Budapest Régiségei 34. (2001)
STUDIEN = TANULMÁNYOK - Djurić, Bojan: Production of marble sarcophagi in Poetovio 47-62
istics. The receptacles are low, long and wide, with the proportions 4:1:2. Only the front panel has profiled rectangular frames that divide into the main inscription field and two ornamental lateral fields. A lid in the shape of a partially extending slab covers the receptacle of the sarcophagus. The central part of the lid is hollowed out in the interior, so that it fits precisely over the raised interior edge of the upper surface of the receptacle. The lid is hollowed out on each of the shorter sides for iron clasps, which were attached to the receptacle with lead. The side and back panels of the sarcophagus receptacle were coarsely worked. Their surfaces were not intended for decoration. Neither of the sarcophagi in this group had either an inscription or ornamentation. The inscription was perhaps painted on, and only a mass of stone was present within the frames on the lateral fields intended for decoration, which indicates that these sarcophagi were produced in two phases. The central inscription fields of these sarcophagi are leveled with the lateral fields and are not sunken as those on sarcophagi in the third group or ossuaries. Likewise, the receptacle proportions are quite different to those of the sarcophagi in the third group; they are much lower. Regarding the proportions and the tripartite division of the front panel, these two sarcophagi are very similar to early imperial sarcophagi from the second half of the 1 st century. 28 An As of Claudius I, found in the sarcophagus from Zgornji Breg would perhaps confirm these dates, although it was quite common to use old coins in this manner in Late Antiquity. However, the enclosed glass vessels date the grave to the 2 nd or perhaps even the 3 rd century. The third group comprises the largest number of sarcophagi. With one exception, they are all small fragments. Based upon the one preserved receptacle and other larger fragments, the form of the receptacles of these sarcophagi entirely corresponds with the majority of the receptacles of Poetovian ossuaries. The fundamental characteristics of these receptacles are a tripartite division of the front panel incorporating a sunken and profiled central field intended for an inscription, as well as two narrow, profiled lateral fields whose frames are shaped with a Norico-Pannonian volute at the top. Decoration is often present on both sides of the side panels. The preserved receptacle (Fig. 3) and some fragments with a coarsely dressed stone mass left for decoration on the side panels and on the lateral fields of the front panel together indicate that these sarcophagi were produced in two phases. 29 The respective features were accomplished in varying degrees: the field was prepared for an inscription, while the decoration fields were not yet finished; 30 only the inscription panel was finished, while the decoration fields were left unworked; 31 the inscription panel with decoration fields on the front panel were finished, while the decoration on both side panels were left unfinished (Fig. 5); 32 the inscription panel was finished (?) as well as the decoration on the front and side panels. 33 Sometimes, due to the highly fragmentary state of preserved pieces, the degree to which these sarcophagi were finished cannot be determined, especially when only parts of an inscription are preserved. Some of the inscriptions that were recognized as parts of sarcophagi on the basis of specific tool-marks have so far been treated as various public inscriptions. 34 The well-formed letters range in size from 6 to 7,5 cm. The decoration on both raised protrusive lateral fields of the front panel and on both side panels are quite heterogeneous. The upper part of the frames on both side panels is always shaped in a lavishly profiled and precisely formed Norico-Pannonian volute. The upper edge of the decorative fields on the side panels is usually straight, although occasionally in the shape of a Norico-Pannonian volute 35 (Fig. 13). The motifs displayed in these fields do not appear on other known pieces. However, in general, they do not deviate from the motifs known from Poetovian ossuaries. The motifs portrayed on the lateral fields of the front panels are: putti with torches 36 , similar to those known from ossuaries; 37 a personification of spring in the form of a nude, winged youth with a garland in his hands and a crossing stride to the left (Fig. 7); 38 a nude male figure 39 - a hero (7) 40 or a deity 41 - as well as a male portrait of the deceased with a staff in his right hand (Fig. 8), 42 similar to that on the large ossuarium from Velika Nedelja 43 and the votive inscription of collegium iuventutis from Ptuj. 44 The motifs on the side panels are even less preserved: a winged putto, en face with an unidentifiable object in the background (Fig. 12), 45 similar to those from northern Italy; 46 a nude, winged and youthful putto striding towards the center (Fig. 14), 41 probably one of a pair, holding an object between them, probably a medallion; 48 a highly damaged female figure, perhaps Psyche (?); 49 a panther with a cornucopia under a vine that grows from a kantharos in the middle of the field, his head probably turned back towards the center, and a second panther in the same pose on the other side of the vessel (Fig. 10), 50 similar to the motif on the side panel of the sarcophagi from Sirmium and Savaria; 51 a vine probably growing from a kantharos, 52 analogous to the side panel on the sarcophagus from Szekszárd. 53 The motifs on the Poetovian sarcophagi are for the most part the same as those known from ossuaries. However, regarding their execution, they are certainly superior. These sarcophagi represent the highest quality stone relief carvings currently known from Poetovio. Certain relief carvings are equal to the best Pannonian sarcophagi mentioned above (Sremska Mitrovica 54 and Szekszárd 55 ). The lids of the sarcophagi, which are preserved in the same fragmentary condition as the majority of sarcophagi receptacles, with the exception of two sarcophagi lids from the second group, can be reconstructed primarily on the basis of northern Italian examples. All seven preserved fragments, with their 48
