Deac D., Being an Isiac in Potaissa. Short Remarks on RICIS 616-0102 (=CIL III 882) (ReDIIVA I, 2013)

REVISTA DOCTORANZILOR NISTORIE VECH RHEOLOGIE

ReDIVA

THE POSTGRADUATE JOURNALOF ANCIENT HISTORY AND

ARCHAEOLOGY

I / 2013

E I A

CLUJ-NAPOCA2013

5CONTENTS

Foreword 7

AlexAndru BerzovAnSome remarks on the Dacian silver hoard found at Gura Vii (Plecua Town, Arad County) 9

AurorA PeAnSarmizegetusa Regia in the Austrian map of 1804 29

SzAB CSABAThe Mithraic Statue of Secundinus from Apulum 45

dAn deACBeing an Isiac in Potaissa. Short remarks on Ricis 616/0102 (= cil III 882) 65

BodA ImolATorma Kroly (1829-1897) and the archaeological research in Roman Dacia. Case study: Iliua 75

Ion CeBAnArchologische denkmler in der gemeinde Slobozia Mare, Bezirk Cahul, Republik Moldau 107

vlAdImIr ovtChArovCountermarked coinage of Dobrudja. A detailed investigation (case report) 129

ReDIVA I/2013, p. 65-73

BEING AN ISIAC IN POTAISSA. SHORT REMARKS ON RICIS 616/0102 (= CIL III 882)

Dan-Augustin DEAC PhD Candidate, Babe-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, RO

E-mail: [email protected]

Apuleius, Met. XI 5: [] et qui nascentis dei solis inchoantibus inlustrantur radiis Aethiopes utrique priscaque doctrina pollentes Aegyptii caerimoniis me propriis percolentes appellant vero nomine reginam isidem.

Abstract. The author of this paper aims to observe the importance of the recently rediscovered statue base with the Latin inscription informing about the presence of a professional organization, namely collegium, in the Roman town of Potaissa (Dacia Porolissensis), created around the religious manifestations dedicated to the goddess Isis. Based on analogies we will try to comprehend the role of this collegium in daily life activities and also to analyze the internal organization of the collegium isidis, to which the inscription on the statue base offers us a unique insight1.

Keywords: Potaissa, Isis, collegium, religion, Dacia Porolissensis.

As recent research suggests, Potaissa seems to be a very important centre for the diffusion of the cultic manifestations towards the so-called Isiac divinities in the area of the province of Dacia Porolissensis (see fig. 2).2 These religious manifestations, represented

1 This work was possible with the financial support of the Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007-2013, co-financed by the European Social Fund, under the project number POSDRU/107/1.5/S/77946 with the title Doctorate: an Attractive Research Career.

2 About the entire phenomenon of the presence of Isiac manifestations in Dacia Porolissensis the author of this paper prepares a thorough study. For now some

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by the artifacts found in Potaissa, generally date beginning with the Severan dynasty3 and stretch up to the mid third century A.D.

Epigraphically, Isis, Sarapis and their sunnaoi theoi are attested only twice in Dacia Porolissensis, both examples coming from the same place, namely Potaissa4. One text is inscribed on an altar dedicated to Isis and Sarapis by a centurion of the Vth Macedonica legion, called C. Iulius Antigonus and his wife Flavia Apollinaria (fig. 1b)5. But the second example is truly remarkable6.

Recently rediscovered (fig. 1a)7, the limestone monument informing about the existence of a collegium isidis in Potaissa is in fact a statue base (and not an altar as suggested in the bibliography), due to the fact that it does not have in the upper part a pediment typical for altars or a focus. Based on analogies from Cologne (colonia claudia Ara Agrippinensium)8,

bibliography about this subject can be mentioned: Brbulescu 2006, p. 351-360; Brbulescu 2009, p. 77-90 for Potaissa and Deac 2012, p. 159-174 for Porolissum. Certain cases in other settlements in the province of Dacia Porolissensis are for now inexistent but possible in the colonia of Napoca or in the auxiliary forts and adjacent vicii of Bologa and Buciumi.

3 During the period of Septimius Severus reign, a Roman municipium and rapidly after that an up-graded colonia emerged, probably as a sign of gratitude towards the Vth Macedonica legion and the province of Dacia for the help and support for Septimius Severus in the civil wars from 193-197 A.D. For the subject of urban developement see: Brbulescu 1994 passim, Benea 2004 , p. 390-393 and more recently Crjan 2010, p. 68-71 and especially notes 515, 516 and 517. The manifestations do not necessarily represent a climax but rather a proof of the local populations financial power at this time.

4 For all three Dacian provinces see Cristea, Tecar 2010, p. 255-282.5 Seivert 1773, p. 93, no. CXXIX; Neigebaur 1851, p. 202, no. 14; CIL III 881;

Ackner, Mller 1865, p. 141, no. 661; Drexler 1890, p. 53; Popescu 1927, p. 200; Floca 1935, p. 220, note 20; SIRIS 697; Russu 1975, p. 418; Sanie 1975, p. 533; Popa 1979, p. 28-29; Malaise 1984, p. 1679; Takcs 1995, p. 201; Popescu 2004, p. 152-155; Nemeti 2005, p. 350, no. 2; RICIS 725, no. 616/0101; Brbulescu 2006, p. 355; Pribac 2006, p. 263, nr. 344; Budischovsky 2007, p. 278; Brbulescu 2009, p. 82; Cristea, Tecar 2010, p. 258, catalogue no. 20; Carb Garcia 2010, p. 397 and p. 1001-1002, no. 292. The text goes as follows: isidi / et serapi / c(aius) iul(ius) Ant / igonus (centurio) / leg(ionis) p(iae) c(onstantis) / et Fl(avia) Apo / llinaria / eius v(otum) l(ibens) s(olvit).

6 For an aegyptiaca repertoire of Potaissa see: Nemeti 2005, p. 349-355; Brbulescu 2006, p. 351-360; Brbulescu 2009, p. 77-90; Carb Garcia 2010, p. 396-399 and for the mapping of the finds see Bricault 2001, p. 34-35, map VIII, p. 29.

7 On this occasion I would want to show my gratitude to PhD candidate Radu Zgreanu, the person responsible for the rediscovery of the monument and the author of the picture I use.

8 RICIS 610/0102 and 610/0111.

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Being an Isiac in Potaissa. Short remarks on Ricis 616/0102 (= cil III 882)

we consider the fact that on this base an Isis tronans must have been depicted, made most probably of limestone too. We also consider the fact that the monument dates from the end of the second century A.D., due to the tria nomina of the dedicators (this hypothesis was first raised by M. Brbulescu)9, and the argument of the emergence of the Isiac religion in the area during this period (this statement has to be put in the general frame of the diffusion of the cults in the area of the Middle and Lower Danube during the period of Marcus Aurelius and onwards). The text gives us a glimpse of the internal structure of this collegium10. It had a pater, named C. Iulius Martialis, a president of the collegium11, although they were usually run by quinquennales12. Also the inscription mentions a quaestor, a man dealing with the financial status of the collegium, named L. Livius Victorinus. As L. Bricault demonstrates, these kind of religious associations were charging a periodical tax, the cash flow going directly in the hands of the quaestor to be managed13. But who were the people that contributed to this collegium isidis and what was its role in the activities of the people of Potaissa?

The collegia were never formed around Isis and Sarapis but separately every time14. The members were from different parts of the social scale and from different backgrounds, men and women equally playing a

9 Brbulescu 2006, p. 355.10 Gruter 1603, p. 83, 11; Seivert 1773, p. 91, no. CXXVI; Neigebaur 1851, p. 202,

no. 14; CIL III 882; Ackner, Mller 1865, p. 141, no. 662 (citing also the manuscript of A. Huszti called Dacia Mediteraneea, Bruckentaliana VI, Sibiu); Drexler 1890, p. 53; ILS 4361; D.O. Popescu 1927, p. 199; Floca 1935, p. 220-238; SIRIS 698; Russu 1975, p. 418-419; Sanie 1975, p. 531; Popa 1979, p. 21-22; Malaise 1984, p. 1679; Vidman 1989, p. 1001-1003 (entire province); Bricault 1994, p. 84 no. 3.8. 25; Takcs 1995, p. 201-202; Ardevan 1998, p. 426, no. 428; Sanie 2004, p. 72; RICIS 725-726, no. 616/0102; pl. 125; Nemeti 2005, p. 350, no. 1; Nemeti 2005a, p. 320, note 449; Brbulescu 2006, p. 355; Pribac 2006, p. 259, no. 268; Budischovsky 2007, p. 277-279; Brbulescu 2009, p. 81-82; Cristea Tecar 2010, p. 259, catalogue no. 6; Carb Garcia 2010, p. 1002-1003, no. 293; Bricault 2012, p. 99, note 62. The text is: isidi Myrioni / mae C(aius) Iul(ius) Mar / tialis pater et / L(ucius) Livius Victori / nus quaestor / collegio isidis d(e)d(icaverunt).

11 Brbulescu 2009, p. 81.12 Bricault 2012, p. 99, there are cases of patroni as head of collegia. 13 There were people dealing with the collecting of the money, see Bricault

2012, p. 99, and RICIS 501/0152 (= CIL VI 355): cn. Domitius cn(aei) f(ilius) Firmus / sacerdos / isidi triumphali / basim / s(ua) p(ecunia) d(ono) d(edit) / Adlector collegi ipsius.

14 Three other epigraphic sources mention collegia of Isis in the western part of the Roman Empire namely at Rome (RICIS 501/0135 and maybe RICIS 501/0152) and Aeternum (Pescara) (RICIS 508/0501).

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more or less important role in the cultic manifestations and ceremonies15. In Potaissa, the number of the members must have been representative (judging by the urge of gathering in a religious association) only a part of them, probably like C. Iulius Martialis and L. Livius Victorinus being initiated in the mysteries of Isis16. In one case, in Arles, the association of the pastophores of Isis is powerful enough to secure booked places in the amphitheater.17 Probably in Potaissa too, the isiaci played an important and active political role as shown in Pompey where they manifest their political support in the elections for Cnaeus Helvius Sabinus18 and Cuspius Pansa as aediles19. One thing is for sure: probably sometimes in the time of Septimius Severus reign, the isiaci of Potaissa, organized in a collegium, had enough money to erect a statue to their beloved goddess Isis which nowadays is lost. One question still needs to be answered: where did the worshipers of Isis gather?

The idea of the existence of a temple in Potaissa dedicated to Isis20 or to Isis and Sarapis is presumed in the Romanian literature21. In some cases, like in salona or Ostia the followers of Isis or Sarapis, organized in cultic associations, had not erected a temple, just altars, simply because in some cases they were marines, travelling in and out of these cities22. On the other hand, in Potaissa, circumstantial evidence tends to imply a dedication of a temple of Isis (but not to Sarapis, too!).23 Unfortunately, until archaeological or epigraphic proof come to light this possibility remains only on a speculative level.

In the end we can only add the fact that the importance of this unique inscribed monument is crucial for the study of isiacology, a text

15 Bricault 2012, p. 97-101.16 About the initiations and cultic practices in the cult of Isis and other sunnaoi

theoi, one of the most recent studies regarding the matter is Alvar 2008, p. 305- 344.17 CIL XII 714; SIRIS 726; RICIS 605/0401; Bricault 2012, p. 97, note 48.18 RICIS 504/0209 with the older bibliography.19 RICIS 504/0210 with the older bibliography. In the second graffiti the

voice of the isiaci is represented by Popidius Natalis, a very well known figure and follower of Isis in Pompey.

20 Nemeti 2005, p. 352; Deac 2012a, p. 229-230.21 Brbulescu 1994, p. 70-71; Brbulescu 2009, p. 83. 22 Bricault 2012, p. 101.23 I am tempted to consider a dedication solely for Isis because there are very

few examples of temples erected for Isis and Sarapis, the most important being the one from Rome (Lembke 1994). Otherwise the temples (isea) were dedicated for Isis (sometimes in a syncretism with other goddesses, like in the case of Mogontiacum, where a temple Isis and Magna Mater was built, see Witteyer 2004) or for Sarapis (serapea) (Mckenzie et al. 2004, p. 73-121).

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Being an Isiac in Potaissa. Short remarks on Ricis 616/0102 (= cil III 882)

which shades light to the way worshipers of Isis managed to organize in the settlement of Potaissa. These worshipers played an important part in the settlements religious life, making Potaissa probably the most important worship centre of Isis in the Dacian provinces.

ABREVIATIONS

AIIA Anuarul Institutului de Istorie i Arheologie, Cluj-Napoca (continued as AIIC).

ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der rmichen Welt. Geshichte und Kultur Roms in spiegel der neueren Forschung (eds. H. Temporini, W. Haase), Berlin-New York, 1970.

CIL corpus inscriptionum latinarum, Berlin, 1863-.EPRO tudes prliminaires aux religions orientales dans lEmpire Romain,

series edited by M. J. Vermaseren, 113 vol, Leyden 1961-1990.

JRS Journal of Roman studies, Cambridge, 1910-.SIRIS L. Vidman, sylloge inscriptiorum religionis isiacae et sarapi acae,

RGVV 28, Berlin, 1969.

RGRW Religions in the Greco- Roman World, edited by H.S. Versnel, R. Van den Broek et al., numbered from the last EPRO 114, Leiden, 1992.

RGVV Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, 1 (1903)- 27(1939); 28 (1969) Berlin.

RICIS L. Bricault, Recueil des inscriptions concernant les cultes isiaques (Ricis), Paris, 2005.

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Ackner, Mller 1865

J. Ackner, F. Mller, Die Rmischen Inschriften in Dacien, Wien, 1865.

Alvar 2008 J. Alvar, Romanising Oriental Gods. Myth, Salvation and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis and Mythras, RGRW 165, Leiden-Boston, 2008.

Ardevan 1998 R. Ardevan, Viaa municipal n Dacia roman, Timioara, 1998.

Brbulescu 2009 M. Brbulescu, Cultele egiptene la Potaissa, in Signum originis. Religie, art i societate n Dacia roman, Bucureti, 2009, p. 77-90, fig. 1-9.

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Brbulescu 2006 M. Brbulescu, cultele egiptene la Potaissa, in C. Gaiu, C. Gazdac (eds.), Fontes Historiae, Studia in honorem Demetrii Protase, Cluj-Napoca-Bistria, 2006, p. 351-360.

Brbulescu 1994 M. Brbulescu, Potaissa. Studiu monografic (Dissertationes Musei Potaissensis, 1), Turda, 1994.

Benea 2004 D. Benea, septime svre et l`urbanization de la province de Dacie, in L. Ruscu et al. (eds.), Orbis Antiquus. Studia in honorem Ioannis Pisonis, Cluj-Napoca, 2004, p. 390-393.

Bricault 2012 L. Bricault, Associations isiaques d`Occident. in Demeter, isis, Vesta, and cybele, in A. Mastrocinque, C.G. Scibona (eds.), Studies in Greek and Roman religion in honour of Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, Stuttgart 2012, p. 91-104.

Bricault 2001 L. Bricault, Atlas de la diffusion des cultes isiaques, Paris, 2001.

Bricault 1994 L. Bricault, isis myrionime, in C. Berger, G. Clerc, N. Grimal (eds.), Hommage Jean Leclant, vol. 3, IFAO, p. 67-86.

Budischovsky 2007 M. C. Budischovsky, Tmoignages isiaques en Dacie (106-271 ap. J.-c.) : cultes et Romanisation, in : Nile into Tiber. Egypt in the Roman World. Proceedings of the IIIrd International Conference of Isis Studies, Leiden, May 11-14 2005, RGRW, Leiden-Boston, 2007, p. 267- 288.

Carb Garcia 2010 J.R. Carb Garcia, Los Cultos orientales en la Dacia romana. Formas de diffusin, integracin, y control social e ideolgico, Salamanca, 2010.

Crjan 2010 R. Crjan, Statute citadine privilegiate n provinciile dunrene ale Imperiului Roman, Cluj-Napoca, 2010.

Cristea, Tecar 2010 . Cristea, T. Tecar, Isis i Serapis n epigrafia Daciei romane, in Viorica Rusu-Bolinde, Tudor Slgean, Rada Varga (eds.), Studia Archaeologica et Historica in honorem magistri Dorin Alicu, Cluj-Napoca, 2010, p. 255- 282.

Deac 2012 D.A. Deac, Romanized Egyptian Gods in Porolissum, Sargetia, III, S. N., XXXIX, 2012, p. 159-174.

Deac 2012a D.A. Deac, Note on the Apis Bull Representations in Roman Dacia, Ephemeris Napocensis, XXII, 2012, p. 223-234.

Drexler 1890 W. Drexler, Der Cultus der gyptichen Gottheiten in der Donaulnder, Leipzieg, 1890.

Floca 1935 O. Floca, i culti Orientali nella Dacia, Ephemeris Daco-Romana, VI, 1935, p. 220-238.

Gruter 1603 J. Gruter, Inscriptiones antiquae, Heidelberg, 1603.

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Being an Isiac in Potaissa. Short remarks on Ricis 616/0102 (= cil III 882)

Lembke 1994 K. Lembke, Das Iseum Campense in Rom: Studie ber den Isiskult unter Domitian, Archologie und Geschichte 3 , Heidelberg, 1994.

Mckenzie et al. 2004 J.S. Mckenzie, S. Gibson, A.T. Reyes, Reconstructing the serapeum in Alexandria from the Archaeological Evidence, JRS, 94, 2004, p. 73-121.

Neigebaur 1851 J. F. Neigebaur, Dakien aus der Uberresten des klassischen Alterthums, mit besonderen Rcksicht auf Siebenbrgen, Kronstadt, 1851.

Nemeti 2005 I. Nemeti, Isis n colecia Botr, in C. Mueeanu, M. Brbulescu, D. Benea (eds.), Corona laurea. Studii n onoarea Luciei eposu-Marinescu, Bucureti, 2005, p. 349-355.

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Moldovei, XXVII, 2004, p. 61-82.

Sanie 1975 S. Sanie, Quelques considrations sur les cultes grco-gyptiennes en Dacie roumaine, in: Actes de la XII-e Confrence internationale dEtudes Classiques EIRENE, Cluj-Napoca 2-7 oct. 1972, Cluj- Napoca, 1975, p. 529-537.

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Fig. 1. The two inscriptions, statue base and altar discovered in Potaissa, attesting the presence of the gods Isis and Sarapis (photo Radu Zgreanu statue base and Dan Deac altar).

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Being an Isiac in Potaissa. Short remarks on Ricis 616/0102 (= cil III 882)

CIL III 881

ISIDIET SERAPIC IVL ANTIGONVS 7

5 LEG V M P cET FL APOLLINARIAEIVS VLS

CIL III 882

ISIDI MYRIONI MAE C IVL MAR TIALIS PATER ET L LIVIVS VICTORI

5 NVS QVESTOR COLLEGIO ISIDIS D D

Fig. 2. The inscriptions after CIL.

Fig. 3. Map of the diffusion of the Isiac cults in Dacia Porolissensis.