Aquileia Nostra 88 (2017)

Il contributo affronta il tema delle trasformazioni urbanistiche intervenute ad Aquileia tra la fine del III e il IV secolo d.C., dopo che la città era divenuta capoluogo della provincia Venetia et Histria e aveva assunto importanti ruoli nel quadro amministrativo e militare della riforma dioclezianea. Interventi di notevole impatto riguardano i complessi monumentali preesistenti, come il foro e il porto; inoltre, vennero innalzati una nuova cinta di mura, grandiosi horrea e nuove strutture di mercato, mentre tra l’anfiteatro e il foro fu costruito il grande edificio delle Thermae Felices Constantinianae. Dopo il 313 venne edificato anche il primo complesso di culto cristiano accanto all’horreum. All’interno di questa “rivoluzione urbanistica”, un posto di rilievo va riservato al nuovo quartiere occidentale, aggiunto all’impianto urbano probabilmente a partire dagli ultimi anni del III secolo d.C., dopo estesi lavori di preparazione che comportarono anche la colmatura di parte del canale Anfora. In questo settore sono sempre più evidenti gli interventi imperiali: il circo, innanzitutto, la zecca e il “palatium”, cioè la residenza imperiale, che una serie di indizi sempre più nutrita permette di collocare a ridosso del circo, lungo il suo lato orientale.

Gli altari funerari dell’area balcanico-danubiana generalmente si ispirano o rielaborano modelli nord-italiani, prevalentemente, se non esclusivamente, di origine aquileiese. Giungono in Moesiae dalla Dalmazia, in Dacia via Noricum e Pannonia. In base alla presenza o assenza di motivi decorativi, al modo in cui sono disposti, alla preferenza per soggetti specifici e ai cambiamenti della struttura di base, si possono distinguere varianti regionali in ciascuna provincia.

The route of the Attic trade along the eastern Adriatic was established during praehistoric periods. The Pentelic marble sculptures or parts of them appeared in Dalmatia from the 1st century AD. Attic sarcophagi were quarried and cut in the vicinity of Athens.They were sent in various parts of Roman Empire since the mid 2nd c. AD. One branch of that trade led along the eastern Adriatic. Salona and Aquileia, very important cities on the Eastern Adriatic, were the main goals of the ship cargos. There are more than hundred fragments or entirely preserved specimens in each of these both cities. Since the Attic sarcophagi were very expensive, this commerce must have been very profitable. South-East of the mouth of the Po river the Attic sarcophagi were not found until now.

The article presents an overview of the most important publications about the Roman stone sculpture in current Slovenia, presented by Slovenian researchers since 2000. A book entitled Zakladi tisočletij issued in 1999 was chosen as a starting point, which is a synthesis of the previous research in archaeology in the Slovenian territory. In the years 2014 and 2015, the public institutions of Ljubljana celebrated the 2000th anniversary of Emona, although the Roman colony (Colonia Iulia Emona) was founded perhaps already in the time of Octavian. To celebrate the anniversary, many studies were released on the subject. Regarding the monuments from Emona, for a Late Roman male head the identification with Constantius Chlorus or Licinius was proposed, while a second work examines a gilded bronze full-length portrait of a man in a toga and clarifies its funerary context. A review of older findings together with the new archaeological investigations allowed the reconstruction of the forum of Celeia (Municipium Claudium Celeia) with its decoration. The Roman inscriptions from Celeia and its ager were published in an epigraphic corpus. In the context of the Roman necropolis of Šempeter in Savinjska dolina, a new reconstruction of the Arcade Tomb was proposed. For selected monuments were suggested new iconographic interpretations: the side panels of the Spectatii aedicula in Šempeter, a funerary stela of Pompeia Matrona from Celeia, a relief of Selene and Endymion from Celeia, as well as a funerary monument at Gornji Grad. A careful examination of the portrait of Lucius Verus from the Borl/Ankenstein Castle, not far from Poetovio (Colonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovio), has shown that this long-supposed ancient sculpture is an unfinished copy from the second half of the 18th century in Rome. A new model of production and distribution of Roman monuments was derived from a new examination of the quarries (Šmartno in Pohorje) and of the stonework workshops of Poetovio. New studies have been published on all four typologies of the funerary monuments in Poetovio (stelae, sarcophagi, ossuaria, and aediculae); to be specially mentioned the Ma]sculus stela and Late Roman Convivium sarcophagus from Poetovio.

Der Vergleich zwischen den etwa gleich vielen (95) Grabaltären aus Aquileia mit jenen aus dem südlichen Noricum (92) mit den Municipien Virunum (51), Flavia Solva (22), Celeia (7), Teurnia (10) und Aguntum (2) ergibt erhaltungsbedingt für den Gesamtaufbau nur geringe Anhaltspunkte, wohl aber für die typologischen Grundform des profilgerahmten Grabaltars. Zeitlich gesehen setzen die dekorierten Grabaltäre die typologische aus Aquileia mit dem Beginn des 1. Jhs. n. Chr. ein und reichen bis zur Wende vom 1. zum 2. Jh. n. Chr., während aus dem späteren 2. Jh. n. Chr. nur mehr wenige Grabaltäre mit Dekoration auf ihren Nebenseiten auftreten im späteren 2. Jh. n. Chr.. Im südlichen Noricum stammen nur wenige Grabaltäre noch aus dem 1. Jh. n. Chr., während der Großteil der erhaltenen Exemplare in die 1. Hälfte des 2. Jhs. n. Chr. im späteren 2. Jh. n. Chr. gehört und auch aus der 2. Hälfte des 2. Jhs. n. Chr. eine größere Anzahl von Grabaltären stammt und diese sich bis in das 3. Jh. n. Chr. fortsetzen. Deutlich weicht die Ikonographie der dekorierten Grabaltäre in Aquileia und im südlichen Noricum voneinander ab. Während die Themen auf den Nebenseiten der Grabaltäre aus Aquileia männliche und weibliche Porträts, sog. Attisfiguren, Graberoten, Naturpersonifikation, Delphine und andere Tier, Opfergeräte, Volutenkratere, Weinranken u. Ä. umfassen findet sich auf den Nebenseiten der Grabaltäre aus deem südlichen Noricum die Thematik der Dienerinnen und Diener, wobei es sich bei ersteren um Opferdienerinnen und Hausmädchen handelt, bei letzteren um Opferdiener und Schreiber. Die Anregungen zu den südnorischen Grabaltären stammen wohl von der nördlichen Adria und hier wiederum von Aquileia.