Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 30/1. (2010)
Articles
80 Sz. P. PÁNCZÉL Fig. 4. Modern cast made with the mould (Sz. Pánczél). Recently two major discoveries have been made which can be connected to the cult of Dominus and Domina. In 2003 a bronze relief belonging to the group of the cult of the so-called “Danubian riders”12 was discovered in Quadrata (Barátföldpuszta, Győr-Moson-Sopron County, Hungary)13 during a metal detecting survey, bearing the name Dominus in dative, so it appears Domino.'4 The second find comes from the excavations of a small sanctuary in the area sacra of Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa (Sarmizegetusa/Varhely, Hunedoara/ Hunyad County)15 dedicated to the “greater gods” Domnus and Domna, by a centurion of the III Italica legion.16 The new bronze relief from Quadrata prompted Á. Szabó to underline the need for a reassessment of the hierarchy of the gods in the so-called “Danubian riders” cult. In his assertion, Dominus and the goddess (Domina) as his divine companion were the central figures of the cult and the riders only had a secondary position. Based on the theories of L. Zjotovic and I. Tóth,17 he even suggested that we could have a celestial divine couple: a Sun god and the Moon goddess linked to the pre-Roman (Illyrian) traditions of the region.18 Dominus (Greek Kvpioq) and the feminine version of him Domina (Greek корю), were usually an epithet of gods or the imperial family.19 In some dedications, mainly from the Danube provinces and the Balkans area, they appear together as a substitute for the names of a divine couple (see the table from the Appendix).20 The hypothesis that this practice is due to an 12 The most recent and complex synthesis is: Nemeti 2005, 200-216. 13 Gabler 2003. 14 Bíró 2006, 53-54; Szabó 2007a (and the Italian version of it: Szabó 2007b). 15 Preliminary reports of the excavations have been published: Fiedler-Höpken 2005; Fiedler-Höpken 2007; Höpken-Fidler 2008. 16 Fiedler-Höpken 2007, 445-446. 17 Zotovic 1998; Tóth 2003. 18 Szabó 2007a, 103. 19 Szabó 2007a, 99. 20 Most of the inscriptions have been collected and catalogued in: Szabó 2007a, 99-101.
