A RETIARIUS’ TRIDENT FROM SISCIA?

Among the many finds discovered in the harbour of Sisak during the dredging undertaken in the early 20th century, several pronged spears, evidently fisherman implements, were also found. One of those finds, however, shows some notable differences. The lack of barbs on the prongs and its general appearance, strongly reminiscent of tridents’ depictions used by retiarii, could imply that this artefact was never meant to be used to catch fishes. It would rather appear that it was a gladiatorial weapon according to analogies depicted on Roman mosaics, reliefs, graffiti, pottery and glass vessels

Warrior Equipment from Vrtna Street in Vinkovci as a Contribution to Understanding the Process of the Early Romanization of Eastern Slavonia

U Gradskome muzeju u Vinkovcima pohranjeni su naoružanje i ulomci brončanih posuda koji su pronađeni u Vrtnoj ulici u Vinkovcima 1965. godine, a najvjerojatnije pripadaju prilozima iz uništenih grobnih cjelina. Od naoružanja ranorimskom razdoblju pripadaju nalazi mača, dva duga koplja uskog lista, zatim jedno kraće koplje te okov nasadnika za koplje koničnog oblika. Od brončanog posuđa očuvani su ručka s pečatom ABVDVSF te dva ulomka ruba posude. Na osnovi tipoloških značajki, za mač i koplja pretpostavlja se kako pripadaju naoružanju ratnika autohtonoga keltskog podrijetla koji su sudjelovali u rimskom osvajanju južne Panonije krajem 1. st. pr. Kr. ili u slamanju panonsko-delmatskog ustanka početkom 1.st. Također, postoji mogućnost kako se radi o oružanoj opremi vojnika neke auksilijarne postrojbe koja je bila privremeno smještena u Cibalama, a osiguravala je italske doseljenike na novozaposjednutom području istočnog dijela međurječja. Ostali dijelovi oružane opreme pripadaju razdoblju Seobe naroda koje je na prostoru grada Vinkovaca posvjedočeno gepidskim i langobardskim nalazima.The Vinkovci Municipal Museum holds warrior equipment and fragments of bronze vessels found in Vrtna Street in Vinkovci in 1965, which are most likely burial objects from destroyed graves. Weapons dating from the Early Roman period include a sword, two long narrow headed spears, a shorter spear and a conical spear mount. Handle with stamp ABVDVSF and two sherd of rim belongs to the bronze vessels of unknown shape. Based on their typological characteristics, the sword and the spears are assumed to belong to the weaponry of warriors of autochthonous Celtic origin, who participated in the Roman conquest of southern Pannonia at the end of the first century BC or in the suppression of the Pannonian-Dalmatian rebellion early in the first century AD. It is also possible that the warrior gear belonged to members of an auxiliary detachment that was temporarily deployed in Cibalae to guard Italic settlers in the newly occupied territory of the eastern interfluve. Other parts of the warrior gear date to the Early Middle Ages, which is – in the area of Vinkovci – evidenced by Gepid and Langobard finds

Illyrian onomastics on lead tags from Sisak (Siscia): an overview

Na sisačkim se teserama spominje preko 900 pojedinaca, valja pretpostaviti mahom klijenata lokalne tekstilne industrije. Iako većina ima latinska imena, zabilježen je i velik postotak ljudi čija se imena mogu smatrati domorodačkima, odnosno keltskima ili »ilirskima« u širem smislu, što je očekivano u jugozapadnoj Panoniji. U ovom se radu ta zanimljiva problematika ne obrađuje cjelovito već se, kao svojevrsni hommage pokojnom profesoru Rendiću- Miočeviću, naglasak stavlja na pregled idionima koji se mogu interpretirati kao »ilirski«, to jest imena koja bi mogla pripadati epihorskoj antroponimiji stanovnika provincije Dalmacije i južne Panonije. Obrađuje se 59 imena od kojih se mnoga gotovo sigurno mogu smatrati »ilirskima«, no velik broj ipak ostaje dvojben, te samo hipotetski može biti doveden u vezu s »ilirskom« onomastikom. Tema je iznimno široka te svakako zaslužuje metodičniji pristup, pa bi ovaj rad u najboljem slučaju bio tek prvi korak, a valja se nadati da će daljnja istraživanja preuzeti lingvisti i filolozi.The Roman Department of the Zagreb Archaeological Museum contains close to 1200 inscribed lead tags, found in Sisak, the ancient city of Siscia, one of the biggest Roman agglomerations in the region and the largest urban centre in south-western Pannonia. Some of those tags were offered or sold to the Museum by individual finders or collectors but most of them were found during the dredging of the Kupa river before WWI. Since the dredging was localised in the very centre of the town, i.e. in front of the port quarter, it would seem that all the tags come from a limited area, where, according to the excavations done in the eighties, the port facilities of the Roman town were also situated. All of those tags are small lead tablets, of a more or less rectangular shape, pierced with a hole (sometimes even two or three perforations) so that the tag could be attached to the merchandise with a small rope or a metal wire. They all carry an inscription, sometimes only on one side, but usually on both sides. Those inscriptions are always written in capital letters or the older Roman cursive. Most of the tags were reused several times and thus one can often see traces of older inscriptions, more or less thoroughly erased by the scribe. For this reason, it is often difficult to distinguish with certainty which inscription is the most recent one. Obviously, when one finds traces of many different inscriptions, the lecture becomes rather uncertain. Those inscriptions generally follow the same model: on one side, one can read personal names, duo nomina (far more rarely tria nomina) as well as single names, often followed by a patronymic. It would thus seem that both citizens and peregrines are mentioned on those tags, and in some cases even slaves. The other side of the tag usually carries an inscription mentioning the merchandise, most of the time in an abbreviated form, as well as a price and quite often an indication of quantity or weight. Despite the fact that the reading of the personal names can be quite dubious due to several factors, mostly the bad state of preservation of some tag and the mistakes done by the scribe, it is usually far less subject to doubt than the interpretation of the abbreviations. Fortunately, the words appearing on the tags are not always abbreviated which is of great help when you try to interpret correctly at least some of the abbreviations. There are many different abbreviations on those tags and although many different commercial industrial activities could be in play, there is no doubt that most of them are linked to the wool trade and the textile industry. Words like LANA, PAN(N)UM, TVNICA, SAGVM, P(A) ENVLA, PAL(L)A, PALLIOLUM, LODIX, BANATA and ABOLLA appear more or less regularly without being abbreviated and thus the interpretation of common abbreviations like L, LA, LAN, PAN, T, SAG, PAENV, PAL, LO, LOD, LODI, BANA, AB is not in doubt. Many different shades and colours are mentioned as well, an important detail which would point to the activities of fullonicae and/or tinctoriae. Finally, the prices on those tags are a major argument when one considers those lead tags as commercial tags. Those prices were indicating the value of the goods or the cost of a given service like cleaning, fulling or dyeing and they must have been an essential information on the tags since they appear on at least 81 % of them. Over 900 individuals are named on the tags, most of them being presumably clients (and inhabitants of Siscia as well). While most of them have typical Latin names, there is nonetheless a significant percentage of people bearing names which may be considered as indigenous, i.e. Celtic or »Illyrian« in a larger sense and certainly not out of place in south-western Pannonia. This paper will not be thoroughly covering this interesting issue but, as a tribute to the late Professor Rendić-Miočević, only aims to give an overview of idionyms which may be interpreted as »Illyrian«, i.e. belonging to the traditional anthroponymy of the native population of the western Balkans. 59 names are discussed and while many may be considered as »Illyrian« with a high level of certainty, there are nonetheless quite a few dubious cases which can only tentatively be related to »Illyrian« onomastics. Since this topic is a vast one and certainly deserves a more methodical approach, this paper may at best only be considered as a first step towards further research, hopefully by linguists and philologists

Rimska streljačka oprema nađena na Gardunu kod Trilja

U radu se obrađuje skupina slučajnih nalaza s lokaliteta Gardun izloženih u Muzeju Cetinske Krajine. Svi su nalazi pripadali brojnoj opremi rimskih postrojbi stacioniranih na Gardunu. Nalaze se pokušalo povezati s pojedinim vojnim postrojbama te time približno datirati

THE ROMAN REPUBLICAN HELMET FROM SISAK

The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb holds in its collections an odd Roman helmet discovered in the close vicinity of Sisak, known as Siscia in Roman times and as Segestica during the Iron Age. The helmet may be identified as an Etruscan-Italic type helmet which had been subjected to makeshift repairs. It appears to be a later model which could be approximately dated to the end of the 2nd and the first decades of the 1st century B.C. Since no Roman military campaign took place in the region of Segestica during that period, we may conjecture that the helmet was either used by local warriors who captured it as war booty outside of Pannonia, or that it was used by Octavian’s troops during the siege of Segestica in 35 B.C., either by an auxiliary who adapted an older piece of Roman equipment to suit his own needs, or perhaps by a newly recruited legionary who was given older gear due to lack of adequate up-to-date equipment