Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
NOTES ON A DOLICHENIAN RELIEF AT MEHADIA IMOLA BODA MA, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, RO CSABA SZABÓ MA, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, RO The Roman cult of the Syrian god from Doliche, Iuppiter Dolichenus was one of the most widespread oriental’ cults of the Roman Empire, largely propagated by the army. Becoming an official god of the soldiers, its popularity reached its peak in the age of the Severan dynasty (193-235 AD). The main evidence of the popularity of the cult is the rich and various cultic objects and votive reliefs, especially in the highly protected provinces, such as Dacia. The oriental God appears in a large iconographical variety, many times represented with his female companion, Iuno Regina (Dolichena). This dual representation of the Dolichenian god - having ancient archetypes - appears also in Dacia. This paper analyzes the religious contents of a Dolichenian relief represented on a votive column discovered in Mehadia (Praetorium) Romania, in a sanctuary dedicated to Iuppiter Dolichenus, near a military vicus. The object was first published by D. Benea and her team in 2008, but the iconographical explanations were laconic. The eagle with a laurel wreath standing on a deer are a unique representation of a Dolichenian scene in Dacia, where the symbol of the animals and the symbolic relation between them proposes many ways of interpretations, reflecting the ambiguous connection between religious syncretism and provincial art and workshops. Keywords: Dacia, Iuppiter Dolichenus, Mehadia, Roman Religion, syncretism Religious syncretism is an omnipresent phenomenon in the Roman Empire, with a significant role in spiritual and cultural relations in a multicultural and multiethnic society, having a well-defined role not only in individual, Hellenistic religiosity of the Roman man, but also in the official politics of conqueror Rome.1 This syncretic phenomenon is reflected even in the variety of the archaeological material of Roman Dacia, showing not only a conventional phenomenon, but also one specific to the province. An eloquent example of this religious manifestation is the archaeological material from the cultic edifice in the military vicus at Mehadia, Praetorium, which was discovered through systematic archaeological research between the years 2000 and 2003 (Benea 2008). One of the unearthed pieces is a votive column, having an atypical iconography on its relief, with religious 1 For scientific coordination and gentle help we want to thank to D. Benea, C. Timoc, S. Nemeti, and Sz. P. Pánczél. There were several works that served us in working this study. The basic monograph of Pierre Merlat (1960), the Corpus of the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus (CCID), the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) and the inventory published by R. Noll (1980) of the sanctuary in Mauer an der Url, one of the largest and most well kept Dolichenian sanctuaries in the Roman Empire. MAR1SIA XXXI, p. 273-282
