Budapest Régiségei 34. (2001)

STUDIEN = TANULMÁNYOK - Beszédes József: Depictions of an early portraittype of emperor Nero on some gravestones from Pannonia = 17-29

JÓZSEF BESZEDÉS DEPICTIONS OF AN EARLY PORTRAITTYPE OF EMPEROR NERO ON SOME GRAVESTONES FROM PANNÓNIA* It is well known that in the case of some funerary portraits on high quality gravestones one can identify imperial portraits or coiffure types. These factors give some indications of date if not absolute certainty. The situation with the gravestones produced by local or less qualified masons is more difficult, since the simplified and many times over schematized sculptural execution makes it difficult or even impossible to connect the representation of the deceased to a portrait of an emperor. In some of these cases, however, hair-style can indicate that we are examining an echo of an imperial portrait. The tombstone of Quintus Veratius (Fig. 1-2) came to light in 1893 at Carnuntum.

1 It bears an inscription and a semi-circular niche with the head of a man facing to the front. The shape of the head is basically triangular. The hair is composed of incised locks combed onto the forehead and parted in the middle. From here to the left and right sides of the face, the hair was arranged into two horizontal rows of curling locks. In the centre a lock was combed down. The execution of the face is geometrical and the anatomical proportions were not indicated. The grooves on the forehead running parallel to the arch of the eyebrow, were only formed schematically. The eyes are long-drawn, geometrically-shaped and they are too large compared to the face as a whole. The nose is damaged. The mouth is small and thin and was indicated only by incised line. The chin is disproportionatelly high and overemphasized. The style of carving, the geometrical shapes suggest that this was the work of a local Celtic mason. The inscription field is bordered by a moulded frame. The text is written in well defined lines with the letters rather carefully carved. Most of the letters „T" are elongated. The text reads as follows: Q(uintus) Veratius

/L(ucii)flilius) Scapt(ia tribu)/ mil(es) leg(ionis) XV / Apol(linaris) an(norum) XL / stip(endiorum) XIX h(ic) s(itus) e(st) / t(estamento) flieri) i(ussit) / L(ucius) Sertorius / Faustus / h(eres) flecit) The legio XV Apollinaris mentioned in the inscription - according to the latest research - arrived in Carnuntum sometime at the end of the AD 30 's beginning of the 40's, and was continuously stationed here until AD 62.

2 In that same year it was moved to Armenia and then participated in the Jewish war between AD 66 and 70.

3 The legion returned to Carnuntum in AD 71 and stayed there until the end of Trajan's reign.

4 On the basis of the relative lack of ornament, the semicircular termination, the simple lay out, the non-use of cognomen in the case of Q. Veratius, and on the basis of the features of the text, we can place the gravestone of Q. Veratius with certainty among the gravestone-material of the legion in the period before AD 62, making this year the upper limit for the date of this object. Harald Hofmann put the date of the tombstone to the beginning of the reign of Claudius.

5 He based this dating on the ductus of the text, the non use of the cognomen and the style of the relief. Marie Luise Krüger dated the stone to the first half of the AD 1st century.

6 The same date was suggested by Eduard Vorbeck.

7 However the latest research has revealed that the absence of the cognomen does not necessarily mean that the gravestone must be dated to a period before Claudius or even to his reign.

8 The use of the cognomen (namely the tria nomina) appears in the case of the legionary solders at the very beginning of the AD 40's and parallel to this, those without cognomen gradually disappeared. However, during the reign of Claudius and Nero both variants (with and without cognomen) occur on tombstones. It is worth mentioning that in a few cases there are no cognomina in the name of the persons who erected the monuments even in the Flavian period. In these cases perhaps it was not so important to record the cognomen. Thus, the fact that Q. Veratius didn't have a cognomen does not mean that his gravestone should be dated to the reign of Claudius. In addition, neither the features of the inscription or the type of the letters suggest this period alone. The most characteristic feature of the text is the elongated „T" letter - which is often thought to be a feature of early imperial inscriptions - is also not a definite dating critérium. Though the elongated „T" letter appears on Claudian tombstones several times in Carnuntum,

9 the use of this type of „T" is common even after the reign of Claudius as well, for example in the case of C. Arrestius,

10 whose tombstone can be dated to the AD 50's and 60's of the 1st century or that of Titus Calidius Severus from the Flavian period.

11 The same thing can be seen on gravestones and on building inscriptions in other parts of Pannónia where the elongated „T" letter occurs in the second half of the 1st century and even later.

12 Therefore the use of the elongated „T" in our case does not serve as a dating critérium and neither does it prove that the gravestone of Q. Veratius is Claudian. However, the hair-style of Q. Veratius has proven 17