. He is the one who, at some point, becomes the main dignitary of the community from Aventin; the name notarius precedes that of pater candidatorum. In this dolichenian sanctuary a statue for Apollo was built (PI. 1/3), respectively the god is mentioned on two inscriptions with the epithet Conservator (Merlat 1960, 105, 107-108). From this sanctuary comes an important inscription (CCID 380; CIL 408=30759; ILS 4318): Exprae/cepto / I(ovis) o(ptimi) m(aximi) D(olicheni) /per / Acaci/um / notari/um / et / Olympi/um / patrem / Antonii Mariam pater et filius / simulacrum Apollinis statuerunt The inscription mentions the fact that the statue was built following the command of Dolichenus. Apollo’s statue was put on a spot chosen by Olympius pater, by the two Antoninii Mariani. Another inscription (CCID 381) recalls a certain Antonius Marinus as patronus of the cult of Dolichenus, who builds the statue for the god together with his son. The god is without clothes, does not have a beard, has long hair down to his neck, caught in a ribbon and in one hand holds his attribute, the lyre next to a tree. Its presence in the sanctuary from Rome must be tied to his solar character, but mostly with his ability to give oracles. By putting these aspects together we notice the enlargement of the dolichenian circle (Merlat 1960, 103). Accacius appears on other inscriptions coming from the dolichenian sanctuary from Aventin (CCID 373, 375, 376, 381) as M. Aur Accacius. On the first he is sacerdos and pater candidatorum, and here (as well as on CCID 381) as notarius. From these inscriptions we can rebuild the internal hierarchy regarding dolichenian communities. At Porta Latina the following inscription was found, probably deposited in the sanctuary on top of Aventin (CCID 383; CIL VI 413; ILS 4320): I(ovi) o(ptimo) s(ancto) p(raestantissimo) D(olicheno) / et Iunoni sanctae/ Herae, Castori(bus) / et Apollini conservato/ribus Thyrsus / pro salute patroni sui / et sua suorumque / iussu numinis eorum / aram d(edit) / salvis candidatis / huius loci / per C(aium) Fabium Germanum Ded(icantum) VI idus / [о]ct(obres) / Peregrino et / Aemiliano / co(n)s(ulibus) The goddess Hera appears here for the first time in dolichenian inscriptions. The two Castores and Apollo appear as conservatoribus gods, an epithet not unusual among those for Dolichenus either. The names Thyrsus suggest a Graeco-Oriental area of origin. Here we have a precise date: 10th October 244 AD, during the consulship of Peregrinus and Aemilianus. Apollo appears also on the dolichenian triangular plates found in the dolichenian treasure hoard discovered in the sanctuary from Mauer an der Url. It was assumed that the triangular plates were in groups of three, in order to form pyramids. In this way they would have imitated the image of the mountain that animated the divine strength of Baal from Doliche (Turcan 1998, 188). But these triangles do not appear in groups of three: for now there is known only one from the whole territory of Dacia, discovered at Potaissa, where the fragment from a triangular
