Aquileia Nostra 83/84 (2012/2013)

In the external galleries of the Museum of Aquileia was exposed in 2013 an African amphora dating back to IV-V centuries. It shows on the neck a singular rectangular stamp without any inscription: a Christogram is flanked by two stylized palm branches. This kind of drawings could be compared with contemporary seal rings. Meaning and function of this stamp can't be interpreted with certainty: it could be a warranty on the weight and quality of the content or a religious symbol affixed with propitiatory and protective function.

The so called 'Great Baths' were one of the largest and most sumptuous public buildings of Aquileia in Costantinian age, but today are almost unrecognizable by reason of a long history of radical transformations. Investigated several times on the part of the locai Superintendency during the 20th century, since 2002 they are systematically excavated by an archaeological mission of the University of Udine. The recent stratigraphic diggings have allowed us to know the complex history of the building, from its construction to the reuse of its ruins in the early Middle Acfes and, after the collapses and a long period of neglect, to the systematic despoliation probably carried out in the 13r -14th century. On the basis of excavation data and of the most recent interpretations, this paper describes the hypothetical layout of the Baths and division of their rooms, and also the characteristics of their construction and adornment. Furthermore, the latest studies on some classes of materials allowed us to discuss the chronological phases of the impressive thermal complex, which was operative at least until the middle of the 5th century A.D.

The paper aims to collect and sort all the data about the late ancient burials found in Aquileia, scattered in the literature, trying to unify them with the new evidences carried out from an introductory screening of the Archives of the Archaeological National Museum of Aquileia. lt has emerged a rather structured ensemble, with particular regard to the ritual issue in which , along with the so-called late cremation burials (dated at the 3rd_4th ceiltury AD), coexist different burials relevant to a non explicit religious sphere. Above all, a Christian necropolis it has been reconstructed, in which the funerary inscriptions, including the titulus of Vincetius, can be associated for the first time to bricked graves and ritual elements. This is the burial set discovered in 1887-1888 in the "braida della pila", an area located east of the port, close to a disused housing complex. Currently, the necropolis core doesn't seem gravitating. around any religious building.

The existence of a palatium at Aquileia during Late Antiquity is confirmed by a panegyric delivered at Treviri in 307 A.D., but the place where it was located is still unknown. According to la test research, the remains of this building - whether it be a real imperial palace or simply a temporary residence of the emperor - should be sought in the vicinity of the Circus, as the numerous sources regarding the topographical locations of these two structures in imperial cities suggest. Urban analysis and the discovery of sculptural works of significant quality found to the east of the Circus not only appear to confirm this hypothesis but also to indicate this area as the likely location of the imperial residence.

This article deals with the military finds of Late Roman date, now preserved in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Aquileia. They were brought to light by the several excavations conducted in the city since the early 19th c. Among a catalogue of 92 items, only 16 are weapons or fragments of weapons, and 76 (nearly 83%) belong to the military belt and its various components: buckles, plates, fittings and strap-ends. The systematic study of the types illustrated in the collection allows usto replace the town within the military organisation of the area as, thanks to a local garrison, Aquiliea succeded in keeping the role it played since the early Empire, locatd between Italy and the northem frontiers of the Empire, at the end of important roads leading towards Istria and Pannonia, to the East, and Lombardy and Gaul, to the West.

This paper proposes some reflections on the continuity and the transformation of the genre of "garden painting", recognized, in a late declination, in the fragments of the southern church of Aquileia's Basilica. From the famous example of Villa di Livia, in Prima Porta, realized in the Augustan age, garden paintings direct to a fortune always more documented, in the course of the I Century A.D., by a considerable number of Vesuvian testimonials, while horti picti's persistence in middle and the late imperial period evolves in more abstract forms bound in ornamental intents, like demonstrate the few pieces surviving discovered in the Empire's provinces. Aquileia's Basilica fragments adjust to the dissipated texture of figurative inheritances dissolved in late antique "synthetism", that proposes, at the beginning of the IV century A.D., an iconographic scheme still aligned with canon topoi of the genre.

Quantity and importance of late antique mythological sculpture in Aquileia has few parallels in Italy. The most important evidence is a group of marble tondi depicting busts of gods, found mostly in an area of the city where there was a luxurious suburban villa, identified by some scholars with the imperial palace. The tondi are work of sculptors from Asia Minor; they possibly belong to two different groups of different quality, and were intended as decoration for large audience halls. Some other sculptures should be dated in the same period: a statuette of dancing Maenad, a marble artifact of disputed function - probably a monopodium-mdepicting Orpheus surrounded by animals, a helmeted female head representing perhaps the Goddess Rome, and finally the famous relief of Mithras slaying the bull now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, previously dated to the second century A.D.

The early Christian Episcopal complex of Aquileia, built in the age of Constantine, is the best preserved in the West. The review of the data of the excavations and new observations on the structures stili visible allow a new proposal of original plant. The existing buildings have profoundly inftuenced the architectural form of the episcopal complex, in particular with regard to the main halls of worship. News emerge especially for the organization of the internal spaces between the main churches. Some evidence allow usto describe the system of entrance to the complex, with a corridor overlooked, north and south, the construction. Despite little evidence available, is proposed a new hypothesis planimetrie of these environments and those close to them that allow the passage of the main churches. A new classification can also be formulated for the baptismal buildings: a quadrangular baptistery, with a circular pool, around which you have other spaces including a heated environment in front the entrance.

This paper focuses on the coin production of Roman mint of Aquileia during the age of Constantine I, i.e. on the various gold, silver and bronze issues struck in the different stages from 306 to 337 AD, and little later. Some new attributions and some unpublished coins are presented. The article considers also some important aspects of monetary portraiture and iconography in the generai framework of the Constantinian propaganda.

This contribution presents an outline of previous studies about African res slip ware finds in Aquileia: scarcity of published stratigraphic excavations prevents from attempting a statistic-based synthesis. We afford the analysis of about one hundred, mostly out of context, vessels, preserved in the Museum's depositories: they entered the collection in old times and testify for an early interest towards this ware, whose origin had not been recognized yet. The catalogue comprises 24 forms and several decorations, ranging from A to E productions, in a span-time from the 2nct to the 7th centuries.

The period between Tetrarchy and the first decades of the 51h century was the final phase in a long history of sculptural portraiture production in the round and in relief from Aquileia. The aim of this paper is to provide a synthesis of the subject, from which it will be shown that, also in this Northem Adriatic town, one can note the same divergence between imperial and private portraiture that is documented for this period in other areas of the Empire, as well as the gradual disappearance of individual representation.

Some aquileian evidence of particular symbolism has been collected that witnesses the representation of Christ and of the Christian message through "real" figurations attested in the classical repertoire in which the research was focused on "the invisible in the visible." Starting from the oldest figurations, it could belong to the Christian cornmunity severa} stones adorned with the motif cited by Clement of Alexandria (Predagogus, III, Xl), such as fishes, the acrostic ICHTHYS, the anchor, fishermen and the most explicit composition fish I anchor cross ("fish and cross" group). After the 313 AD, two specific motifs prevail andare represented by the Good Shepherd and the Chrismon, which from the 4th to the 6th century also appear as ornaments on person and on spoons which were used not only at meal times, but also for the eucharistic celebrations. Because of its relevant significance, the Chrismon frequently appears on tombstones found in the various cemeteries in the city. Moreover the Constantine motif is widely used and with greater visibility on ornaments and furnishings in the basilicas and churches in Aquileia. A first example of this is represented by the Bishop Teodoro's mosaic inscription, situated in the south wing of the sacred complex he built.

In the abbey of Maguzzano (Brescia), there is an unpublished milestone with the names of Crispus, Licinianus Licinius Iunior and Constantine Il, which was originally located along the road Mediolano-Aquileiam, that from the fourth century was one of the main links between West and East. The elements of the text indicate a chronological collocation between 1 March 317 and 19 September 324. Near the abbey, also, is still in situa milestone without inscriptions, belonging to the same road.

This paper deals with the epigraphic culture of Aquileia during the first half of the fourth century and especially with the so-called civic inscriptions, i.e. building and honorific inscriptions which were presented to a broader public. The paper focuses on the epigraphic equipment of the forum at the beginning of late antiquity, on the urban expansion under Constantine and the inscriptions connected with this development, on the growing importance of milestones for imperial representation and on funerary epigraphy as well as on the new world of Christian inscriptions in Aquileia. The second part consists of a detailed catalogue of those inscriptions from Aquileia and its territory which are directly connected to Constantine and his sons.

Late antique marble sculpture in Aquileia, copious but generally poorly preserved, offers a number of interesting casestudies, like those this paper deals with. Ludovico Rebaudo examines a fourth century, less than-natural young male head, long since hold for a free-standing portrait of Constantine the Great. He shows as it is actually a relief-head, possibly belonging to a monumental historical relief and representing a Genius Augusti or Genius Populi Romani, both very popular in Constantine's propagandist imagerie, especially on coins. Katharina Zanier takes into account the wellknown relief with the so-called magistrate's procession retracing old and new interpretive hypotheses of this piece, key document of the fourth century sculpture in Aquileia, being so rich in suggestions and at the same time so reluctant to provide ascertainable evidences .

Panegyric 7 (6) in honour of Maximianus and Constantine, which was presented in the summer of 307 upon Constantine's assumption of the imperial title by Maximianus and his contemporaneous marriage to Maximianus' daughter Fausta, depicts the first meeting of the young Constantine with the then 5-year-old Fausta (about 295) as it was portrayed by a painting at the imperial palace in Aquileia. On that occasion, he accepted a parade helmet from the princess as an "engagement present". The purpose of the propaganda speech is to emphasize the politica! and familial relationship between the two emperors. Panegyrics 12 (9) of 313 and 4 (10) of 321 (Nazarius) cover Aquileia's conduct upon Constantine's war in northern Italy in the summer of 312. Just like severa! other cities, Aquileia initially opted against Constantine, however, following his victories it offered to surrender and at the same time asked for mercy. Its conduct not only induced the emperor to grant a pardon to Aquileia but also to reward it. Constantine's contacts with Aquileia are also highlighted by the following: the synod of Arles in the summer of 314 that was called by the emperor and attended also by Bishop Theodore of Aquileia who presented himself in the minutes as a bishop from Dalmatia (!). This province was under the authority of Licinius, bis ally who was soon to become his worst competitor. In the later years, Constantine visited Aquileia on several occasions during his journeys and issued some important laws there.