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Roman Period
Roman Period
Roman Period
Fig. 1. Legionary camps. 1. Aquincum (buda), 2. Brigetio (Szny). There is a late Roman fort on the eastern side of the Aquincum camp and a
similar fort can be assumed on the northern side of the Brigetio camp
Fig. 3. Auxiliary camps: 1. Quadrata (Bartfldpuszta), 2. Ad Statuas (csVaspuszta), 3. Azaum (Almsfzit), 5. Ulcisia Castra
(Szentendre), 6. Matrica (Szzhalombatta); late Roman forts: 4. Tokod, 8. Lussonium (Dunakmld)
Fig. 5. Intercisa, the southern gate of the auxiliary camp, during the
excavation in 1975
rather than sentries stationed in watchtowers. Trajans column, however, suggests that the chain of wooden watchtowers along the borders became common by the end of the
1st century.
The study of older and more recent aerial photos, combined with field surveys and excavations, brought major
advances in the research of watchtowers. The number of
known watchtowers has almost doubled in the past twenty
years and new ones have been identified in areas where
only one or two such military installations were known
earlier. These areas include the limes section at Arrabona
and the territory south of Annamatia. In contrast, few new
watchtowers have been discovered between Szekszrd and
Hungarys current border. Still, it is quite certain that intensive research in this field will bring the discovery of
new sites.
Finds dating to the 1st century have so far only been recovered from the ditch of the Solva 11a watchtower. The
wide area, corresponding to 120 feet. The same uniformity in size can also be noted among the towers enclosed
by double ditches. The inner ditches also had an axial
length of 2528 m.
The towers enclosed by lozenge shaped ditches form a
separate group that can most likely be dated to the Tetrarchy, at least on the evidence from the Intercisa 10 tower.
Another group is made up of towers with double rectangular trenches, probably from the Valentinian period, that can
mostly be found along the limes section between Intercisa
and Lussonium, although similar towers can also be assumed at a few other sites. This tower type is conspicuously
absent from the limes section between Solva and Aquincum,
while the tower type characterizing this section is probably
absent farther south. It seems likely that there were different military districts in these two areas of Valeria.
A distinction must be drawn between watchtowers and
signal towers. They cannot be distinguished from each
other in areas where the limes road runs directly along the
Danube as, for example, in the Danube Bend. Elsewhere,
however, the watchtowers erected on the Danube bank,
on the edge of higher plateaus and by gullies that functioned as part of the Danubian defence system can be
clearly distinguished from the signal posts built on the inner side of the limes road running at some distance from
the river. In many cases, there are no or only minimal typological differences between the two, as at Pilismart,
where the line of the limes road coincides with that of the
modern road, and in the Ercsi, Rcalms, Kisapostag and
Bta area, where the limes road ran farther from the Danube. In these areas a second chain of watchtowers was
built near the riverbank.
The chain of bridgeheads along the Danube is a characteristic feature of the late Roman border defence system.
Comparable structures are known from the Rhine region as
well. A total of fourteen bridgeheads are known or assumed
along the limes section in Pannonia Prima and Valeria,
while only the bridgehead at Bcs, lying slightly farther
from the Danube, is known from the border section in
Pannonia Secunda. Sndor Soproni noted that bridgeheads
were built on both sides of the Danube and that they usually
occured in pairs. He believed that their construction and
use fell into the same period (between 324 and 378) as the
Devils Dyke, the large rampart system in the Great Hungarian Plain. The Romans regarded the several kilometres
wide zone on the other side of frontier rivers, such as the
Danube, as part of the empires territory. The bridgeheads
that functioned both as military bases and supply depots
were built in accordance with the terms of the treaties
signed with the neighbouring peoples and in keeping with
the general military reform in the 4th century, and they
cannot therefore be directly associated with the Devils
Dyke in the Great Hungarian Plain. It is nonetheless conspicuous that the highest number of these bridgeheads can
be found along Valerias border, in the northern part of the
area enclosed by the rampart system.
Vegetius, a military writer of the late Roman period, cautioned that camps should not be set up near higher hills
since the enemy might capture them (Epitoma I. 22). The
Barbarian armies invading the province during the SarmatianQuadic incursion of 374 occupied eastern Transdanubia for months, indicating the need for strengthening these
forts. Besides thickening the walls of the defence works, a
watchtower was built on Tmlc Hill overlooking the Sgvr fort (Fig. 11). The tower had a unique structure, unknown elsewhere in Pannonia. It measured 12 m by 12 m,
similarly to the watchtowers along the limes. The tower had
a foundation of solid stone and a wall thickness of 5 m on
the ground floor. The Fenkpuszta fort was practically inaccessible because of Lake Balaton and the surrounding
marshland, reflecting the importance of defensibility in its
siting. It would appear that the forts were rebuilt after the
bitter experiences of the SarmatianQuadic incursion of
374 to provide an even more efficient defence.
About six hundred tombstone fragments, most of them
carved from marble, an altar fragment and the fragment of a
larger than life marble emperor statue (Fig. 12) were recovered from the foundation walls of the Alshetny fort. The
uniform style of the tombstones can be associated with the
stonemasons workshops active in western Transdanubia
and southeastern Pannonia. Their dates range from the
close of the 1st century to the end of the Severan period.
Since no settlement granted municipal rank is known from
southern Transdanubia, it is possible that these carvings
came from the cemetery of a municipium, whose location remains unknown for the time being. This town was probably
abandoned by the 4th century and the tombstones from its
cemetery were used as building material.
The inland forts reflect an ambitious, carefully planned
and rational construction project in Valeria and Pannonia
Prima the 4th century. More building material was used for
the construction of the bastions of the Alshetny fort than
for the replacement of the earlier wooden watchtowers with
stone ones along the entire Transdanubian limes in the
250 cm
275 cm
260 cm
the angle towers
1370 cm
1350 cm
1430 cm
Diameter of the
gate towers
1380 cm
Fig. 13. The milestone fragment from Savaria and its inscription
that cut off the Danube Bend and ran along the southwestern edge of the Pilis).
The entire Pannonian section of the Amber Road is
known. The road crossed the Drava south of Lenti, continuing to the municipium of Salla/Zalalv on a course that is
more or less parallel to the one-time VarasdBratislava road.
From here it continued to the Ndasd area, where it branched
into two before crossing the Rba. The western branch led
northward to Krmend and Savaria. The eastern branch
crossed the Rba north of Katafa; its course can be traced to
Savaria. A small fort enclosed by a ditch controlled the road on
the southern bank of the Rba. The bridge over the Rba is
shown on a drawing from the 19th century. There was a road
station on the western side of the road at Sorokpolny until
the mid-3rd century (Fig. 14). The road functioned as the
northsouth main road of Savaria; leaving the town, it entered
Austria at Olmd; its course is known up to Sopron, whence it
continued to the Danube and Carnuntum.
The course of the SavariaBrigetio road can be well
traced from Savaria to the Rba. It branched into two north
of Srvr. The southeastern branch continued towards
Aquincum. Dnes Gabler unearthed a road station on the
northeastern branch. The section between Ostffyasszonyfa
and Ppc is known only from a 19th century manuscript
map since it was destroyed by ploughing. This branch
turned eastward at Ppc, crossed the Rba and continued
north-northeast toward Egyed, passing a road station. A
milestone was ploughed up beside the Roman road north of
Rbaszentandrs; its inscription only indicated the distance: XLVII MP, the distance between its findspot and
Savaria. The road crossed the Rba and passed through the
municipium of Mursella, joining the limes road to Arrabona
near Mnfcsanak, from where it continued to Brigetio.
The posts of the bridge across the Rba on the road from
Savaria to Aquincum have been preserved in the river bed.
The road can only be traced along short sections from
Srvr to Celldmlk. It reached the Bakony Mountains
east of Soml Hill and ran towards Aquincum near presentday Road 8 on a course that is more-or-less known.
Even though only short sections of the SavariaSopianae
road are known, the terrain more or less outlines its course.
The road branched off from the Amber Road north of
Sorokpolny. Few traces of its gravel surfacing survived up
to the Rba, where the remains of a road station mark the
crossing place. From here the road turned southeast; practically nothing has survived of its gravel surfacing. Writing
in the 19th century, Flris Rmer noted that the Roman
road was still in use in the Keld area. The road ran southwards through Balatonhdvg or Fenkpuszta, then turned
southwards toward Szigetvr through Somogyzsitva. A document from 1217 mentions a large road called Via Imperatoris passing through the village of Basal lying north of the
town that can perhaps be identified with the Roman road.
Crusader armies, such as the one led by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, marched down this road on their way to
Constantinople, explaining its medieval name.
was in effect an organization of the native population occupying a specific area that was granted the right of self-government recognized by the state administration. An autonomous community of this type could be a colonia, a
municipium or a civitas peregrina, depending on its earlier development. The army, and the civilian groups arriving in its
wake, played a key role in the early development and evolution of the Pannonian urban communities.
The Romans organized the native populations that had
surrendered or had been subdued by the army into administrative units called civitates peregrinae. At first, these came
under the authority of a praefectus civitatis (an officer of the
Roman army troops stationed in the area) who was later
replaced by a praepositus chosen from the native population; when this happened, the civitas itself was granted a
greater degree of autonomy. According to Andrs Mcsy,
the organization of the civitates peregrinae in Pannonia was
begun after the suppression of the first phase of the
Pannon-Sarmatian, rebellion in 8 A.D. at the latest. The
list of these early civitates is known from the works of Pliny
the Elder. Except for the civitas Eraviscorum, the inscribed
stone monuments of the Roman period rarely mention
civitates (Fig. 17).
Certain areas of the province remained part of the
territorium of the civitates after the Roman conquest, while
another part was probably expropriated and declared ager
publicus, state land. The territorium of a particular civitas
was probably already separate from the territories controlled exclusively by the military administration, whose
function was to provide for the needs of the military forts.
The first town, Emona, was founded in an area under military administration after the legion stationed in the fort
had left and veterans were settled in the abandoned fort in
15 A.D. The next town, Savaria, was probably also
founded in the place of a military fort during Emperor
Claudius reign by settling legionary veterans. Two coloniae, Siscia and Sirmium, were created by settling veterans
on the strategically important road leading eastwards in
456. The name Savaria, however, survived until the Middle Ages.
The research of Hungarys oldest town began some
two hundred years ago. In 1791, Istvn Schnvisner, professor at the university of Pest, wrote a history of the
colonia, based on the epigraphic evidence, the surviving
relics and various other sources. His study gave a major
impetus to the collection of Roman finds. The first systematic excavations were conducted in the late 1930s. A
ceremonial hall with a mosaic floor measuring 17 m by
46 m, part of a group of buildings from the late imperial
period, was no doubt used for imperial representation
(Fig. 21). The sacred precinct with the Iseum was uncovered in the mid-1950s. The rescue excavations preceding
urban reconstruction projects vastly enriched our knowledge of the topography of this Roman colonia, enabling
the reconstruction of its layout and street system, as well
as of the various periods in its life. The town had a
gridded street system with the Amber Road, traversing
the town in a north to south direction, in its axis. The 6 m
wide streets were paved with flat basalt slabs. The excavations conducted more or less continuously since the 1990s
have brought to light a number of stone houses from the
2nd century that overlay the earlier timber framed buildings of the 1st century and kept the original orientation of
Fig. 21. The Roman palace building from the 4th century A.D. and the Carolingian round fort in Savaria
Fig. 25. Aerial photo of the reconstructed remains of the civilian town at Aquincum
the altars set up at the springs from which the aqueduct carried the water to the town record that as soon as the rank of
municipium was conferred on the civilian settlement by the
Emperor Hadrian, the water output of the aqueduct was increased owing to the generosity of the towns leadership
(Fig. 33).
A hydrological engineer who had been granted Roman
citizenship by Trajan directed construction work when new
springs were tapped. Ulpius Nundius was a discens regulatorum, an expert working with a regula, a protractor, who
was trained for special tasks. The names of many engineers
working in Pannonia have been preserved.
An aligning instrument called the groma was used in
laying out the course of roads and aqueducts. One such
instrument has also been found in Pannonia. A bronze
ruler with a fine graduation was fixed to a table top that
could be tilted. The bronze regula was fixed to the table
top and the curves that can also be regarded as an ornamentation were used for drafting. These instruments
could function even today.
The northsouth conduit supported by arches and a
later northwestsoutheast conduit similarly resting on a
row of arches were built for the legionary castrum; these
aqueducts also supplied the civilian and military towns
with water. These aqueducts were planned and constructed by the army, and their maintenance too was the
armys duty. Most aqueducts were surface ones with
trough shaped conduits, although an aqueduct running
below the ground surface dating to the 3rd4th centuries
has also been found (Fig. 34).
The situation was the same in Brigetio. The aqueduct
and sewer system built by the army supplied the garrison of
the castrum, as well as the military and civilian town.
The activity of the engineering corps attached to the
legions stationed in the province has also been documented in other Pannonian towns, as shown by the remains from Savaria and Scarbantia. The legio XV Apollinaris was still stationed in Carnuntum, when the aqueduct of
Savaria was completed, while the aqueduct of Scarbantia
was planned and constructed by the legio XIV Gemina that
replaced it.
The water supply and sewer system of four Transdanubian Roman towns are known in detail. Each revealed different technical solutions. Some were aqueducts resting on
high arches, while in others the water flowed through stone
pipes on the ground or in covered underground conduits
lined with terrazzo. Evenly spaced milestones (cippi) marked
the location of monitoring and repair shafts for the latter
(Fig. 35). At Intercisa, water from the Danube was transported to the cistern of the fort in barrels or was pumped
into the cistern.
Fig. 34. Street drain. Aquincum
Fig. 35. Drain with the repair shaft under the pavement of the street.
Aquincum
(1) Aqueducts
Savaria: Velem, Kszegszerdahely, Rohonc, Bozsok valley, with a few viaduct stretches; length: 29 km
Scarbantia: Bnfalva, Lake Malom, Rk stream; length:
6.5 km
Aquincum I: from the fourteen springs at Rmai frd;
length: 4.5 km
Aquincum II: from the rpd spring, along the presentday Vrsvri road; length: 2 km
Brigetio: Tata, from the Fnyes springs; length: 14.5 km
(2) Methods of harnessing water and wellheads
Aquincum: wellheads using a ceramic device of interlocking elements (BudapestRmai frd)
Likas Hill
Fig. 42. Remains of the Roman villa farm at Balca, with the covered main building
the later peristyle. A number of smaller rooms and praefurnia, as well as a passageway were added to the main
building. This villa had an earlier stone phase with a different orientation. The Aquincum and the rvnyes corridor
villas resemble the 2nd century types, although they both
had a portico and a courtyard enclosed by stone walls. Two
additional yards were enclosed by walls on the eastern and
northern side of the main building. The northern courtyard
connected the main building with the bath that had been
rebuilt several times and had alternately functioned as a
workshop, a residential building and a bath. Its function
during the last architectural phase of the villa complex was
indicated by the apsidal rooms, the drainage conduits and
the heating system.
The buildings unearthed at Balatonfred and Balatongyrk, both lying north of Lake Balaton, represent baths
with a more complex ground plan. At Balatonfred, the basins were found in the three apsidal rooms. At Gyulafirtt
and rvnyes, the baths consisted of four adjacent rooms,
one of which was apsidal. The excavations at Balca revealed that a villa sometimes had more than one bath. The
second bath at Balca resembles the ones in which the
rooms were arranged linearly, with additional rooms adjoining the ones in the east. Beside the small residential
pied by the Romans who built their own forts there (Esztergom, Dunaszekcs).
The most frequent house type on settlements whose
occupation remained unbroken was the common Iron Age
type: a slightly sunken quadrangular house with rounded
corners. The saddle roof was supported by two purlins
resting on upright posts set into postholes dug along the
axis of the house on the two narrower sides. The walls
were usually built of adobe. Traces of distaffs and smaller
postholes were found on the oft-renewed floor of beaten
clay. Thatch or reed was used for roofing (Fig. 45). Most
houses did not contain an oven (the house uncovered at
Nagyvenyim is a notable exception in this respect). At the
same time, open-air ovens were found on several settlements, for example at Mnfcsanak and Szakly. The position of the post holes indicates that the most frequent
house type had upright timbers in the corners; houses
with six upright posts, common among the peoples living
north of Pannonia, were practically unknown in the province. At Mnfcsanak, adobe houses without a wooden
framework, and sunken houses built of jointed timbers
were both uncovered. Internal partitioning walls of
wattling daubed with clay were very rare. A well, a workshop and perhaps a larger shed was also part of a homestead. Each homestead was enclosed by a ditch. Stone
Fig. 46. Roman barrel used for lining a well, after restoration, from
a settlement of the native population. MnfcsanakRoad 83
Pottery workshops
77
Brick kilns
18
Lime kilns
Non-ferrous metalworking
38
56
Glass production
12
Bone carving
QUARRIES
The main raw materials used in the construction of Roman period buildings were wood, stone, brick and lime.
Stone was also used abundantly for road constructions.
The streets in Savaria were paved with basalt slabs transported from the Sg-hegy, while stone slabs quarried on
the slope of the Nndor Hill were used in Scarbantia. The
stone for the pavement of the forum and the walls of the
4th century fort was brought from the quarries at Fertrkos and at neighbouring Szentmargitbnya. A number
of Roman stone quarries could be identified with the help
of old maps and field surveys. Freshwater limestone for
the buildings and the stone carvings found in Aquincum
was quarried in the 320 m long, 50150 m wide and 10 m
deep quarry on the Berd Hill near Bksmegyer. Traces
of quarrying were observed at the abandoned quarry of
rdligetHamzsabg. The remains of a Roman quarry
and a dam were also found at Bnta-puszta near sk in
Veszprm county.
BRICK KILNS
A total of eighteen brickyards have been discovered in Hungary. The sunken brick kilns all had a rectangular groundplan. They can be divided into three main types according
to the position of the columns supporting the grate:
(1) Brick kilns of the double firing chamber type were
mostly found in the military brickyards. On the testimony
of the known stamped bricks, brickyards operated by the
military appeared in Pannonia under Claudius (e.g. the
bricks of the ala Scubulorum in Gorsium) and continued until Valentinian Is reign. The brick kilns in Aquincum and
Brigetio can be associated with the legions stationed there.
The brick stamps indicate that the two kilns found on the
Danube bank at Dms (one measuring 620 cm by 544 cm,
the other 545 cm by 510 cm; Fig. 50) were part of the bricklaying workshop of the legio I adiutrix pia fidelis from the
2nd3rd centuries.
(2) Brick kilns with a central heating duct were unearthed, for example, at HarkaKnyaszurdok on the outskirts of Sopron.
(3) Brick kilns with a rectangular firing chamber divided
into three parts by two columns. A kiln of this type was unearthed at FertrkosAlsltetvny-dl near a villa farm,
where clay extraction pits were also found. Roman period
brick kilns have also been excavated at Balatonfred,
Budakalsz, Gyulafirtt, HvizEgregy, Csopak, Klsvat
and Nemesrempeholls.
LIME KILNS
The burning of lime (calx) used in construction work was
usually performed in the industrial quarters lying on the
edges of towns, near the brickyards, although larger villa
economies sometimes had their own lime kilns (Szentkirlyszabadja and Tahittfalu). Round or oval sunken
lime kilns lined with stone or clay were used throughout
the empire. The pits of the kilns widened slightly upwards. The limestone was placed on a ledge on the pit
floor. The kiln was heated through a stoke hole. The upper part of the kiln was covered with leaves and branches
plastered with clay during firing, as shown by the kiln remains with a diameter ranging between 1.54.5 m found
at Aquincum.
POTTERY KILNS
Potters quarters have been identified beside every major
Pannonian town, although pottery kilns have been also
unearthed on smaller vici and larger villas. On some sites,
the moulds, oil lamp negatives, smoothers, stamps and
wasters indicate the activity of local potters. The remains
of Roman period pottery workshops have been found on
seventy-seven Transdanubian sites. These represent various types.
The survival of local Celtic traditions in the 1st and
2nd centuries is reflected in a variety of vessel forms and
ornamental motifs, as well as in the round and elongated
pear shaped pottery kilns of the late La Tne type. The
grate of the kiln was usually supported by a pillar that di-
Fig. 58. Marble cult image from the Mithras shrine in Intercisa
Burials | 251
Fig. 62. Adam and Eve. The Fall, painting on the wall of the early
Christian mausoleum in Pcs
early Christian centre of Sopianae is noteworthy for the impressive number of painted mortuary chapels (Fig. 62). Although the highest number of early Christian inscribed monuments has been found in Savaria in the province of Pannonia
Prima, no buildings have yet been identified that would confirm that the cult centre of the province had once lain in this
town. The remains of early Christian basilicas and mortuary
chapels have been uncovered at Triccianae/Sgvr and Valcum/Fenkpuszta, while a series of rich mortuary chapels
were unearthed at Iovia/Alshetny and Kvgszlls, indicating that the population of these late Roman fortified settlements were members of Christian communities. These
communities survived after the last century of the Roman imperial period and their presence can be demonstrated well after the evacuation of the province.
BURIALS
Paula Zsidi
Cemeteries or cemetery sections have been investigated on
some two hundred Roman provincial sites. As a result, we
know of numerous grave parcels, graveyards and grave
monuments, while the finds include the skeletal remains
and grave goods from well over ten thousand burials. This
impressive corpus of finds offers a wealth of information on
beliefs and the cult of the dead, as well as on the society and
economy of the Roman period. Even though the bulk of
this information cannot be obtained from other sources, the
study of cemeteries was neglected as compared to settlement research.
Fig. 63. The finds from the Roman sarcophagus found at buda
in 1752
The first published grave find can be found in Ferdinnd Millers book from 1761 that also contained an illustration of the stone sarcophagus discovered in buda
(Aquincum) in 1752 and its rich grave furniture (Fig. 63).
The relevant passages mention that the finds were taken to
Vienna on Count Antal Grassalkovichs orders and were
presented to the empress.
The first scholarly study on the finds from a Roman cemetery was written by Jzsef Hampel in 1891; he described the
graves and their finds from a section of the northern cemetery
of the military town of Aquincum (the so-called Raktrrt
cemetery). Together with an accurate description of the
finds, Hampel also included a map of the cemetery. A more
careful reading of the text reveals that only the sarcophagi,
the stone and brick graves and the burials in lead coffins had
been unearthed and documented. Later on, larger cemetery
sections were also investigated, primarily in Aquincum (the
cemetery on Bcsi Road, the cemetery by the Aranyrok),
Brigetio and Intercisa. A part of the graves discovered in these
cemeteries were published between the 1940s and the 1960s
in the monographs devoted to these settlements. Andrs
Mcsy provided an overview of Pannonian burials and the
Burials | 253
either placed in an urn or a stone or wooden casket together
with the remains of the pyre, or were simply thrown into
the grave pit together with the grave goods. Traces of the
ritual preparation of the open grave pit before the funeral
(libatio) have been observed on some sites. The grave pit was
sometimes burnt; it was occasionally plastered with clay before it was burnt. Some of the grave goods found in cremation burials show traces of burning, indicating that they had
been burnt on the pyre together with the deceased. Other
grave goods were intact, meaning that they had been placed
into the grave together with the ashes (Fig. 64).
A number of earlier and more recent observations indicate the practice of cremating the body over the grave itself
(bustum). The funeral pyre was raised over the open and ritually cleansed grave pit. The bier on which the deceased
rested was placed onto the pyre together with the deceaseds possessions that were believed to be needed in the
afterworld. The position of the wood remains and the burnt
bones often reveals the structure of the pyre and the position of the deceased on the pyre. After the pyre had burnt
down, additional grave goods and, occasionally, the remains
of the funeral feast were placed on top of the burnt remains.
Only a few well documented early cremation cemeteries
are known from Pannonia (Aquincum, Savaria). Although
several variants of the cremation rite could be observed
within a cemetery, traits that were only typical of an individual settlement could often be noted within a smaller
area, suggesting an ethnic background for these local elements. These include the house shaped urns used by the
Latobici in southwestern Pannonia and the wagon burials
of the Eravisci in northeastern Pannonia (Fig. 65).
Fig. 65. Detail of the tombstone of a native family. Dunapentele,
mid-2nd century A.D.
3rd centuries. Cremation was slowly supplanted by inhumation, a rite that became near-exclusive by the 4th century. Most scholars have invoked the political and economic
changes in the empire and the diffusion of religions holding
out the promise of resurrection as an explanation for this
change. The slow change in burial practices can best be
traced in large, continuously used municipal cemeteries,
such as the ones at Aquincum and Intercisa. On the testimony of the grave goods, some of the cemeteries opened in
the early Roman period were abandoned in the 3rd century.
The new cemeteries of the 4th century can be distinguished
from the earlier ones both by the burial rite and the grave
goods. Although the practice of cremation enjoyed a short
revival in the early 4th century, inhumation remained the
dominant rite in this period.
The sarcophagus burials along the roads leading out of
towns marked the first appearance of inhumation burials
with lavish grave goods (Fig. 68). At first, the sarcophagi
were simply placed on the ground. The richly ornamented
and often inscribed sarcophagi with depictions in relief date
to this period. Later they were sunk into the ground to protect them from grave robbers.
Although inhumation burials show fewer variations than
cremation burials, a number of different rites can nonetheless be distinguished. Most inhumation burials were simple
affairs. The deceased were occasionally laid to rest in
wooden coffins, but most often they were simply wrapped
in a shroud before being lowered into the grave pit. Graves
lined with stone slabs imitated sarcophagi. The stones for
these graves were often taken from the stones of earlier
cemeteries that were no longer in use. The secondarily used
stones provide a wealth of information about the earlier,
lavishly ornamented funeral monuments. Brick graves and
Fig. 68. Sarcophagus with an inhumation burial. Brigetio, early 4th
century A.D.
Burials | 255
graves made from stone and bricks without mortar were
also quite frequent during the late Roman period.
The rather narrow sarcophagi and the graves constructed without the use of a binding agent left little space
for food and drink offerings this being one of the reasons
for the conspicuous decline of pottery in burials from the
3rd century on. Costume ornaments, jewellery and other
articles were better preserved in inhumation burials that
also contained a variety of utilitarian articles, such as spindle
whorls, iron knives, distaffs, etc.
The mummy burials appearing in Pannonia in the early
4th century represent a special burial type (Fig. 69). The
corpses unearthed in Aquincum, Brigetio and Intercisa
were conserved using a complicated process and wrapped
into four or five layers of cloth saturated with a resinous solution. The left arm was extended along the body and was
wrapped up together with the body laid on its back in an extended position, while the right arm was laid across the
chest and bandaged separately. The mummified corpse was
then placed on a mat inside the coffin. In these burials, the
conservation agent often preserved the remains of plants
(flowers, fruits) that were placed into the grave. A fragment
of the portrait of a man painted onto a wooden chest has
survived in one of the mummy graves from Aquincum. The
eastern custom of mummification was probably brought to
Pannonia by an eastern population group. This is the
northernmost occurrence of this rite.
The 4th century inhumation burials are conspicuously
poorer in grave goods than the burials of earlier periods.
This can in part be explained by the burial rite and in part
by the economic decline, as well as by the increasingly frequent grave robbing. In contrast to the varied grave goods
of the former period, the grave furniture was relatively uniform in the late Roman period. The most characteristic
grave goods were costume ornaments and jewellery articles
(earrings, necklaces, bracelets, brooches, buckles and strap
ends). Pottery and glass vessels (jugs, cups, beakers and the
occasional bowl) occur but rarely among the grave goods,
with individual burials containing fewer types and pieces.
Fig. 69. Mummy grave. Aquincum, earlier 4th century A.D.
Tools, implements and weapons too were seldom deposited. At the same time, coins appear more frequently, although these are often unsuitable for dating the burial.
The later 4th century was marked by a conspicuous rise
in the number of graves that can be associated with Barbarian peoples, found alongside the burials of the provincial
population. The grave goods of foreign origin (Sarmatian
and Germanic wares), the unusual and exotic burial customs
all reflect the arrival of new population groups. Their
graves often occur alongside the burials of the local population (SopronHtuls Street, BudapestGazdagrt), indicating the contemporaneous and joint use of the cemetery,
often extending into the decades after the 4th century.
The burial sites of the Christian communities form a separate group among the 4th century cemeteries. These can usually be found in the major centres of this religion (Sopianae,
Savaria, Aquincum). The simple burials generally contained
few grave goods (a lamp, a cup or a jug) and they were usually
arranged around a central burial (usually the grave of a martyr). The cemeteries of the Christian communities can
generally be identified on the basis of these central burials
with their distinct architectural features (mortuary chapel).
The Christian burial sites usually lie apart from other cemeteries. In the case of larger settlements, a separate area was set
aside for this religious community in the municipal cemetery
(Aquincum, northern cemetery of the military town).
BURIALS AND SETTLEMENT LAYOUT
In accordance with Roman law, the cemeteries of Pannonia
were also established along the roads leading out of the settlements (Arrabona, Brigetio, Intercisa). The area set aside
for the burial ground was divided into parcels and individual families used these parcels as a family graveyard. One of
the best examples of this practice has been documented at
Aquincum. The cemeteries established along the major
roads leading out of the seat of the proconsul remained in
use throughout the Roman period, although with varying
intensity. Beside the permanent cemeteries containing
many hundreds, often many thousands of graves, a number
of smaller cemeteries used for shorter periods of time have
also been found these were abandoned after major urban
rebuilding projects and new ones were opened in their
stead. Beside the municipal cemeteries and the cemeteries
of smaller settlements, the manor houses and the villa farms
also had their own burial grounds.
In the earlier period, the cemeteries lay farther away
from the settlements, drawing gradually closer and by the
late Roman period grave parcels were often opened in the
unoccupied settlement parts, especially in the towns. The
parcel system and group burials can also be observed in
some late cemeteries (Aquincum, Intercisa). Towards the
close of the Roman period, in the 4th century, new cemeteries were only opened in the unoccupied areas of smaller
settlements (Tokod, BudapestGazdagrt). These cemeter-
resentations and motifs have enabled the identification of individual stonecutter workshops, such as the ones in Aquincum, where in addition to the stonecutters workshop of the
legion, stonecutters organized into collegia were also active.
Beside rather schematic tombstones taken from the patternbooks, these workshops also turned out a number of charming
portraits (Fig. 70). The female figures on the tombstones of
the local population appear in the traditional Celtic costume.
Wagon scenes, offerings and scenes of the funeral feast were
popular themes on Pannonian tombstones. Reliefs depicting
mythological events were more common in smaller graveyards and on the sepulchral monuments enclosed by walls
from the mid-2nd century. In addition to Dionysiac depictions and Romes foundation myth, the figures of Orestes,
Medea and the Dioscuri were also quite popular (Fig. 71). The
Fig. 72. Relief ornamented sarcophagus from Aquincum
Burials | 257
creation of graveyards and the erection of grave steles and sepulchral monuments was rather expensive. It is therefore
hardly surprising that the grave inscriptions usually record the
cost of the sepulchral monument and also the amount that a
particular collegium had contributed.
The Pannonian grave memorials did not simply commemorate the deceased persons on carved stones, but often
honoured them with a poem. A certain poet called Lupus,
known from a grave inscriptions found in Aquincum, no
Fig. 74. Burial chamber. Pcs
recently discovered cemetery at Edde has also been surveyed and mapped, together with the tumuli at Szalacska/
Mosds, where both prehistoric and Roman period
mounds have been identified. Sadly, a number of tumulus
burial grounds, such as the ones at Juta and Orci, have
been completely destroyed.
The discovery of a wagon burial under mound 2 at Inota
has convincingly proven that tumulus and wagon burials
should not necessarily be separated. The draught and saddle horses found in the same tumulus cast new light on the
tombstones bearing wagon depictions. The scenes showing
wagons pulled by two horses, often accompanied by a third
horse, on many tombstones apparently reflected genuine
burial customs (cp. Fig. 70).
The large tumulus of Balca is unique among the burial
mounds of Noricum and Pannonia owing to its size and its
enclosing wall with a stepped base, crowned by a carved
cornice. This monument shows cultural influences from Italy, similarly to the groundplan and the decoration of the
villa built in the late 2ndearly 3rd century (Fig. 77).
The dromos, the corridor, found in a few burial chambers
too reflects Italian cultural influences among the tumuli of
Burials | 259
Zala county and the burial mound uncovered at Kemenesszentpter in Veszprm county. The tambours, the circular
stone walls of Italian grave monuments, have their modest
counterparts in the small enclosure wall at Inota. The custom
of painting the burial chambers walls and the corridors was
also adopted from Italy. The walls were covered by painting
imitating marble wall veneer or leaf motifs and floral patterns,
as well as network patterns. The corners and the furniture
placed in the burial chamber were framed in red.
In Europe, the custom of erecting an earthen mound over
the burials can be observed since the Neolithic. The toponym
Szzhalom (hundred mounds), cropping up often in field
and forest names throughout Transdanubia, usually retain
the memory of large Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age
tumulus cemeteries. It has been suggested that the forerunners of the early Roman period tumulus graves in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire, appearing from the later
1st century, should be sought in these prehistoric tumuli owing to the resemblance between them, even though there was
a rather long moundless period between the two. It is still
unclear why the custom of raising a mound over burials was
revived in the Roman period.
The army troops stationed in the province, the representatives of Italian merchant houses and other civilians from Italy
may have played a role in the revival of this burial custom
since they often erected burial mounds similar to the Italian
ones over their own and their families graves. The epigraphic
evidence and the grave goods suggest that the individuals
whose ashes were found beneath the mounds were in part
members of the native population and in part Italian immigrants, such as landowners and other individuals who were
members of the municipal administration and whose personal
possessions included provincial wares and articles. The erection of burial mounds could also reflected differences in rank
and social standing within the community, as shown by the
burials of a middle-aged and a young man under the two
tumuli in Inota, each furnished with a wagon, draught and
saddle horses and a rich grave inventory of weapons and tableware sets (Fig. 78).
Funerary structures under the mounds were more frequent in the burials along the Amber Road. The tumuli at
Balca and Inota near Vrpalota, north of Lake Balaton,
represent the easternmost Pannonian occurrence of tumuli
with a dromos and painted or stuccoed burial chambers enclosed by stone walls.
Mounds were usually smaller in eastern Pannonia. The
diameter of the smallest mounds was 34 m, their height
measured 0.2 m. The burial mounds at Hant and the re-
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