Maráz Borbála: Marcus Aurelius bronz császárportré a római kori Lugioból. (Pécs, 1997.)

The bronze portrait representing the emperor Marcus Aurelius was found on the Várhegy (Castle-Hill) in the course of construction of a cistern in September 1974. The following archaeological excavations made clear that the sculpture was among the remains of a building of quadrangular shape that belonged to the first building period of the Roman military camp and was destroyed by fire. The small building was built of bricks with a terazzo-floor. The bronze head was found in the place roughly according to the camp shrine and rallying place in the Roman military camp of Lugio. One of the most important buildings of a Roman camp was the shrine where the standards of units and the image of the ruler, the emperor were kept. The statue of the actual emperor was erected here and the troops expressed their loyalty this way or by having a dedication carved into the base of the statue. The votive dedications found on the stone-slabs built into the walls of Contra Florentiam are also connected with the emperor-cult. These may well have been taken here as building material from the camp of Lugio. The altars (or bases of statues) were originally erected by the troops stationing in Lugio to the honour of the emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla. In the Lugio camp, perhaps in a niche of the shrine was placed the portrait representing Marcus Aurelius that came to light by the above mentioned works in 1974. The almost one and a half times bigger than lifesize cast bronze portrait depicts the emperor with a hair- and beard-style characteristic of the Greek philosophers according to the rules of officially approved interpretation. The heavy curls of hair framing the forehead and the curly philosopher-beard, the double furrows on the forehead and below the eyes belong to the principal features of the official portraiture of Marcus Aurelius. On the Lugio portrait the face is slightly asymmetrical. The portrait is dominated by kindness, wisdom, humanity and seriousness: this bronze sculpture depicts much more the philosopher than the emperor-differently from