Mária T. Biró: The Bone Objects of the Roman Collection. (Catalogi Musei Nationalis Hungarici. Seria Archeologica 2; Budapest, 1994)

X. SACRAL OBJECTS, RELIGIOUS RELICS

is our task to interpret this objectivized religious world of belief so far it is made possible without written sources. Religion is the verbal symbol of the essence of metaphysics, and religious symbolism is a visual essence of this verbal world represented in objects. A difficult task of archaeology is to find and interpret these symbols among representations striking as mere decorations to today's spectators. (Fig. 42.) It is not an easy task because in the spirit of people throughout religion, morals, taste and arts are not separated. Therefore, for him there is no self-contained representation existing. Scholars engaged in the research of the life of prehistoric or steppe peoples have already recognized that these cultures have no sef-contained art; at best we do not know how to interpret the religious or superstitious contents of their representations. This way of thinking does not refer to scholars dealing with Roman art; perhaps having the high level organization of Roman society in mind similar to the technical and organizational structure of modern European consumer's society a similar conscious and aesthetic thinking was always postulated by them. The everyday life of the peoples of the Roman Empire just like those of the surrounding peoples was regulated by the sacral way of life prevailing in their arts and representations. On the jars for cosmetics, on hair-pins made for women, Venus is represented or the figures escorting her. On knife hafts Hercules can be seen or animal figures representing strength and courage like lion, dog, wolf. The bird symbols of hair pins are used continuously from the Late Bronze Age until the destruction of the Empire. The majority of sacral objects was left on us by the sacred activity of everydays: like cultic statues and symbols which are nothing but the antropomorph, theriomorph or other conceptions of religious principles and metaphysical beings. They are the visual fixation of preventive (negative) or evoking (positive) actions, of metaphysical forces. Because an apotropaic symbol is nothing else but laying down a longer preventive row of actions condensed in an object. Preventive and evoking forces are called otherwise apothropaic, chtonic and sexual (fertility) symbols. Of bone carvings pinea cone representation is such a chthonic symbol known from the plastics of tombs. (Nos. 335-355.) Hair-pins representing human hand with pine cone between the fingers or a serpent coiling around the hand being a death symbol also belong to this sphere. (Nos. 372-375.) Naturally, the symbolism of fertility was the most easily intelligible of all. Such is the phallic symbol carved of antlers.

124 (No. 848.) Roman women were often wearing bronze pendants of phallic shape on their necklaces when desiring children. Pigeon and cock representations also belong to fertility symbols. (Nos. 376379.) Although bird shaped pins may also have some other, rich background in ancient beliefs. Three-quarters of pins bear bird representations on them, although there are some examples for other animals (like deer, bear, etc.) as well. These symbols are — as in life — often entwined with each other; realizing their unity in the eternal order of nature mysteries of fertility and death are interwoven in representations as well. There are several bone carvings representing mothers holding their child. (Nos. 851., 852., 855.) The bone stick with ring ending is the distaff-type known from tombs also; this distaff is still used in Bulgaria. Although the site of the two intact and one fragmentary specimens is unknown, they have possibly come to the Museum from Dunapentele as their only known analogy was similarly found here in a female grave. The figure of the woman was carved after the Aphrodite representations created by classical Greek sculpture. The spread of the goddess in the Balkan holding her child maybe identical with the goddess to be seen in the company of Thracian and Danubian mounted gods.

125 The mother goddess and her new-born infant are symbols of fertility and birth while distaff and spindle are in the myths of Mediterranean peoples in the hands of the Parkas the symbols of life and death. The same is suggested by the pine cone held in the hand of a female figure on one of the carvings. The primary forms of sacral objects are the representations of gods, themselves. Bone and ivory are one of the important materials of sculptures representing gods (e. g. the gold and ivory statues of the Pheidian school); I shall later on hint at the significance of the material. One of the most precious pieces of art is the ivory statuette (No. 850.) representing Bacchus or Autumnus.

126 In 1882 a 20 cm ivory statuette has come to light at Szombathely when enlarging a local restaurant. It is preserved ever since in the Hungarian National Museum and was first published by F. Pulszky. The ivory statuette represents a child with a wreath made up of clusters of grapes on his head. From the animal skin tied at his right shoulder a dog head is hanging; he is holding five apples in the follow of the animal skin lifted by his left hand. In his broken right hand he was probably holding a cluster of grapes. The statuette is downwards the waist damaged and defective at several