Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 32 (1987) (Pécs, 1988)

Régészet - Fülep Ferenc: A pécsi későrómai-ókeresztény mauzóleum feltárásáról

FÜLEP FERENC The excavation of the Late Roman — Old Christian mausoleum in Pécs Ferenc FÜLEP The town of Sopianae was founded in the early 2nd century A. D. Remains of major buildings, erected as early as in the 2nd century, were uncovered during the construction of the central post office in 1903-1904. After its destruction by the SarmatianMarcomannian wars around 167, the town recorvered at least prosperity and, on the evidence of the excavations, was rebuilt on a smaller scale around the turn of the 2nd-3rd centuries. The Roman town, situated at the intersection offive main roads, began to flourish again during the peaceful years of the 4th century. The excavation in the 1960s in the area of the PO building have brought to light remains of spacious houses the site may well be identified with the forum of the Roman town. During the reign of Emperor Diocletian the town functioned as the centre of the civil administration of Valeria Province, the E part of the quartered Pannónia. According to the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Sopianae was also the seat of the praeses, i. e. of the head of the province.

1-15 The cemetery of the Roman town has been located in the N part of the present-day inner town, between Sallai Street and the Cathedral. The area was used as a burial site by the 3rd, and primarily by the 4th century population. The densest parts of the cemetery were those located in the square in front of the Cathedral and around Eta Geisler Street to the S. The Old Christian sepulchral structures, among them the several painted vaults, uncovered there indicated that the wealthy population of the town became converted to Christianity sometime in the 4th century, and these structures were used as family vaults.

16-29 The Old Christian mausoleum, the largest building of the period, was chanced upon in 1975-1976 in the middle of István Square. The construction, the largest and most significant Old Christian sepulchral vault known in Hungary, was uncovered in 1975-1976.

30-31 The E-W oriented upper floor of the two-storey building served as a single-aisle chapel. The external dimensions of the building are: length 13,80 m, width 4,80 m. The walls are 100-120 cm thick. The N, S and W walss each have three buttresses, projecting approximately 90-100 cm at the base. The apsidal termination in the E is also supported by three buttresses. It is remarkable that the wall of the apse is thinner - approximately 45 cm - between the first and second projecting buttresses reckoned from the N (Fig. l). At about the middle of the building there are two buttresses projecting inside from the opposing walls (Fig. 1 É/4 and D/4). The 100 cm wide recessed buttresses added to the opposing walls in the E end of the aisle may have been the supporting pillars of the triumphal arch (Fig. 1 D/2 and É

/З). The floor of the chapel was inclined towards the W, as is indicated by the traces on the N wall. A small fragment of the original flooring was unearthed in situ in the NW corner. The tripartite burial vault discovered under the flooring of the upper building may well be considered a crypt. The vaults are not situated in the centre as compared to the upper chapel, but are slightly shifted towards the N. Rooms A and В in the tripartite lower vault were used as burial sites, while room С was presumably a staired passage giving access to the vaults. The total length of rooms A and В is 6,80 m, the width is 3,30-3,40 m. The vaulted ceiling of the rooms rested upon the arch-ended E wall. Slightly to the N of the centre an arch-ended niche was found in the upper part of the E wall. The floated walls of the 4,25-4,30 m long room A are decorated with frescoes. The structure of the walls in room В (walls 1, 2, 4 and 5) is different: they are plastered with yellowish roughcast with no frescoes on them. Buttress "X" on the N wall of room A is decorated with a whitish pink paint imitating marble incrustation. Attached to this in the E (E part of wall 1.) is a standing rectangular space in a wide Pompeii red framing where the scene of The Fall is depicted (Fig. 2). The apple-tree with the coiling serpent is represented in the middle, with Eve and Adam standing to the right and left, respectively. The figures are 80-86 cm high. Adjoining this decoration in the E is another rectangular space bordered with red line. This marbled space has a claret-coloured disk in the centre (Fig. 3). The next decoration is again a rectangle bordered with Pompeii red. In it the figure of a standing male in short tunic puts up his hands in a praying (orans) position and holds a wreath. The figure is flanked by two lions: one of them flashes its teeth at the man, the other is looking back. This painting is the only known depiction in Pannónia of Daniel in the lions' dem. The figure of Daniel is 95 cm high