Zalai Múzeum 11. Kereszténység Pannóniában az első évezredben (Zalaegerszeg, 2002)

Topál, Judit: Early Christian Graves in the Western Cemetery of the Military Town in Aquincum, Pannonia

ZALAI MÚZEUM 11 2002 Topái, Judit Early Christian Graves in the Western Cemetery of the Military Town in Aquincum, Pannónia After the Roman conquest of Pannónia with the development of public administration in the new province the Celtic oppidvm on Gellért Hill as well as the village settled on the foot of the hill (in the section of Budapest called Tabán) continued on living as the civitas eraviscorvm. orth of the settlements of the aboriginal inhabitants, military forts and fortresses were established along the Danube (Bern square as well as Flórián square and its environs). In the earliest levels beneath the military town which sprang up spontaneously around the fortresses there can be found cultural levels dating to the Copper Age. During the enormous building operations in the last two decades of the 19th century the remains of past ages, such as the Roman period, have been either uncovered and built in the walls of the new houses or they have been unregarded but completely destroyed. Therefore burials (usually beyond the city boundaries as required by law, cf. Twelve Tables III, Cicero de. leg. 2, 24, 61) are of especial importance since the grave-goods associated with attire, artefacts of practical use, the grave-markers or - in very fortunate circumstances- the funeral monuments left in their original location, all attest to the age, gender, social rank and time of burial of the deceased. Even tombstones which have been moved from their original locations, sometimes several times before being reused or built into walls, contain valuable information through the names of those who erected them and those to whom they were raised. While it is accepted that the custom of raising inscribed funeral monuments is Mediterranean in origin, the relatively common occurence of early (i.e. second half of the 1st century) tombstones with Illyrian-Pannonian mainly Celtic Eraviscan aboriginal names on them testify to the rapid, albeit slightly superficial, Romanization of the native population in this area. (Lapidarivm Aqvincvm Inv. nos 63.10.20, 63.10.110, CIL III 13379). An other part of the early (70-90 AD) tombstones raised over the graves of cavalrymen (close to the St. Margaret bridge) is associated with the ala camp which preceded the first legionary fortress. (Lapidarivm Aqvincvm Inv. nos. 63.10.98,63.10.150,66. 11.45). Under Domitianvs (AD 81-96) the legio II Adiutrix came to Aqvincvm and the rapidly developing military town continued to use this southern cemetery north of the Margaret bridge (Fig. 2, nr. 1) but use of the western cemetery along the Bécsi road (Fig. 2, nr. 2) soon began. This large cemetery stretching more than 2 km south-north (however not continuously) in a 40-200 m wide band was in use up to the end of the 4th century AD. In addition to the cremation graves of the soldiers stationed here and those of their relatives, inhumation burials of the base population which preserve the tribal customs may also be found in the southernmost section of this cemetery (Bécsi út, plots 42-82, BERTIN 1996, 1997, 1999 HABLE-MÁRTON 2000, and westward on the slope of the hill, Kecske u. 25-29, TOPÁL 1996, 1997, Graveyard I, fig. 3.1). Six other graveyards can be distinguished to the north (Bécsi út 98-104=Graveyard II, fig. 3.II, NAGY T. 1943 KÁBA 1959 TOPÁL 1985, 1991, St Margaret Hospital and its environ=Graveyard III, fig. 3. Ill, TOPÁL 1984, Bécsi út 203=Graveyard IV, on both sides of the street, fig. 3. IV, TOPÁL 1986, intersection of Bécsi út and Perényi utca=Graveyard V, on both sides of the street fig. 3.V, PARRAGI 1964 TOPÁL-NÉMETH 1981 FACSÁDY 2000, Bécsi út 166-172=Graveyard VI, fig. 3.VI, TOPÁL 1993 FACSÁDY 2000 and Bécsi út 267-9, on the eastern side of the road, Graveyard VII, fig. 3.VII, TOPÁL 1993) which contain 2nd-3rd century cremation burials exsisting together with 3rd-4th century stone plate, brick or roof-tiles (egulae) graves and sarcophagii (among the latest a recently found one which contained the mummified corpse of a four years old girl, Cassia and was inscribed with verse written in hexameter: NÉMETHTOPÁL 1991, Lapidarivm Aqvincvm Inv.nr. 85. 9. 30). In more than one case we could observe that both cremation and inhumation occurred in one and the same grave-pit. We might rightly assume that in the case of the later burial (Nachbestattung) changes in funerary practice within one family took place fairly rapidly. Pliny observes {Nat. Hist. VII, 187) that many Roman families, especially the gens Cornelia retained inhumation, while others cremated, and Cicero writes {De leg. II, 22, 56) that Sulla was the first of the Cornelii to be cremated. Nevertheless, far from Rome, groups in the north-eastern area of Pannónia, especially women on the evidence of dress asseccories in graves and tomb-