Roman portraiture from Durostorum and its territory. Dacia, XXXVI, 1992.

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•L' ,.". NOUVELLE SERlE

ROMAN PORTRAITURE FROM DLIROSTORUMAND ITS TERRITORY

In Si1istra (ancient Durostorum) and in its vicinity about 21 monuments of Roman })or-traitUl'e have been discovered so far, represented hy head;-;,husts and statues in full height 1. Themonnments are kept in the HiRtorical Museum of Silistra, the National Archaeological MuseuIl1in Sofia, the Archaeological Institute, Historical Museum. in Bucharest and the Museum ofNational History and Archaeolog~' in Constanta in Romania. Some of the portraits have beenlost and are knO\yn only from the publications (with brief information and analysif;) of Bulgarianand l~omanian scholarI', from the first half of the 20th centlU'~T.Another group of monument,f;was published more fully in the 60-70's and a third group is still unknown. In our articlewe introduce in scientific circulation the new portraits of the recent decades and. '3>tthe sametime we try to s.v;-;tematizethe numerous materials. The obsen'ations on the iconography and;-;tyle (naturally ·within the framework of the article) are used in order to trace some aspectsof the art, culture and topography of DUl'ostorum and its territory, as well as to reyea,}the role of the portrait as an indicator of the degree of Romanization.

Chronologically the portraiture from Durostorum can be traced over a comparativelylong period from the first century A. n. to the fourth century A. D. The earliest examplesare from the first century and represent two men. The first one is a ;:;polia, found accordingto P. Donevski in the region of the canabae (fig. 1 a-c) 2. The form of the head if; rare forthe present-day Bulgarian landR. This is a mobile head, to be inserted in the special hole ofthe statue, made :o;eparatelyfrom the head - a frequent case in Roman portraiture in generaland the second case in Bulgarian lands 3. At that eady Roman time for the Northern Bal-kans mobile heads were usually brought from the metropolis or from some important art centreby a special courier or dispatch-rider to mark a natural or a violent change of the dynasty, lead-ing to a new image of the emperor 4. The head from Durostorum has another peculiarity,because it was reworked later in order to achieve a new iconographic and stylistic type. Thereusing of portraits is known by two terms: damnatio memoriae and palimpseste 5. Since thereareno traces of damnatio of the facial features on the monument from Silistra, the head is simplyreused. Now we describe only the first type, which is ovbiou;:;ly official, of an emperor or hiRsucceRsor,while t,}le second type. will be analysed further.

;Judging by the remnant", of the hair-style, there is a horizontalloek, not destroyed duringthe late stage of re-working. aboye the right temporal. The original lowe;:;t row with curls, inthe form of a slightly eurved ;:;emieirele. appears at the neck's l'ear. Alw original are the eye-brows, treated a", a sharp boundary between both surfaces. The rounded eyes, with thickenedupper eyelids, initially did not posse:-;spupils and irises. The lips ale i"mall and full and thelo·werone is slightly protruding. T,yo horizontal skin flaps, ,,,hieh occur both with men's andwomen's portraits, are in front of the neck.

1 The hasic part of this article consis ts of an unpublishedreport of Y. Popova<\Ioroz, presented on the Second Con-fel'ence ":\ortheastern Bulgaria. Antiquity and .\IodernTime", hdd in Hazgrad in 1985. All the unpuhlished monu-ments, except one, had hecn kindly oUcred for pUblicutionto Y. Popovu-Moroz by P. Dunevski in 197H, to whom weexpress our deepest gratitUde.

2 Silistra llistorical Museum (hence SIDI), old inv. nr.1195--382010 from 1960, new inv. nr. 2125. White fine-grained marble \yjLh slight bluish nuance. Total heigh 0.38 m ;only of the head 0.205; max. width 0.16 m; only of thetenon in front 0.08 em; at the rear 0.16 em. l'npublished,

mentioned by Y. Popova-:\Ioroz in Roman Porlrailurt {rom 3.t.in flulgaria, in JWral/o U!Iiciale e Rilml/o l'ril'alo. AI/i deliaJ 1 Con{ercnza Inlcrwllionale Romano, Home, I!J8S p. ,12;" note:1.7. For the excavations of the Homan camp and eanahac seeboth articles of P.Dunevski, Hatiarensia, :3-4, 1\l87. 239-··242and also his A.l'dlllco[lJyitul Jnucsliyalios o{ Ihe Camps und Ca-nabue o{ XI C!mzdiunLegion in DurIJslIJrllllJ (in Duly.), Silislra,1988, 81-\J7.

:J i'\ational Archaeological Museum, Sofia (hence :\:.\1\1),111'. 1.J.17, see 1. Shkorpil, IHAIK, 10, 190i), pI. elll 12.

1 C. Stuart, AJA, 43, 1939, 601-610.5 '\1. Bergmann, P. Zanker, JDAI, 96, Hl81, 317--·3·13;

II. Jucker, JDAl, 96, 236-316.

The coiffure, the features and the treatment of the eyes are charactl:'ristic of the por-traiture of the first century A. D, with the exception of the Flavias. The strongly bUlgedcheeks and the mild and rounded chin resemble the portraiture of the Julo-Olaudians.6 At afirst glance. such a comparatively early date for a Roman I)ortrait in Bulgarian lands seemsunlikely. The municipium Durostorum was announced very late, not before the time of MarcusAurelius - the Severans - and the data on the site from the first centurv are still very scar-ce.7 However, one should not forget that the Emperor's cult image was worshipped" in theold pre-Homan towns conquered by the 110mans and in the newly created Roman militarysites and camps. In Mesembria a statue was devoted to Claudius, in OdeflS03- two statues toTitus and in Bononia-probably to Nero, widely worshipped among the scldiers (,n the LowerDanube Up to Ohersonnesus in Orimea 8. For instance in Durostorum wele billeted the ThirdGallian, the Fourth Flavian, the Fifth Alauda legions, the First Hispanic cohrort and other auxi-liaries for a long or a short span from A.D. 46 up to A.D. 118 and probably some tombsand necropoles from the end of the 1st-beginning of the 2nd century, discovered in Silistra,belon~ namely to those armies and to the population of the site at that time.9

The mobile head is also interesting with another peculiarity. There are remnants of a palered-pinkish line on the forehead, at the beginning of the coiffure, and such two spots on thecheeks. In Antiquity and in Roman times too the stone and terracotta statues were coveredwith special polychl'omy with semantic and decorative purposes. 10 As the colour on the Silistrahead is not the so-called "Pompenian red", but quite paler, it is not sure if this is the typicalancient polychl'omy or a modern intervention.

The second head of a man (fig. 2) 11 has been recently discovered in the depository ofthe Silistra Museum without any Inventory Number or data about the provenance. This headis not known from the publications. So this was probably an accidental find at the beginningof our century, when indexing in the local collection had not been introduced yet.

The coiffure is similar to the mobile head, but the fringe is longer and the locks are largerand more generalized. The locks are falling down from the pate to the forehead and in horizon-tal lines to the temple. A narrow lock in front of the ear is replacing a short whisker. The hairfrom the left ear to the pate and the neck's rear are entirely damaged. Only the lowest semi-circular row in a lower relief is preserved. The eyebrows are again treated as a boundary be-tween two surfaces. The big, long, almond-shaped eyes have slightly protrUding orbits, narroweyelids, without pupils and irises. The forehead is smooth, but around the nose there are placedtwo wrinkles or the beginning of them. The nose and the lower part of the face with the mouthare not preserved.

This coiffure was borrowed from Olassical Greek portraits and was used in Roman por-traiture up to the 4th century. The bad state of the head from Silistra does not allow to pro-pose a strict date. However, the period between the Flavians and Hadrian is suggested by thea,bsence of pupils and irises, the generalIzed treatment of the locks and the more severe hand-ling of the face, met in the portraiture of Domitian and Trajan 12. The comparatively large sizeof the head, on the boundary of life-size and over-life-size is an additional, but not absoluteargument to consider the monument an official portrait. This monument fills the chronologicalgap ot this period in the Roman portraitme of Bulgaria, although there is epigraphic evidencefor official statues of the same period 13.

Another head from Silistra is also adding to the picture of the period. A head of a womanwas discovered near the centre of Silistra and is pro bably a part of a statue (fig. 3 a - b) 14.

The face is very damaged: the nose, the left eye and the mouth are missing. On the head thereare placed three visible sleek hoops, encircling it, low above the forehead and dividedinto two parts in the middle. The ,videst part of each hoop is in the middle of the head,

G H. Jucker, op. cit., fig. 12, 15, 16; J. Kiss, L'icono-graphie des princes julio-claudiens, Varsovie, 1984.

7 Y. Popova-Moroz in International Conference on AntiqueBronzes, held in Stara Zagora in 1985 (under press) and theliterature cited there.

B Ibidem •. O. Neverov, Proiwedenija iskusstlJa anticnyhmasterov, Leningrnd, 1982, 101-111.

9 Y. Gerassimova-Tomova, in Bulgaria 1300. Institutionsand State Traditions, II, Sofia, 1982, 95-99; St. Angelova,Arheologija Sofia, 3, 1973, 83-93.

10 P. Heuterwiird, Studien zar Polychromic der GricchlandIll1d Rom, Stockholm, 1960, p. 164, 174, 178, 246.

11 New in\'. nr. 2126; total height 0.30 m; of the headtiself 0.28 m; totnl width 0.20 m.

12 :\1. l3erhmann, P. Zanker, "Damnatio memorial'''

(Domitian); J. Inan, E. Alftildi·Rosenbaum, Rlimische undfrilhbyzantinische Portrillplastie aUs der Tilrkei Neue Funde,Mainz am Rhein, 1979, nr. 39, 40, 134 (Trajan) and the lastquarter of the 1st c.A.D. - n. 247, 248.

1a The only statue of the period (the end oflst-begininngof the 2nd c.) is togatus from Ulpia Oescus, see V. Dobrusky,SbNUjMsb, 18, 1901, nr. 50, fig. 40; one more head of agirl from NAM, see V. Popova-Moroz, in International "Con-gress on Bulgaristics, Sofia, 1988, v. 16, p. 29, fig. 1.

14 SMH, old nr. 1193-36, 1875 from 1959, new n. 2127;found occasionally during the digging for the grounds of thecreche in the centre of the town; fine grained white marblewith yellowish nuance; total height 0.25 m; only of the head0.20 m; max. width 0.23 m; the heael is mentioned by V.l'opova-.Moroz, op. cit., p. 29.

and the narrowest - above the ears., hidden under the hoops. A VeIl with small meridionalfold in the beg'inning is placed over the third highest hoop. The veil is falling to the lower partof the ears, under which are remnants of ribbons or of the same hoops( ~). The puckers of theYeil are shallow, but wide and do not disturb deeply the volume. The eyebrows repeat verystrictly the broken form of the wide eyelid and are treated again as a boundary between twosurfaces. Incised hemispheric lines (remnants of a pupil~) can be traced on the right partlypreserved eye. An oval curl with double outline stretches out under the ear, hidden underthe veil.

The hairdressing of six white or red ribbons (infula), shown partly or fully, can be metin the images of sacrificial animals, persons looking for protection, priestesses and vestals 15. Theends of the infula usually descend to the shoulders in the form of loops. The vestals' veil -81tjfilmlurn - is accompanied by a typical oval curl on the cheek. These specific attributes drawtogether the monument from DurostOlum with the portraits of vestals. On the one hand,melt an interpretation of the Silistra head is disputable, because Vesta's temple and vestalsare known only from the Forum in Rome itself. But on the ther hand, after 30 years of being oavestal, she could be relieved from her vow of virginity, then she could marry and be highlyesteemed as a wife and in society. A third possibility is this vestal iconography to influencethe head from Silistra as it was of a priestess in general too. "Te do not have yet enoughdata for solving the problem. However, there is epigraphic evidence for the existence of a tem-ple of Hadrian in Durostorum, on an island in the Danube, built probably at the time ofHadrian's "Visitof Durostorum 16. So again from a historical point of view there exist argumentsof the imperial cult's institution with priesthood and maybe priestesses. The head of the pri-estess from Durostorum can be related to Late Trajanic - Early Hadrianic time on the groundof the iconography and style 17.

One more head of a woman, also a part of a statue, belongs to the Early Hadrianic time(fig. 4 a-b) 18. The exact topography is not given in the publication, however this head iskept in the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia. The portrait is of the "capite velata" type,and the veil partly covers the ears. Its pleats are considerably deeper and more plastic than inthe previous head, but still generalized. The hair-do is parted in the middle, with a wide rowof curls in front. At the back the hair is in plaits, raised behind the diadem-ring to the pate.The absence of pupils, the coiffure and the young pretty face allow us to identify the head withthe early portraits of Sabina. As the diadema appears on her images after she had been pro-claimed Augusta in A.D. 128, the momunent from Silistra can be dated to about 128-13019•

It is necessary to stress that the plait on the pate is a rare attribute in her portraiture.All the monuments analysed up to now are related to a comparatively early Roman period

for Bulgarian land;;;, from the middle of the 1st century up to the first third of the 2nd cen-tury, known generally (with the exception of the Silistra heads) only by the portrait of aphilosopher-togatus from Ulpia Oescus20• The early heads from Silistra show that the site, con-sidered from the modern historians only as a camp and a canabae at that time, was adornedwith official statues of the emperors, their families and the heirs, as well as of persons connectedwith the imperial cult. This early portraiture is connected with the Italian workshops and is pro-bably a direct import from the "Vest.

On the contrary, a head of an old man (fig. 5) 21 witnesses the influence of Greek art cen-tres. 'l'he iconographic type is that of a priest or of a philosopher, created in pre-Roman times.Owing to the hellenophilia of Hadrian and the Antonines and the piety to the Greek cultureand art, such heads and statues are particularly frequently met in the second century 22. Thecoiffure encircles the face like a hat, very detailed in front and generalized and even roughlytreated at the rear. The middle length curls-balls fall down lightly to the forehead, leavingthe ears almost open. Several curls in the middle of the forehead are broken and the eyebrows,the nose, the lips and the moustaches are almost entirely damaged. A light curly beard is ren-dered in several horizontal rows with curves and ringlets. Low curly whiskers proceedto the beard. The face with two deep wrinkles from the angles of the nose belong

15 K. Fittsehen, P. Zanker, Katalog der Rijmischcn por-Iriits in den Capito/inischen i~luseen und den anderen f{ommu-nolen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom, III, f{aiserinnen-undPrinzessinnenbildnisse Frauen Portriits, l\Iainz am Rhein,1983, nr. 134, note 12, pI. 160; nr. 135, pI. 161 and the lite-rature there.

16 Ibidem, nr. 72, pI. 90; nr. 92, nr. 78, pI. 98; Z. Gocheva,Balcaniea Poznaniensia, 3 (under press); Y. YeIkov, AncientDllrostorum, Silistra, 1964, p. 25.

17 K. Filtsehen, P. Zanker, l\atalog ... , nr. 72, pI. 90,ur. 74, t. D2 ; nr. 78, t. 98.

18 Z. Dremsizova. Izvestija Sofia, 18,~1950, 264, sqq, fig.208; Y. Popov a-Moroz, International Congress on Bulgaris-tics, Sofia, 1988, p. 28, notes 3-5.

19 K. Fittsehen, P. Zanker, Katalog ... , nr. 10, 11, p.l0-12, t. 12-13.

20 See note 13.21 Old nr. 518 806, new one 2128, white-bluish eoarse-

grained marble, height 0.28 m ; width 0.25 m.22 Gesiehter, Grieehische und romische Bidnisse aus Sch-

weitzer Besitz, Bern, 1983, nr. 9-16; A.nticki portret u Juga-slaviji, Novi Sad, 1987, nr. 110-112, 114, 141, 142.

to an aged man. The eyes are big, with narrow eyelids, protruding orbits withont pupil andiris. '1'he lower almm;t erased lip is wide and slightly bulging.

The only analogy for the hail' from the official monuments is the supposed portrait ofAelius Verus of A.D. 138, but to some extent similar is also the portrait of Marcus Aureliusas Oaesar from the New Carlsberg Glypt6thek 23. The closest examples in the iconography andthe treatment of the coiffure are some portraits of priests and philosophers in the same collec-tion, from Athens and the Athenian Agora and of Orestes from Styberra 24. These are the argu-ments to date the Silistra head to Late Hadrianic - Early Antonine period. The bluish marbleis different from the rest of the monuments from Durostorum, the latter's marble usually witha yellow nuance. So from a technical point of view we see the difference and this suggests thepossibility of a Greek import.

The next Antonine period is represented by two heads and two statues in full length. Thefin;t head, known to us only from the publication,. is identified as Faustina the Younger 25.

'1'he iconography and style belong to the 7 type of 161 and to the Greek trend 26 and withits mildness and refined treatment is one of the masterpieces of Roman portraiture.

The second head of a woman reminds of the previom; portrait (fig. 6 a- b) 27. '1'hemonu-ment is seriously damaged: the coiffure and the surface around the left ear are hammere(l out,a part of the right ear, the nOi'le,the mouth and the chin are almost entirely damaged. '1'he hail'has a parting with the same front row as the previous head, with middle-sized kiss-curls, descend-ing at the back to the nape. A very low and very schematic knot is formed here togetherwith the encircling three rows with plaits (well preserved are only two of them). The posi-tion of the knot suggests that this if; a bURt or even a statue. The peculiarity of this portraitis the back of the hair-style (the parting) and the special generalized treatment. Under thecurls of the first row can be seen the end of the better preserved left eye. The pupil is formedby a hemisphere, occupying two-thirds of the orbit's height. The iris is represented as a smallhemisphere, drilled out high under the eyelid, making the eyes look half-closed.

This kind of hair-style initially began at the time of Faustina the Elder and was modi-fied without a break in the official and private portraiture of the Middle and the Late Antoni-nes 28. The metropolian style is very closely followed. However, for the first time in the portrai-ture of Durostorum a significant reduction of the style, a rough treatment of details and adiminishing plasticity can be traced: a step towards the loss of the metropolitan quality andto approach the provincial one 29. The type belongs to the next 8 one of Faustina the Younger'sportraits of 162 30, which shows her role and Mark Aurelius' for Durostorum.

A statue of a young woman is discovered in the southern part of Silistra (fig. 7 a-e) 31.

The hair~style is similar to the previous monument, but the first row with curls is wider andnot falling to the ears, but combed to the pate. At the rear the coiffure probably ends with aknot hidden under the veil, and a plait around the pate is wound. The face is pretty, withtender and full young features. The eyebrows are again the boundary between two surfaces,the eyeR are middle-sized, elongated, with wide eyelid, without pupils and iriseR. The lips andthe small chin are mild and full in a childish way, the nose is broken.

The statue iR placed on a base, round in front and with a groove, and at the rear -·with an irregular triangular form. But the back of the Rtatue is not finished. The horizontaland the vertical pleats are neither in half relief, nor polished as the front ones. The backpleat~ arp only outlined in an extremely low and flat relief, resembling a wooden carving. 1'helowest folds are even marked only by incised deep lines. Moreover, the whole back, including the,'eil, are not polished. Hundreds of small scarR can be seen on the surface. An unpoliRhed spotis also left near the left leg calf, although it is well visible from the front.

Fir~t of all this non-finito demonstrates the successive stages of work on the statue. Atthe same time a question arises whether this was on purpose or accidental. In the first ease

23 K. Fittschen, 1'. Zanker, op. eit .• T. Mainz am Rhein,1985, nr. 58, fig. 66; Van POUlsen, 1.es portraits romain.~, II,Copenhague, 1974, nr. 43, 58, 64, 80.

. 24 Van Poulsen, op. eil., II, nr. nl, pI. ell; nO IOU, pI.C!. :\:XY II; E. Harrison, 1'(Jrtroite Sclllptllre, in tlie AthenianA.iJora, I, Connecticut, 1!JOl, nr. 24, pI. 1n; Y. Sokoloyska,•·\neient SClI/ptlll'C in S If Macedonia, Skopie, 1987, pI. 10;J. tnan, E. AlfOldi-l{oscnbaulll, op. cit., nr. 262, pI. 18n.

25 G. Bordenache, Dacia, K S., 6, 1962. 489-49:~; 'I/.

Gramatopol, l'ortutll/ roman in Romiinia, Bucarest, 1985.88-91, fig. 1:1; Y. Popoya-:\loroz, Inter. Congress or BlI/go·risties, Sofia. 1988, p. 29.

26 K. Fittschen, Die Bildn/stypen der Fallslina i1IinorlInd die Fec!llulilas elllglls/tiIe, Gottingen, 1982, p. 55-59, nr.58, pI. 34.

27 SJIH, old nr. 1190-33907 513 from 1955, new one2129, occasional find when digging a chanel in the gardennext to the Danube .

2R K. Fittschen, P. Zan!;er, [(alaloy ... , II J. nr. 17, 1!1, 22.23, :12, 96, 107. 115, lW.

29 Y. l'opova-Jloroz, op. cit., 28-29, 33-34 .30 K. Fittschen, Die lJildisfypen ...• pI. 40/2-4, 41/1-4.31 S\IH, old nr. 1194 - 37 2028, new orie 2130, from 1960.

Fine-grained white marble with yellowish nuance. Total hei-ght 1.77 111 ; of the head 0.2.5 m; of the statue without thepedestal 1.73 m; of the latter 0.110- 0.125 m. \Ientionedshortly with photos by K. \Iajewski, ]{lIltllra Rzymske IVBlligar/i, Cracow, 1969, fig. 1000; V. Popoya-Moroz, op. cit.,29-30, fig. 4.

the sculptor saved himself, as the rear was not visible and probably hidden by some architecturalbackground. In the second case the statue is really not finished and something prevented itscompletion. In our opinion the second explanation is more feasible, because the last stagesof work are missing. The front unpolished spot around the calf is a particularly strong argu-ment, while ,the non finito in the back is frequent. The absence of pupils and irises also provesthat the statue was not finished, because during the reign of the Middle Antonines they arealways present. But the main conclusion is that the stages of work took place in Durostorumand that this statue is one of the solid proofs for the existence of a workshop here.

The iconography of the statue is the typical Pudititia 32, the first case in the Bulgarianlands 33. It was also borrowed from Greek art in Roman official portraiture, reliefs and coins,but also in private and tomb monuments. Therefore, one of the suggestions can be that thestatue was a tomb one, bearing in mind also that it was discovere din the region of the south-ern necropolis of Durostorum. It is quite possible that the workshop for portrait statues andheads might be situated precisely there, in the immediate vicinity of the necropolis, servingthe high society. Apart from these direct proofs, indirect ones can be discovered in the grow-ing reduction and in the provincial style of the Silistrian Pudititia. On the one hand the volu-mes are plastically rendered, dynamic and treated in detail: the contrast between the largesurfaces of the palia and the small ones of the tunic below is quite obvious; even sucha detail is shown, unknown in the Bulgarian landB, as the trimming of the palia. In the spiritof the Greek prototypes the dress really outlines the plasticity of the body and the space linksare revealed by the complex foreshortening of the body and the legs. The feet are with leatheri-\hoeson soles. The weight is on the left leg, while the right one is set apart in an easy posi-tion. Then the movement is continued by the gesture: one hand is under the chin and sup-porting the end of the veil, the other one is under the elbow of the first hand and holds in aknot the end of the palia, 'which makes the body in the upper part twist around its verticalaxis. 1'he head, inclined to the right, finishes the movement. At the same time, theNtatue has several silhouettes and foreshortenings, with dynamic transitions, requiring the per-ception of the monument in a semicircle.

On t,he other hand in some parts the Silistrian Pudititia reveals the hand of a provincialmastcr: in spite of the monumental torso, the head is too young, with chamber treatment;in spite of the masterfully executed drapery, the proportions, especially in the middle part ofthe hody, are very clumsy and the limbs are very erude.

As marble was lacking not only on the territory of Durostorum, but even in the wholepreHent-day Northeastern Bulgaria, obvioUfuy the material ,va;:;brought either a;:; a ready pro-duction, like the early monuments from the first century - beginning of the second century,by land, by sea (or even by the DanUbe), or in the form of blocks or semimanifactured arti-cles. In the latter case masters specially invited from other artistic centres or local mastersperformed the last stages of the monuments from the mid-2nd ccntury on 31. The nearest quarrieswere in Chernavoda in Northern Dobrudja, known from ancient times, and also near themodern town of Machin. However, concrete petrographic examination of the marble could provesuch a hypothesis. Another possibility is the import from the Grcek East, Greece itself, theCentral part of the Balkans and from the \Vest.

As underlined above, in spite of the absence of pupils and irises, the Pudititia from D:uros-torum belongs to. the last types of Faustina the Younger and to the transitional period to theLate Antonines 3a• To the same time can be related one more statue of the type of a philo-sopher or a learned man (fig. 8 a-b) 36. In the pUblication of Z. Dremsizova the statneis headless. 'Chat means that joining to it a head occurred after the pUblication. Other modernrepairs are obvious at the neck, the left knee, the right leg and a misunderstood support be-tween the legs. In spite of the fact that the head is big for the body (1 : 5) and quite certainlydoes not belong to the same statue, we shall analyse it as well, because it really fits the type.The hair is short, with slightly twisting curls, forming a hat over the head. At the rear thecoiffure is very generalized and the lowest row is in the form of a slight semicircle. IIi frontthe locks are arranged in two picturesque rows high over the foreheull. E\'ery end of every lock

3" I\I. Bieber, A.ncienl Copies, New York, 1977, pl. 102-HKJ; K. Fittschen, P. Zunker, Hala/og ... , III, nr. 42, 47,111 ; pL 51, 61, 168, beilage 15/u, e.

33 By some evidences, a similar Pudititiu and also fromSilistra was carried to Constanza.

34 J. B. Ward Perkins, PBSR, 48, 1980,23--69.35 K. Fitlschen, P. Zanker, Kalalog ... , I II, nr. 127, 24,

pI. 158, 33; 1\[. Bieber, op. cit., fig. fl86, 588, 604-607; A.

2 - c. 3685

Yoscinina, Rimski socharski perlret, Leningrad --' Oraha, 1976nr. 41, pL 5/).

36 NAl\J, Sofin, 111'. 7313, fOllnd in a basement of the bar-racks of Silistra in HJ42 (now on t hnt place is the factoryOrgteehkika). Total height 1.72 m. Coarse while marble,modern repairings and restorations. Short publication ofZ. Dremssizova, lzvestija, Sofia, 17, 1950, p. 264, fig. 209,May be the small hend published hy K. Shkorpil in his Someor tile Ronds ... , is the same head, hut OIlC cannot he sure.

is split in two like a pitchfork and ·worked ·with a raspel and a drill. A ·wide stripe of twoTOWS' locks, next to the sharpened narrow ear, transfers to curly whil'kers, in their turn merg-ing in a long elongated beard. The latter is formed by I'emicirclel', slightly cuning, or by~traight locks sculptured mostly with the raspel. It is obYious that the momtache, emsednow, was treated in the same wa~r. It is drooping in semicatenary, merging with the beard.The mouth is slightly opened at the corners again by the drill. '1'he lower lip is wider andsofter. The eyebrows are plastically formed by short ·wide oblique tufts in straight line. Theeyes are middle-sized, with wide eydit'. ::'l"ol;upih and irisel' have heen presened, althoughthey have obviomly been plastically worked out,. The nose is long and big, but no exact shapecan be established, as it is broken from the middle down to the end. The neck i8 short andrnassive.

The man is wearing a toga, represented with great skill. The lo·wer part of the sinus isfalling dO\vn, more than usual. Under the toga one can see a part of the tunic with i"hortsleeves, with many folds in the form of a tongue around the right hand and in the form of akidney, right on the breast. The poi"e is rare, "pacing", with a slightly raised right leg andresting left one. The rotulei", tied together, are represented to the left side. The support, whichis usually placed on the left or the right side in Rornan sculpture, this time is between thelegs and ends in the pedestal, semiround at the front and almost in straight line at the back.This iconography of the "pacing" pose, together ·with the rotules, shows a copy of an olllGreek philosopher's type 3i.

The coiffure and the beard are quite clear indications of the style and time. An analogyfOJ.'the hair-style is that one of Lucius VerUi\ from his first iconographic type, related to140-150 38. In the outlines of the face, especially of the heavy beard and the mouth's sha}lP,the portrait from Durostorum resembles a head from Salona, identified with Aeschylus, from t!1('ate second century or the beginning of the third century 39. I3ut the nearest portraits are ofMarcus Aurelius of the fourth iconographic type, dated in 170-180, and the henll of H('l'()(lu"Atticus, found in Corinth and from the same time 40. The statue itsclf probahly helong" tothe second half of the second century.

The statue of the pacing philosopher lacks the strong reduction of the forms, iconognLllhyand style, typical of provincial portraiture. All the richness of details and masterly treat-ment of the metropolitan prototype are achieved predominantly by drill. As the head fits, hutdoeRnot in reality belong to the body of the pacing philosopher, it is not clear if this 1'tatue·with its original head represented Hel'odus Atticus or the emperor himself in his beloved appear-ance of a philosopher. Taking the added head only, in our opinion it is not official,since it does not repeat the official portraiture in eyery detail. Neyertheless, the small degreeof reduction suggests that this was a person of high position in society.

To the beginning of the third century belongs a statue of a man, dated in the time ofCaracalla 41. In many elements the head really reflects the first type of Caracalla of 212-217as a sole emperor 42. But there exist essential differences: in spite of the fact that the fore-head is wrinkled, the eyes are not frmvning and malicious, but dreaming in the style of the LateAntonins, the mouth is also different - half opened and slightly smiling. This pOltrait obviouslysynthesizes the iconographic types of the Late Antonines and the Early Severians in the spiritof the Greek workshops 43. Together with the head of a philosopher-priest from Silistra this isthe second case of Greek style in the town. The statue itself is worked in local limestone andis of the paliatus type 44. Certainly this is a product of a local Durostorian workshop. The masteris either from the Greek East, or under Greek influence.

Sure data for the existence of a local workl'hop at the time of the Middle Senriangreveal the re-working of the nlObile head, of which we already spoke at the beginning of ourarticle. The late master (of the Se,-erian time) destroyed with chil'el the initial hair-do, thenadded pupils and irises in the form of a small sernicircle high up to the upper eyelid and hasdrilled two holes at the base of the nose and at the comers of the 111.outh.Probably the aim,vas to achieve an iconographic type of the Middle Severians, similar to the mal~ portraitsin Oslo, in the Museum of the Athenian Agora and in Musco delle Tenne in Rome. '1'he

37 .J. Diirig, QUtlijilCS remarques sur I'origine ionienne duporlrait grec, l'ikoncs, Berne, 1960, pI. 82.

38 K. Filtsehen, P. Zanker, Kalalog ... , I, nr. 61, 62, GR,69, 70-73, 78, 80, 82.

39 Anlicki porlrcl ... , nr. 141.40 K. Fitbchen, P. Zanker, Kalalog ... , I, nr. 61, 62, 69;

F. Johnson, Corinth, 9, 1931, nr. 163.41 S:\IH, new nr. 2131; height 1.41 m; only of the head

0.:12 nl. Coarse while marble (or limestone'!), Publishccl by

1'. Georgiey, IzyesLija Yarna, 25, 1\17·1, 95~10.1, pI. Ill,IV/1-2; mentioned with photo by:\1. Oppermann, WZlIalJr,20, 1981, 5, 120--121. Jig. 7; V. Popoya-Moroz, Rilratto Urn-clale e RliIatto Privala .• 1ttl dclla 1I Con{erenza jnlerna!ionu.Ie Romano, ... , p. 421-422, fig.!.

42 K. Fittscher, P. Zanker, Kala/og ... , l,nr.91,pI.110-112·13 J. lnan, E. AlfiiJli-Hosenbaum, op. cil., nr. 64, 71,258;

V. l'opo\"a-:\Ioroz, OJ]. cit., p. 421, 424, 435, 436.41 1\1. Bieber, oJ1. ('il., pI. ~;6~ 110; V. Sololo\"ska, op. fil.,

pI. :12-- 40.

hair of these heads is very short, graphically treated, the pupil is identical to the Silistra one,but the iris is bigger, and finally some of them have slight moustache or slight whiskers andheards. And when re-working the head in Durostorum, the master accidentally broke the noseand head was dropped as a waster, then used as a spolia and so it is a t. p. q. for the building.Excel1t this direct proof for the existence of workshops from the Antonines to the Middle Seve-rans, ~wehave indirect ones as the stylistic and iconographic observations on the receding fromthe metropolitan prototypes, the mixture (disiecta membra) of the types, the increasing of theprovinciali;.;m and even the penetrating of the pure Greek tradition in such a strongly Homa-nized town.

The last portrait, still demonstrating the pure West Roman tradition, is one small-sizedlwad of a young man, found under the necropolis of a Roman villa (fig. 9 a - c) 45.The hair atthe rear is very low, treated with carelefls and unsystematic cuts of the chisel. Short straightlocks, following the shape of the skull and the forehead, are formed at the sides and at thefront. The locks at the right temporal are feather-like and the forehead is high, the eyebrows- mos!'y and almost knitted. 'l'he bid eyes are elongated, with normal and correct shape, middle-f:ized e~Telidand a lachrymal canal, formed by drill. The nose is straight, with a wide base.The lnouth is !'lightly opened and Rmiling: the upper lip is sharply and distinctively outlined,with deep oval rORsette and slightly beetling over the lower one. The chin is strongly roundedand protruding. The eyes and the irises are big, the latter with pelta's shape. Only at the ba"eof the right ear, next to the temporal, a feather-like lock is peering.

On the one hand, this type reflects the beardless smiling portraits of Alexander Severusof 222-22446• On the other hand the features belong not to the young boy, but to the manfrom the next portraitR of the Rame emperor after 225, when there appeared slight whiskers andmouRtache and at the end the beard. 1'he Silistrian monument is closer to the later icono-graphie types w:th the typical feather-like, almost metallic treatment of the locks, probably as areflection of a bronze prototype as the head in Paul Dierich's Collection. It is difficult to savwhether the SiliRtrian head reflects once more the typically provincial synthesizing of differenticonographic types or whether this is an unknown in liteIature transitional type frcm the phaseof the beardless portraits to the ones with beards of Alexander Severus by its artistic valuethifi head is one of the bei'lt portraits in the Roman tradition in Bulgaria.

Special attention should be paid to the small dimensions of this head. Three portraits aleRtill known from the publii'lhed monuments in Thrace and Moesia : of Hadrian from Almus (pre-sent-day l~om), of a young man from Ulpia Oescus (present-day village of Ghigen) and of Cara-calla from Novae (nearby the present-day Svishtov) 47.All come from the towns on the Danu-bian Limes or from militarv sites before the towns were announced and in one of the cafe:>(Novae) it Comes from the 'principia of the camp itself. Similar to this last head, it is VeIyprobable that the portrait of Alexander SeveI'm; could be connected too with the imperial cult inthe anny. The high artistic value in the Roman spirit and trend suggests that the head was alwimported from the West or done under the influence of a very good original. This head to-gether with a headless bust 47a, published by Romanian scholars, represent the first half of thethird century. In the bust the dress and the gesture of the hand refers the monument to thepaliatus type. The treatment is flat and geometrized, typical for the Late Antiquity and for theprovincial style. The pedestal has a rectangular element on it with two peltae.

Four monuments from Durostorum are kept in the Homanian collections and date fromthe second third of the third century up to the reign of Comtantine the Great. 1'hese headsare known to us only from the publications, that is why we shall deal with them only briefly.According to M. Gramatopol 48 the lower part of a massive male head is a portrait of Gordi-anus r. However, on coins the face of this emperor ii'l not massive, but on the contrary - withRmallproportions and sharp characteristic features. Also the cuts of the mOllstache and the beardare not horizontal, as in the case from Durostorum, but vertical. That is why, maybe this headshould be related to the epoch of the First Tetrarchy 49.

The second head is identified by G. Bordenache as a portrait of Gordianus III 50.The youthfulfeatures are similar to his portraiture of A.D. 238-248 as Ceasar 51But on the other hand thediadem is a sign of his anouncing as an august 52.

The third male head is related to the images of Carinus 53. But this identification is alsodisputable, as Carus ii'l depicted and represented in qUite another iconography (i'lhort hair with

45 See V. l'opova-l'.Ioroz, op. eit., p. 425, fig. 11-12; SH1\lnew nr. 3132.

46 K. Fittschen, P. Zanker, l\atalog ... , I.47 See notes 1-;) in V. Popova-Moroz, op. cit., p. 176, fig. 3.." a I. HllSSU, AISC, 3, HJ36-1940, p. 174.18 M. C.ralJl:.ltopol, Of'. eit., fig. 27 ja, b; but the head is

of uncertain provenance.49 J. l\leisehner, AA, 2, 1986, p. 223.50 N. Gramatopol, op. eit., fig. 20ja- b.51 K. Fittschen, P. Zanker, op. cU., I.52 Ibidem .53 1\1. Gramatopol, op. cit., fig. 32ja-b.

simple hair-style, ''lith very curly short beard in separate tufts, growing in the form of a hulleven under the chin) 54. The male head from ])urostonllil is qUite closer to the portraiture be-tween Gallien and Carus, e.g. with some monuments from the National Mueum in Athens, Forgein 'l'urkey and from the Ny Carlsberg's Glyptothek 55. Even if not imperial, the head from DUl'OS-torum is official too. The head from Ostrov is for the present the only find of the period, althoughwe know epigraphic sources for the existence of such a portraiture in present-day Bulg'arianlands.

POTTERY.A WORKSHOPS

\ ,\- .

/.J

I6 789 10

I\ ROUMANIA

\\

Fig, 10, - The map ofSilistra and topography of

the monuments.

One more male head is related by M. Gramatopol to the supposed portraits of ConstantiusChloms 56. But this monument is dated in the preceding publication of G. :Florescu to the se-cond half of the third century with no particular identification. The regular featUl'ef\ and thenormal proportions also differ from the portraiture of the father of Constantine the Great 57.

In our opinion, the head from DUl'ostorum fits better the stylistic and iconographic featuresof the period, preceding the First Tetrarchy.

Similar doubts arise about the identification of a female portrait from Durostorum withFam;ta 58. First of all it lacks the coldness of the official portraiture from the first half ofthe fourth century, repeating in many details the iconography of the mild Antonine portraiture 59.

Second, the coiffure of the head from Durostorum differs from the later examples of the fourthcentury. The plaits around the pate are not in wide bands and are not high over it, but innarrow stripes and not so high, nearer to the pate or even below it. And finally, there is nopupil and iris on the right preserved eye, which is impossible for the fourth century. These are thereasons to consider the head as belonging to the Early Antonine time, with many parallels, includ-in g the transitional period Hadrian - Antoninus Pius. But we shall have in mind too thatour suggestion is only hypothetical, as we know the head only from the photo.

A male portrait was pUblished at the beginning of our century 60. As it was never mention-ed later, it was probably lost. The head and the beard are covered with numerous small cutsin the spirit of Diocletian's portraiture - not short straight like these of Licinius from the SecondTetrarchy, but small holes. Similar to the portraits of Diocletian is the facial expression, thegeneral outline, the oval and the shape of the lips. This is the last monument from Durosto-rum and its territory.

5·1 1\1. I3ergmann, 5llldicn ;:lIm Ri5misclwll Porlriil des IIIJhs, Bonn, 1977.

55 Van POUlsen, op. cit., II, n. 179, 181, 183; Harrison,op. cil., p. ·1-5, note 10,pl. 32, m.50-51; Inan-Rosenbaum,op. cit., nr. 233, 245.

50 1\I. Gramatopol, op. cit., fig. 35ja-b U1HI the literaturethere.

57 H. Calza, lcollogro{ia romona imperiole da Caral/sioo Gillliano, Rome, 1972.

58 1\1. Gramatopol, op. cit., fig. 36.59 K. Fittsehen, I3ildistypen ...60 V. Pflrvan, AA, 1915, p. 247, fig. 8.

The Roman portraiture appeared in Durostorum very early in comparison to the otherl{oman towns in Bulgaria - in ,Julio-Claudian timcs - as official busts and statues of theemperors'cnlt in the army. At the beginning - first half of the second century new official, butnon-imperial portrait forms appear: of a priest, priestm-;s and philosopher. '}'his suggests theurban character of the site, although still not announced as municipium. In Durostorum canbe met forms and types rare for Bulgarian lands: a, mobile head, priestess under the influenceof the Vestal iconography, Pudititia, pacing philop,opher, small-sized head. Private portraits,especially in tomb portraiture, appeared from the middle of the second century. Very impressiveis the group of monuments from the second half of the third century up to the end of the :FirstTetrarchy, which places Durostorum in a rare position among the other to,vllS, where finds ofthis period are scarce. The activity of Durostornm in art during the Late Antiquity can betraced in tomb painting, jewellery, weapons, bronze vessels and pottery 61. obviou:-;ly lJuro:-;-torum rermLined one of the most important towns during all the Roman period and at the endof it too, while the other towns demonstrate portraiU, only from the second-third centuries.

From a topographic point of view there exii'it three groups of monuments in Durostorumans its territory: in the centre of the modern town of Silistra, in its Souther11 part and in()strov, reflecting the development of the site from camp and canabae to a big municipal Cen-tro. All the early monuments (with one exception: the female head of the Antonine periodfrom Ostrov) are found in Silistnu and are probably connected with the camp (the mobile headand maybe the head of Alexander Severns), canabae and places of imperial cult (theh eadsof ~upriest-philosopher, pI'iestess, Faustina the Younger) or with the necropolis (probably Pudi-titia and the man of the time of Caracalla). All the important buildings were placed in the terri-tory of present-day Silistra, while the later portraitnre from the second half of the third cen-tury and the beginning of the fourth century was found in ostrov. Is this a later separate townor just a fortress ~ This is a problem to be solved by Bulgarian and Romanian scholars in thenext decades. But since the places of the imperial cult, the camp and the monuments of theearly periods are found in the western part of Durostorum, in the present-day Silistra, we haveenough arguments to think that the initial place of the camp ~1ndcanabe and later the munici-pium was situated namely in the west part of Durostorum. Later maybe it was enlarged or ~1Hew fortress was created at the place of present-day ostroy.

The ieonography, the style and the portrait forms from Durostorum and i1.s territorydelllonstrate a very high level of Romanization, almost unknown to the rest of the towns in'1'hrace, Moesia and Macedonia. The Homan trend and orientation are predominant, while theGreek one is episodic. Certainly the presence of the Homan army here and the cettlers fromItaly and the \Vest provinces influenced the general manifestation of Homan spirit in the por-traiture of Durostorum. This situation is partly due to the direct import from Home awl the\Vestern artistic centres. vVe suppose that in the period of the Alltonines in DUl'OstOI'UIlltherealreally existed local worlndlOps or travelling masters, who worked on place in impOl'tell nUl,rbleor the local limestone. The usage of round sculpture predominantly and less of tomb reliefs withportraits with the Thracian horseman and the coena jnllebris also show,; the high level of I~oll1a-nization of the portraiture of DUl'Ostorum. This is supported also by the rare and typical icono-graphy and form of the mobile head, of the lll'ieste,;s under the Vest~1influenee, the artisticleH'l of the portrait of Alexander Severus and in the treatment of the details. '}'he influenee ofthe Greek trend is not so constant, as in ode,;:m:-;for instance and strong as the Homan onedoe,;. After Ulpia oesclls Duro:-;toruDl is one of the towns with plenty of monuments of por-traiture, showing the high level of Homanization of life there.

"I See the literature cited in fl. lJaneYshi, (;''I'llIania, iiI', 19Mi in Cu lJ 11I11 I IlII1 , \\iell, HI~}(),O:ll 0:)7.1000, 1, 236-:H;) and A},lell des U Int, I,illll's-I\o/lgresscs