A Figurative Roman Period Monument Recently Recorded into the Collection of the National Union Museum Alba Iulia. Considerations Regarding its Significance

Abstract

The scope of this scientific endeavour is the analysis of the Roman funeral monument, recently recovered by the judicial bodies from a certain individual from Alba Iulia. Upon the presentation of the method of recovery of the monument, the authors refer to an unfortunate implications’ phenomenon for the cultural heritage, which is occurring in Alba Iulia, where under lies the largest urban concentration within the former Roman province, namely Dacia. We are referring to the urban centre Apulum where, each year, numerous vestiges come to light, because of archaeological exploitations. Unfortunately, in numerous courtyards of the inhabitants, there still are Roman monuments which should belong into a museum. It would not be unproductive for the competent institutions to identify, inventory and take the required steps to bring and enter them into the museum related circuit. The idea is to prevent the trend of owning Roman monuments from Alba Iulia, which was also observed amid highly educated families. The topic is a funeral limestone document, kept in a fragmented state, in the shape of a truncated pyramid, which has a relief sculpture in the image of the hero Hercules. From the iconographic standpoint is part of the Farnese type, depicting the hero upon the completion of one of his twelve deeds, the killing of the lion from Nemeea. Within his cult also arose the funeral element, depicted by numerous sculptural monuments. According to the mythology, upon taming Cerberus, the famous dog of Hades, the lord of the Inferno, the hero becomes a role model for every mortal. By such” deed” Hercules defeated Death, and the deed turned out to be an example which perpetuated into the conscience of the people. Thereafter, after this special action he was entered among the deities. The iconographic analysis found that the stonemason failed to accurately represent part of the anatomical features of the character (lack of gender, bent legs, poor representation of the hair and beard), the monument remaining unfinished (the sculptural relief is not finished on the left side). Moreover, there are interventions after the Roman era, probably from the Middle Ages or the modern age, when a channelling was engraved around the head that would mark a halo of the Christian Saints, and within the pubic area a clumsy incision which could render a vulva. The images of Hercules on the Roman funerary monuments are numerous throughout the entire Empire, as well as into the North Danube Province. But on this type of sepulchral monument – pyramidal crowning or in the shape of a truncated pyramid – this representation of the hero is unique within the Province of Dacia. In general, such crowning is found in Dacia Superior and Porolissensis, originating into the North-East of Italy, better said, Aquileea city, wherefrom it spread in Pannonia, Noricum, Dalmatia, Moesia Superior and Germania Superior.