Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
The Funerary Stelae from Porolissum. Typological, Iconographical and Epigraphic Aspects 197 to an attic (28). In Roman funerary art the motif of the lion, has been interpreted as both an apotropaic symbol and as a symbol for the destructive nature of time, while the occurrence of the bull - less frequent - is associated above all with the cult of Liber Pater (Chis 2004, 171, 202). I. d. Two iconographic elements can be related to the theme of marine symbols:14 the Triton in the corner outside the pediment on the fragment no. 26 and the seashell motif on the stela no. 2. The motif of the seashell is related to the birth of the goddess Venus, and as such can be regarded as a symbol of the deity (Conrad 2004, 96). II. For the mythological representations, we can mention the personification of the wind, depicted as a protome on fragment no. 24 and the depiction of Amores on the fragments belonging to an attic (26). The personifications of the winds in the context of funerary art are regarded by scholars as vehicles for the journey of the soul of the deceased to the stars (Bärbulescu 2003, 268-269). The composition displayed on the relief field of the attic (26) reflects the Dionysian symbolic system (Chis 2004,109). III. In this category we included the iconographical elements that can be related in some form to any ritual activity connected to funeral commemoration. The following categories were distinguished: 1) depictions of the funerary banquet, 2) waiting servants and 3) mourning women. Hitherto, there is only one stela with the representation of the funerary banquet known from Porolissum (14). Due to its highly fragmentary state, with most of the components of the scene missing, the precise type is difficult to establish.15 The position of the woman, pressed between the edge of the register and the kiiné, suggests that a larger number of characters were involved in the scene. The composition of the scene differs from the rest of the Dacian examples in the fact that the female character seated on the kathedra is placed in a lower position in relation with the male character on the kiiné, which would suggest a composition with two symmetrically placed female participants at both ends of the scene and probably, two male participants reclined in the centre of the setting, as seen on a stela from Turkey (VEL 14184). The waiting servants - often confused with camilli represented on votive monuments - are included in this category, since in our view, in the context of funerary iconography they are symbolic representations of the funerary banquet (Petrut-Mustatä 2010, 178). In Porolissum the only depiction of this type comes from the lateral relief field of the aedicula-stela (1). The representations of mourning women (preficae) on funerary monuments can be related to the tradition which required women to display their grief in a dramatic manner during the funeral, often hired mourners being employed to enhance the spectacle of grief (Hope 2007, 104). In the funerary iconography, the depiction of the mourning women was probably influenced by the statuary type known as pudicitia, with the hand brought up to the chin. The only depiction from Porolissum comes from the right lateral relief field of the aedicula-stela (1). IV. The depiction of the deceased on the Roman funerary stelae follows the general tendency observed in the case of Dacia (see: Teposu-Marinescu 1982; Bianchi 1985). The stelae of Roman Dacia display the deceased as busts or half-figures, the full figure representations being extremely rare (see: Teposu-Marinescu 1982,51-52). Among the figurái stelae from Porolissum, we can distinguish three types: 1) sole representations (possibly fragment 29), 2) representations 14 Most of the depictions from this category have clear mythological implications; however they are usually discussed separately due to the fact that they form a homogenous category with related meaning. 15 For the typology of the funerary banquet scene in Dacia, see: Bianchi 1974,159-160 and Teposu-Marinescu 1982, 47.
