Arrabona - Múzeumi közlemények 7. (Győr, 1965)

Gabler D.–Pusztai R.: A Roman stele from Mosonszentjános

Bei der Umarbeitung des Grabsteines im 4. Jahrhundert wurde vermutlich nicht nur die frühere Inschrift getilgt, auch das Gesicht wurde unkenntlich gemacht, um den Stein mit der neuen Inschrift verwenden zu können. Der Grabstein und die gleichzeitig eingebrachten. Kalksteinplatten, die zu dem Steinkistengrab gehörten, lassen darauf schließen, daß vermutlich auch in der Gemarkung von Mosonszentjános ein ähnliches Begräbnisfeld aus dem 4. Jahrhundert war, wie es in Bruck-Neudorf freigelegt wurde. (Dort waren nämlich bei der Steinpackung der Gräber gleichfalls frühere Grabstelen verwendet worden.) Die kunstvolle Steinmetzarbeit ist ein neuer Beitrag zu der Geschichte der pannonischen Steinmetzwerkstätten, während die Inschrift die so seltenen epigraphischen Denkmäler Pannoniens aus dem 4. Jahrhundert bereichert. D. Gabler — R. Pusztai A ROMAN STELE FROM MOSONSZENTJÁNOS In May 1961 the Hanság Museum, Mosonmagyaróvár, has purchased a white marble Roman tombstone. Local enquiries and a notice in the local newspaper ,,Mosonvármegye" have enabled us to fix the site of the gravestone in Mosonszentjános, the fields not far from Mosonszolnok, the area adjoining St. Peter's chapel. The stele is one of the stonework finds with a tympanum, animal frieze and griffin. The artistic execution of the figurai parts is contrasted by the rough carving and disproportionate arrangement of the legend; the uneven surface of the inscribed panel alludes to a second carving too. The openwork of the tympanum reveals the fact that the half-length portrait, situated in a hollowed niche inside, was no part of the original composition. The date of the stele and the workshop of its execution may be defined on the basis of its material, subject and manner of expression. Results of researches made hitherto induce us to look for the workshop of tombstones, made mainly of white marble, crowned by a tympanum, ornamented with a frieze of animal scenes between the attic and the inscribed panel, in Poetovio or Savaria, respectively. Also the majority of the gravestones with griffins have been manufactured there. The stonecarvers' workshops of South-Western Pannónia, showing strong Italien influence, produced tombstones of this kind mainly at the end of the first or at the beginning of the second centuries, respectively. Judged by the execution, the carving of the half-length portrait may be dated to this period too; remodelling did rot aim at the second use of the whole stele but the transformation of a tombstone, kept in stock, according to the requirements of the customer. The dating of the inscription may be given by the help of the formula bonae memoriae, occurring in Pannónia mainly in fourth century Christian inscriptions, the name Valerius, the letter type and the mention of the rank ducenarius. Though the latter title was used all over the Principate, great changes have occurred in its meaning and substance. The word miles, appearing in the legend, rules out any civil official, whereas the military rank ducenarius occurs at a relatively late date, at the very end of the third and the beginning of the fourth centuries. Thus it seems probable that the soldier mentioned in the text was in command of two hundred men; this is the meaning attributed to the rank of ducenarius by the statements of Vegetius and Hieronymus. (Possibly he was granted this title as a distinction after the time of his service.) The remodelling of the fourth century did not mean the erasion of the earlier inscription only, it included also the change of the face to make it irrecognizable possibly; thus the stone became ready for another use with the recently carved inscprition. The stele and the limestone slabs, probably the attributes of the stone cist, brought into the museum together with the former, bear out the inference to the existence of a cemetery, similar to the fourth century one at Bruckneudorf, in the fields of Mosonszentjános. (At the mentioned site earlier tombstones were used for the construction of stone cists equally.) The artistically wrought reliefs furnish additional data to the history of Pannonian stone-carving, while the inscription enriches the fourth century epigraphic material, so scarce in :

this region. D. Gabler — R. Pusztai 123