Isiac reliefs in Roman Dacia (original) (raw)
The Cult of the Goddess Juno in Roman Dacia
S. Nemeti, F. Fodorean, E. Nemeth, G. Florea (eds.), Roman antiquities: archaeology and historiography: in memoriam Alexandri Diaconescu, 2023
The present study proposes an exhaustive analysis of cult manifestations in Roman Dacia, which have in the foreground Juno, the paredra of the supreme god of the Roman world. Juno, often invoked as part of the Capitoline Triad, alongside Jupiter and Minerva, is a central character of Roman religious life. However, its main attributes are related to the family, being considered the protector of marriage and natality. Due to this fact, it is specific, first of all, to the domestic cult, public manifestations being much rarer. To understand how the inhabitants of the province of Dacia perceived the divinity and how they related to it, the only primary sources available to us are the ex votos dedicated to the goddess, which consist of epigraphic and figurative monuments. The analysis of the votive inscriptions shows us, on the one hand, how the inhabitants of the province related to the goddess, and on the other hand, the different divinities with which she is connected. At the same time, the epithets attributed to the goddess by various worshipers, as well as their identity, are analyzed. Through the analysis of these sources, the potential dedications that depict a sincere devotion of the devotees are highlighted. The second part of the study proposes an iconographic analysis of the different representations of Juno found in Dacia. Starting from the reliable representations of the goddess, we explore the canons according to which the goddess is represented in the province and see to what extent some figurative monuments, preserved fragmentarily and interpreted as representations of Juno, can indeed be included in the specific iconographic types identified in Dacia. Finally, a series of possible cult edifices of the goddess, assumed through epigraphic sources or archaeological discoveries, are reviewed.
Ministers of Isiac Cults in Roman Wall Painting
V. Gasparini and R. Veymiers (eds), Individuals and Materials in the Greco-Roman Cults of Isis, Leiden/Boston 2018 (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 187), 366-383, 2018
representations of cultic servants of Isis in wall decorations (especially Herculaneum and Pompeii) result to be less'religious' than showing a decorative value. Yet we can learn a lot about various aspects of ministers.
Studia UBB, 2016
The present study presents two votive monuments from Dacia Superior that in the nineteenth century Lugosi Fodor András saw and documented. I have identified the items as among those depicting Mithraic and the Dolichenian iconography, I have detailed their typological identification, and have provided a brief discussion of the religious context in which they must be placed.
“Unexplored Aspects of the Lycian ‘Twelve Gods Reliefs’,” Epigraphica Anatolica 47 (2014), 107-132
Explores issues surrounding the existence of 55 nearly identical dedicatory reliefs throughout Roman Lycia, raising new questions of their precise link to divinatory practices, Hellenization of local gods, continuity of religion in Lycia, etc., while also putting this unique series in the context of dedicatory reliefs found in rural Lycia and Pisidia. Suggests possible link to plague or some other crisis afflicting the region (if not the whole of the Roman Empire).
Laurent Bricault, The Gens Isiaca in Graeco-Roman Coinage (2015)
Numismatic Chronicle, 2015
At least 239 cities in Antiquity issued coins with depictions of the gens Isiaca, i.e. the cults centered on Isis and associated with divinities such as Sarapis, Osiris, Harpocrates, Apis and Anubis. Local circumstances and identities often played a determining role in the choice of these types. The decision to introduce, use or reuse images connected with Isis and Sarapis often relates to larger developments that go beyond the context of the city proper. In this paper, I will provide a chronological overview of this larger development of the gens Isiaca in Graeco-Roman coinage during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In my interpretation, I will draw on both contextual analysis and chronological development to elucidate the meaning of the Isiac imagery.