Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 30-31 (1985-1986) (Pécs, 1987)

Régészet - Burger, Sz. Alice: The Roman Villa and Mausoleum at Kővágószőlős, near Pécs (Sopianae), Excavations 1977–1982

178 ALICE SZ. BURGER year 348 A.D., that contains direct reference to the accomodation and duties of the katachumens awaiting christening, and also to certain related ritual phenomena

50

. The "Didascalia Apostolorum", dating from the beginning of the 3rd century, regulates the ordre of seating, separating the men from the women. This rule went for the Katachumens, too

51

. Accordingly, cusps D and E, spacious enough to accommodate 10 adults each, may have been used as waiting-rooms ("cloakrooms", etc.) accessible from the upper nave

52

. If this be the case, the figures in sandals and white dalmatics proceeding in the same direction in the frescos decorating the walls in the lower painted burial-chamber (B) may be interpreted as the depiction of the procession either of the deacons assisting in the baptismal rites

53

, or of those already baptised. After repeated reductions in size, the dimensions of the baptismal font at Zurzach, dated to the years after 400 A.D., were a mere 1,1X1,1 m, with a depth of 60 cm. By this time it became the custom to immerse only the feet in the "holy" water, which was accessible through a flight of steps

54

. Although no traces of a baptistery have been discovered in the vicinity of our mausoleum as yet, it is just possible that the excavations to come will hit upon its remains. However, it is also possible that the unusual staired "brick foundation" of the lower painted burial-chamber supporting the stone sarcophagus at the same time served as a small baptismal font. Regrettably enough, this cannot be proved owing to the above-described disturbances. Should our assumption prove correct, it would imply that the building served as an episcopal see

55

, a function for which the upper N apse may have provided adequate facilities

56

. Apses D and E may also be looked upon as being the earliest examples of the Prothesis and the Diaconicon. However, their presumed furniture of wooden seats and tables, and their use for storing the food heaped up by the faithful for the agape cannot be supported by surviving evidence

57

. The painted geometric patterns decorating the walls in the lower narthex are parallelled by those discovered in an Early Christian burial-chamber at Iznik

58

. However, the frescos in the burial-chamber cannot be identified with any of the numerous frescos found in Sopianae

59

, except for the red dots painted in the middle 50 LAUR-BELART, 8Iff. 51 GAMBER, Domus ecclesiae, 7Iff. (It is still common with the Orthodox Jews to separate the men from the women in the churches !) 52 Ibid. 92. 53 Diakon in: LEXIKON III. 27Iff. ; for the white clothes (dalmatica) cf. ibid. III. 128. 54 LAUR- BELART, 82. 55 LEXIKON II. 370ff.; for the privileges cf. ibid. 374. 56 Cf. Notes 46-48. 57 LEXIKON III. 276ff.-Agape: ibid. I. 122ff.-BEYER, 132. 58 Cf. Note 38 59 FÜLEP 1984. passim. 60 Cf. Note 43 of the rhombi decorating the walls in the narthex and the depiction of the leg in sandal on the wall of the burial-chamber, which may be related to the motifs decorating the youngest mausoleum in Pécs

60

. The green floral festoon, the depiction of the bird (dove?), and the incomplete human figures do not provide a safe basis for identifying their parallels. The ornamental bordering stripes were motifs prevalent in the period. In terms of orientation (entrance in the S), the closest parallels of the mausoleum were provided by some of the burial-chambers in the Early Christian cemeteries at Sopianae and Tricciana,

61

. But while the latter were used primarily as sepulchral chapels, i.e. they were frequented on the anniversaries of the death, our mausoleum, was built to meet the sacral demands of the local Christian community all the year round (bishop and deacons). We even venture the assumption that Early Christian buildings with N—

S orientation and with the entrance in the S were for some reasons intended to emphasize the ideological "dissidence" of their builders. Since the burials in all these buildings were W—E orientated, the variations in the outer arrangement may be considered to the Arians. However, the verification of this assumption calls for the fixing of the date when the mausoleum was built. The vicinity of the villa has yielded a fair number of 3rd century coins and articles. Nevertheless, it is the coin recovered from the Roman ground level near one of the buttresses in the N main apse that must be considered of determinative value in this respect: C. Gallus, № 126, (352—354 A.D., AE 3). Considering the ideological "subversion" of Julian against Christianity between 360—363 A.D. (reinstatement of pagan cults, elimination of Christian establishments), these years must be reckoned with as a caesurein this process

62

. Accordingly our mausoleum may be ascribed to the years between 352—360 A.D. or to the period after 363. However, the considerably large number of the coins of Constantius II, dating from 351 — 355 A.D., renders a date before 360 more probable. This in turn may account for the fact that the assumed relations with the frescos in Sopianae, dating from a much later period, did not prove correct. The outspoken Arianism of Constantius II apparently favours the proposed date

03

, and the fact that the villa 61

FÜLEP 1984. 36-46. (painted burial-chambers №

s I and II), 46. (burial-chambers № III), 59—62. (burial-chambers N

08 VIII, IX, X). - Geisler Eta u. 8. G/4, FÜLEP 1984. 79ff. Figs. 23-24. - István tér 12. L/XIII, 101. Fig. 51. - Ságvár (Tricciana): BURGER 1966. Fig. 90. 62 Cf. BURGER 1981. 03 In the period after 337 A.D. (the year when Constantine I and Arius died), the influence the Arian exerted over Pannónia gradually increased. Following the death of Constantius II, the majority of the churches fell into the hands of the Arians (like e. g. Sirmium, Mursa, Singidunum, Poetovio, Savaria), and the parishes at Iovia and Sopianae were also under their control THOMAS, E. B. Das frühe Christentum in Pannonién im Lichte der archäologischen Funde, in: SEVERIN, 286. — FÜLEP 1984. 279.