Between tradition and modification. Roman votive altars from Croatia as indicators of economy and provincial society development

Vukov, Mirna. (2018). Between tradition and modification. Roman votive altars from Croatia as indicators of economy and provincial society development. PhD Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Archaeology.
(Poslijediplomski doktorski studij arheologije) [mentor Sanader, Mirjana].

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Abstract

This doctoral thesis analyses 788 Roman votive altars dedicated to the deities and found on the territory of present-day Croatia, i.e. parts of the former X. Roman Region Venetia et Histria and the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia. The oldest votive altars can be dated to the beginning of the reign of Emperor Augustus, while the youngest altars date back to the reign of Emperor Licinianus. The monuments presented in this paper were collected from published scientific and professional literature, as well as analyzed by direct insight into the museum materials and collections, and in situ on archaeological sites. By creating a comprehensive corpus of Roman altars, all the data that has enabled new research and analysis has been collected in one place for the first time. The aim of this paper was to explore all Roman altars from the territory of Croatia in their geographical, stylistic-iconographic, religious, social, economic and chronological context for the first time. We conducted a formal analysis of the structural elements of the altars, as well as an analysis of the inscriptions, paying special attention to the cults and the social structure of the dedicators. We also analyzed the placement of altars on the entire territory of Croatia. Based on the obtained data, we also dated the monuments. By exploring the formal characteristics of the votive altars, we analyzed the possibility of correlation between the structural elements of the altars and the economic and social image from the Roman period on the territory of Croatia. We analyzed the size and the shape of the altars in whole, the shape and the decoration of the crown, as well as the relief decoration, the inscription field and inscriptions on the body of the altars. Considering that the crown is the most diverse shaped part of the altar, most attention was given to the analysis of its shapes and relief decoration. During the analysis of the represented cults, where we used the division on indigenous, Greek, Roman and Oriental cults, we developed a quantitative representation of the individual cults, as well as the frequency of cults in individual Roman administrative units on the territory of present-day Croatia. During the analysis of the social structure of the dedicators, we determined the representation of men and women on the altars they dedicated, as well as the relationship of the sex of the divinity to the sex of the dedicators. Special attention was given to the analysis of certain services and social status recorded on the altar inscriptions, as well as to the relation of the services to the divinities to whom the altars were dedicated. Through the analysis of the social status, we investigated the purchasing power of the dedicators where we paid special attention to the available data of the prices of stone products in Antiquity.

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