Fitz Jenő (szerk.): Religions and Cults in Pannonia. Exhibiton an Székesfehérvár, Csók István Gallery 15 May - 30 September 1996 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: A. sorozat 33. (1998)

AREA SACRA IN GORSIUM J. Fitz In the past century Theodor Mommsen, the greatest adept of Roman epigraphy, placed on ground of two inscriptions, found in Sárpentele (CIL, III, 3342, 3343) the centre of the imperial cult in the province Pannónia Inferior to Sárpentele, on ground of its numerous Roman stone monuments he did not exclude, though, the possibility that the centre of the cult might have been Székesfehérvár. The archaeological excavations, intensified in the 20th century, did not found any traces of a Roman settlement either in Sárpentele, or in Székesfehérvár (MAROSI 1935, 266). The inscriptions were mentioned in sources (KATANCSICH 1798) as existing in the above locality only from the late 18th century on, but the Cattaneo manuscript, publishing data from the mid-century, pointed to the Föveny origin of the stone monuments, the area where in the Roman period Gorsium was situated. One of the stone monuments was a fragment of a stone slab (CIL, III, 3342), according to which the emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla made a temple restored. The other inscription was that of an altar dedicated during the reign of two emperors by all priests of the Province to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus Dolichenus (CIL III, 3343). The cult of the god Dolichenus cannot be proven after the reign of the Severi (TÓTH I. 1976, 69-80), so that this monument cannot be bound to any other personage but to Septimius Severus and Caracalla. The extraordinary gathering of the priests could not take place in any other time except in 202, when the two emperors and their retinue, returning to Rome from the Orient, visited Pannónia, where Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor in 193 (FITZ 1959,237-). The fragmentary inscription referring to a building activity can be interpreted similarly. We know from Pannónia intogether two inscriptions mentioning an activity of temple building, resp. restoring by emperors, one of them being the Gorsium one1. Septimius Severus was mainly indebted to the Pannonian army for his successes in the civil war - his visit in 202 was the acknowledge of this support. The restoring of the temple - that of the imperial cult - damaged in the Marcomannic Wars -was a gesture of the emperor to the people and army of Pannónia. The interpretation of the temple and its importance for the province give at the same time a possibility for the much discussed completion of the building inscription. On the fragment only the letter D of the name of the deity is visible, which was tried to elucidate as divi Marci, Dolicheni, Dianae, Deorum Magnorum, (CIL III.3342; ALFÖLDI 1940, 198; ALFÖLDY 1961, 300-302, EGGER 1960, 167-169). The temple of the emperors' cult of the province allows, though, none of the above solutions. The temple could not be dedicated to anybody except for Augustus (divi August!) or to the deified emperors (divorum Augustorum). The proof for Mommsen's interpretation was given by the excavations started in Gorsium in 1958 (FITZ 1960,154-164). In the course of the excavations halls and sanctuaries disproportionally large for this town and a rather large temple came to light in the centre of the town, whose building can be dated to the period of the organization of the province of Pannónia Inferior, to the years after 106. In the early period of the temple building a detachment of the legioXGemina took part, i.e. the building vexilation, which demolished the military camp and laid down the foundation of the new town. The excavations laid bare up to the present only a part of the sacred area. Its western border is known, separated by a lane from the neighbouring forum. Steps led from a spacious square to the great hall placed here (Nr. VII, 60x12 m). The northern side of the square was closed by a wall adorned by columns and two nymphaea, and pierced between the two ornamental wells by another flight of steps. This led to a large hall consisting of five parts (Nr. IX), from whose northern side a closed courtyard opened. From here further steps led to the third level, where another columned hall (Nr. XXIV), a well sanctuary (Nr. XXXIV) and a smaller temple (Nr. XVII) encircled a further inner courtyard. In the axis of the steps, on level 3, a square platform stood, beyond the hall closing the square from North (Nr. XXIV) also in the axis mentioned another temple was erected (Nr. LXXIV). The eastern side of the lowest level was closed near to the second nymphaeum by a wide flight of steps. This led to several buildings on the left, appertaining to the sacred area, as a square house of several premises (Nr. X), adorned with rich wall paintings containing a room where a find of coins points to its use as treasury of the sacred district; the building served presumably administrative-representative purposes. The cellar of a larger, only partly uncovered building (Nr. XL) preserved the equipment of the house, devastated in the Marcomannic Wars, which might have been, on ground of the tableware of many pieces, the scene of feasts connected with the cult. North from the two buildings a hall consisting of one room was placed, containing a pedestal in its western end (Nr. XVIII); it can be dated to the reconstruction period after the Marcomannic Wars. It might have been the temple built to the honour of Marcus Aurelius, whose priests are known from their inscription (CIL, III, 3345). 1 The other temple renovation took place in 308, when two Augusti and two Caesars made a Mithraeum restored in Carnuntum. (VORBECK 1980, Nr. 293 ) 25