Budapest Régiségei 34. (2001)

STUDIEN = TANULMÁNYOK - Kocsis László: A recent stone statue fragment from the territory of the 2nd-3nd century legionary fortress of Aquincum 157-162

that time. A fragment of the dissembled grave monument, the head was found at this point during the excavation of the road. c) According to the third possibility the fragment could be identified as a monument of the emperor cult. The relative closeness of the principia and the neighbouring tribunus laticlavus palace may support this idea as the original site of the statue. The stylistic analysis of the statue fragment delineated a relatively well defined chronological period for the creation of the statue. It is the late Severus period and the 2

nd third of the 3

rd century. The short military style hair combed back, the almond-shaped eyes, the depiction of the iris and the pupil together with the shape of the eyelids became dominant in stone statues in this period. Considering the possibilities, we may identify a portrait of one of the three young and teenager emperors in the head fragment. 1. Az 1981 es év régészeti kutatásai. (Excavations of the Year 1981). RégFüz 35. 1982. 30-38. 2. Special thanks to Krisztina Szirmai to call my attantion to this artefact. 3. RégFüz 35. 1982. 69.3. 31. 4. SZIRMAI 1999. 54., Kat. Nr. 34. 5. ERDÉLYI 1974. 57. 6. SCHOBER 1927. 149..171/338 Abb. 7. CSIR III. 3. 53., 39/68. 8. SCHOBER 1927. 145-146., 166/331 Abb; CSIR II. 2. 11., 2/107. Taf., 15., 6/114. Taf. 9. ERDÉLYI 1974. 101. 10. KLEMENC-KOLáEK-PETRU 1982. 14. AUSSTELLUNG 1983 = Spätantikes und frühes Christentum. Ausstellung im Liebieghaus Museum alter Plastik. Frankfurt am Main, 1983-84. ERDÉLYI 1974 = ERDÉLYI G.: A római kőfargás és kőszobrászat Magyarországon. Bp. 1974. KLEMENC-KOLSEK-PETRU 1982 = KLEMENC, J. KOLSEK, V. - PETRU: Anticne grobnice v Sempetru. Katalogi in monografíe 9. Ljubljana, 1972. The first, less probable is Septimus Alexander who was deified in 238 after his violent death, but on the statuettes he is bearded.

14 The most probable is the portrait of emperor Gordianus III, who died after a few days of ruling in 244 and was soon deified.

15 (Fig. 7-8) The third, less probable possibility is Philippus Minor who died a violent death in 249 after a few years spent on the throne. In his case the hair style is always asymmetrical on the survived portraits. On the left, the hair is combed over the forehead.

16 On our statue the hair is nearly totally symmetrical on the forehead. As we can see there are several possibilities for the interpretation of the statue head. Both a grave monument and a statue of the emperor cult could be accepted. We do not have enough information as yet to make an ultimate choice between either of the solutions. 11. SCHOBER 1927. 194-195., 203 Abb. 12. In collection of Budapest Historical Museum (BTM) we can find a marble had inv. No: BTM 69.1.3 and a limestone had inv. No.: BTM 99.1.2, both from Aquincum. In the collection of the Hungarian National Museum a limestone had inv. No.: MNM 18.1904.1 and a marble had inv. No.:MNM 62.116.1. from Intercisa. 13. RégFüz 35. 1982. 69/3, 69/17. 14. AUSSTELLUNG 1983. Alexander Severus (222-235) Paris, Louvre 53., 17. Abb. 15. WEGNER 1979. 13,p., Taf.: 1-9. 16. WEGNER 1979. 42., Taf.: 17-20. SCHOBER 1927 = SCHOBER, A.: Die römische Grabsteine von Noricum und Pannonién. SÖAI 10. (1923) SZIRMAI 1999 = Kaiserzeitliche Porträts in Aquincum. Katalog der Ausstellung 6. Internationales Kolloquiums über Probleme des provinzialrömischen Kunstschaffens, 11-15. Mai 1999 Budapest-Aquincum. Bp. 1999. WEGNER 1979 » WEGNER, M.: Gordianus III bis Carinus. In: Das römische Herrscherbild III. Berlin, 1979. NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY 158