Folia archeologica 45.

Beszédes József: Dioscuros ábrázolású sarokkő Alsóhetényből

THE LOVAS CASKE T 165 Fig. 6. Scene with Heracles from the Lovas casket 6. ábra Jelenet Héraklésszel a lovasi ládikáról ends terminate in snake heads.

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3 A similar bow seems to appear beside the Great Goddess on a rectangular marble tablet belonging to the same cult, dated by Michael Rostowtzeff to the 3rd century A.D.

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4 On the last scene of the second stripe of the Lovas casket, two horses trample on the tails of two snakes, held by a female figure emerging from the earth. Snakes very often appear on the tablets of the Danubian Cavalry God, dated to the 3rd century A.D., on the two sides of the Great Goddess, but she never holds them.

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5 Antithetically arranged horses, trampling on snakes appear on three monuments of the Danubian Cavalry God, although the representation is not the same.

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6 Like on the Lovas casket, the 'Medallion style' combined with pearled borders, is applied on some monuments of the Danubian Cavalry God, found in Eastern Pannónia, dated to the period "from the second half of the third century into the age of Constantine."

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7 The close ties between the iconographical elements applied on the plaques of the Danubian Cavalry God and on certain scenes of the Lovas casket, support the dating of these caskets to the reign of emperor Julian, and we can consider them as manifestations of the pagan reaction on the local artefacts in Pannónia, under Julian and Valentinian I. 4

3 Tudor 1969, cat. nos. 193 and 197. Cf. the comments in Tudor 1976, 264. 4

4Tudor 1969, 4, cat. no. 7; and Tudor 1976, 96 (Class Ba). 4

5 Tudor 1969, 95-96, cat. no. 173: from Virunum, Noricum. It is worth to note, that the scene is represented on a rectangular copper plate, with the characteristical pearled edges, which occur on both the Dunapentele and Lovas caskets too. See furthermore the two serpents standing upright at the edges of a lead plaque from Seliste, Eastern Pannónia: Tudor 1969, 84, cat. no. 146; and Tudor 1976, Pl. II. 4

6 Serpents lying on the ground, under the hooves of horses: Tudor 1969, 20, cat. no. 35: Romula, southernmost part of Dacia; 41, cat. no. 72: Oescus, Moesia Inferior; 112, cat. no. 197: plaster cast of an engraved gem in Rome. 4

7 Tudor 1969, 73-74, cat. no. 126: Sirmium; and see furthermore the column shafts consisting of rows of pearls: 79-80, cat. no. 136: Divos; and 80, cat. no. 136: Ocsény, both Pannónia Inferior. Dating: Tudor 1976, 97 (Class Be).