Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 6 - The Roman Age (6 A.D.-420 A.D.) (László Kocsis, Endre Tóth)

they had become accustomed to had to be ensured for the military and their families, which meant the foundation of towns conforming to the general Roman political pattern. The Roman Empire was made up of a network of towns, each with its own extensive fields and agricultural lands, which often covered an area the size of a modem county. Forest clearing was continuous since wood was needed for construction work, brickmaking and heating. Canals were occasionally dug to improve crop cultivation and marshes were drained to gain additional tracts of arable land. Forbidden to live inside the military camps, the soldiers' families settled in the residential quarters beside these camps. Several civilian settlements grew up beside the legionary forts, most of which were in time granted the rank of colonia or municipium. The difference between the two was that all the inhabitants of the former were Roman citizens, while only the leading layer had citizenship in the latter. The wealthy lived outside the towns in their own villa, on a farming estate which had its own residential buildings, bath, various farm buildings, granaries and storage facilities. The main residential building was often lavishly decorated with frescoes and mosaics, depending on the owner's finances. Beside these Roman type settlements, the villages of the native population too survived, where houses continued to be built in the traditional pre-Roman way. One of the most fundamental cultural changes was the spread of literacy, reflected in the custom of erecting commemorative plaques, many of which recorded major construction projects. Countless stone altars were erected to the gods; some were an expression of loyalty to Rome, others were more personal in nature, requesting the emperor's welfare and good fortune for themselves; gravestones were set over the graves of loved ones. The many thousand inscriptions from Pannónia allow a glimpse into everyday life and religious beliefs. People wrote on wooden or bone tablets coated with wax and paper made from papyrus fibres using a sharp, pointed instrument. Displayed in Case 10 are writing tools, an ink-well and an assortment of smaller inscribed objects. Another amenity of Roman life was that the towns and the baths in them had a constant and adequate supply of water, often brought there from distant springs through aqueducts resting on a row of arches or subterranean channels. The public baths were used not only for sport, but were also venues for social gatherings. The relics of sports and life in the public baths - combs, toiletries, medical instruments, water taps - are exhibited in Case 10. One unique item in this group is a balsamarium, a bronze container for scents and perfumed substances in the form of a Negro bust from Campona/ Nagytétény. Boys and men used a strigilis, a scraper for removing the anointments they rubbed onto their body before beginning their exercise (wrestling). The enamelled strigilis pair from Brigetio are exceptionally fine pieces. Wealthier citizens could afford to import their favourite wines and various delicacies from distant lands. Many of the amphorae found in Pannónia had been used for importing Hispanic olive oil, Aegean wine, dates, figs and fish-sauce (garum; Case 9). The two indispensable amenities of Roman life were the amphitheatres for entertainment and public baths, which were built in every town and military and civilian settlement. Built on an oval groundplan with a podium in its centre and rising rows of seats, amphitheatres were the settings for war games, bloody gladiatorial games and venationes, in which animals were pitted against each other, as well as the occasional theatrical play. The venationes were mostly fought between bears; we know that bears from Pannónia were transported to Rome for this puipose. Case 11 contains the relics of these games and other forms of entertainment: gladiator statuettes, musical instruments and a honey-cake mould with a gladiator combat scene from Savaria. The grave inscription of a pantomime actor called Leburna informs us that "he lived more or less one hundred years. He died oft-times on the stage, but never once as he died now."