Polymnia. Studi di Archeologia n.11

The paper discusses the collegium and the cult of the god Sedatus from the iron-mining and metallurgical district on the Sana river in the Roman province of Dalmatia. The paper has several aims. By analysing location of the findings, territorial and administrative organizations of Dalmatian iron mines it aims to determine the members of the collegium and its role. Comparison with associations from other metallurgical districts in the Roman Empire as well as associations and dedicants appearing on other Sedatus’ monuments allows for closer determination of the character of Sedatus as a deity and some basic features of his cult in the period between the 1st and the 3rd century d.C.

There is a wide literature on collegia in the Roman world, for this reason this paper will focus on the specific case of the aquatores Feronienses, an association known only in Aquileia. The association is well-documented by some inscriptions and two acroterial sculptures that belongs to its funerary monument. These finds, discovered in the 19th century in the north-east suburbium of Aquileia, are partly lost and partly preserved in the National Museum of Aquileia and in the Civic Museum of Trieste. Furthermore, along with other inscriptions, these items testify the significant presence of the Italic goddess Feronia in the north-Adriatic city. This paper wants to make a point about previously knowledge and studies on this topic and also to clarify and possibly to add something new to the complex interpretative picture delined about the aquatores.

Mithrea of Ostia have been objects of study on several occasions. A close analysis of the urban topography shows the dynamics of settlement that links these sacral buildings at the corpora or collegia activities. Traditionally we can ascribe a mithraeum to a corpus, as in the case of Fructosus’ mithraeum and the corpus stuppatorum. Otherwise the exam of urban context and the plans of buildings with Mithras’ temple, can help us to understand the relationship between Mithras cult and the collegia. In this essay we will analyses also the mithraeum of Felicissimus, the mithraeum near Porta Romana and the mithraeum of Aldobrandini, in order to reshape the role of this cult in the world of ostian association and in the urban landscape of the colony.

In the present work, the aim is to synthesize the data that we know reflected in the recognized epigraphy of the three provinces of Hispania referring to the divinities that were worshipped by concrete or probable associations and the possibility of identifying any of these places of worship and / or meeting.

This paper provides an overview of cults organised by private associations in Gallia Narbonensis and Alpes Maritimae. It is based on epigraphy and on a few archaeological remains. Evidence dates mainly from the second and early third centuries. Cults welded all of these associations, but some of them highlighted religious activities as their first raison d’être. Communities worshipped multiple and manifold gods, but professional associations chose deities who had a “natural” connection with the members’ trade. Besides, the cult of the Genius collegi was frequent. Association meeting-places were worship spaces, where the religious life of ordinary Romans blossomed.