Fülöp Gyula (szerk.): Festschrift für Jenő Fitz - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. B. sorozat 47. (Székesfehérvár, 1996)

H. Devijver: The Monument of an Equestrian Officer(?) from Poetovio, Pannonia Superior

JENŐ FITZ SEPTUAGENERIO

H. Devuver

THE MONUMENT OF AN EQUESTRIAN OFFICER (?) FROM POETOVIO, PANNONIA SUPERIOR*

In Roman cities of the imperial period the cemeteries were usually situated along the main approach roads. The inscriptions and the types of the monuments revealed to the passer-by which influential families lived in the city. Thus one finds in Poetovio, by the road that connected Aquileia - via Poetovio - with Carnuntum, an important necropolis.

Several blocks from monuments from this necropolis were used in or near the city tower of Pettau.“’ Three blocks of white marble, of large grain, belong to this group. Let us first take a closer look at each of these blocks, and thereafter examine whether there is any relationship between them.

1. A first block (h. 0,99 m; w. 1,19 m; d. 0,26 m), of which the left and right upper comers are damaged, contains a bas-relief bordered with profiles and picturing a sella curulis (Fig. 1 ). The block is located immediately to the right of the outer staircase to the Pettau city tower.121

2. A second block (h. 0.68 m; w. 1.10 m; d. 0.35 m) has a curved underside, probably as it was destined to be put above the entrance to a large funerary monument (Fig. 2)}i] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The block now serves as parapet of the platform of the double outer staircase14’ and is in the immediate vicinity of block 1. The stone bears an inscription on both sides. The two texts are identical in content and are framed by mouldings. The present back of block 2 was in Antiquity probably the front, as the inscription on this side has fewer abbreviations,(5) thus making it more intelligible to the passer-by.

The principal editions of these inscriptions will be found in C1L III 4038 (p. 1746) = ILS 7120; V. Hoffiller-B. Saria, Antike Inschriften aus Jugoslawien, Heft 1 : Noricum und Pannonia Superior, Zagreb 1938 ( = Amsterdam 1970), p. 131-132 no. 287. The transcription below is that of Hoffiller-Saria.

(1) V. Skrabar, Denkmäler des Larenkultes aus Poetovio, JÖAI 19/20 (1919), Beiblatt, 279-294. For the overall context of such monuments see now Römische Gräberstraßen. Selbstdarstellung-Status- Slandard. Kolloquium in München vom 28. bis 30. Oktober 1985, hrsg. von H. von Hesberg U. P. Zänker, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. KL, Abh. n. f. Heft 96, München, 1987.

(2) V. Skrabar (see note I), 282 Abb. 125.

(3) V. Skrabar (see note I), 292-293; V. Hoffiller-B. Saria, AU, p. 131-132 n. 287.

(4) V. Skrabar (see note I), 282 Abb. 125.

(5) V. Hoffiller-B. Saria (see note 3).

(6) V. Skrabar (see note I), 282 Abb. 125.

(7) V. Skrabar (see note I), 293-294.

(8) Th. Schäfer, Imperii insignia: sella curulis undfasces. Zur Repräsentation römischer Magistrate, Mainz, 1989, p. 359-361, 82. Poetovio (Pannonia Superior) - «Relief mit sella curulis, wahrscheinlich vom Grabbau des C. Valerius Tettius Fuscus», Taf. 74,3.

(Present front of block 2) :

C(aius) Val(erius) Tettius Fuscus, dec(urio) c(oloniae) U(lpiae) T(raianae) P(oetovionensis), q(uaestor), aedil(is), praef(ectus) fabr(um),

II vir i(ure) d(icundo), augur, loca colleg(io) magno Lamm et imaginum domini n(ostri)

Caes(aris) ob honor(em) trib(unatus) p(ecunia) s(ua) f(ecit).

(Present back of block 2);

[C(aius) Va]l(erius) Tettius Fuscus, dec(urio)

[c(oloniae) U(lpiae) T(raianae)] P(oetovionensis), quaestor), aedil(is), praef(ectus) fabr(um),

(II] vir i(ure) d(icundo), augur,

[loc]a collegio magno Larum [et i]maginum domini n(ostri) Caesaris [ob h]onorem tribunatus [pe]c(unia) sua fecit.

3. A third block (h. 0.47 m; w. 0.24 m), also with an inscription framed by mouldings (Fig. 3), broken off at top and bottom, found in 1827 on the site of the Roman necropolis, was incorporated in the staircase of Pettau’s city tower. Block 3 is now under block 2.(6) The letters of the inscription were first chiselled vertically, but toward the end horizontally. For the edition, see CIL III 4059; V. Hoffiller-B. Saria, op. cit., p. 174-175 no. 387;—] marini trib(uni) [—?].

*

Can these three blocks be linked to one another? The materials used, the dimensions, the decoration, the provenance, the present location of the three blocks combine to indicate that they stem from the same necropolis. Can an even closer connection be determined, namely that all three once belonged to one and the same funerary monument, or to a single common tomb? V. Skrabar believes that blocks 2 and 3 come from a common grave site, viz. that of the collegium magnum Larum et imaginum domini nostri CaesarisP) Th. Schäfer, on the other hand, argues that blocks 1 and 2 come from the funerary monument of C. Valerius Tettius Fuscus, the patron of the aforementioned collegium, for which he refers to the inscriptions of block/2.(S) Let us take a closer look at Schafer’s suggestion.

* With thanks for assistance rendered to G. Alföldy (Heidelberg) an. F. Van Wonterghem (Leuven).

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