Original scientific paper
RELIEFS WITH DEPICTIONS OF THE LABOURS OF HERACLES IN THE CHURCH OF ST CAIUS IN SALONA
Jasna Jeličić-Radonić
; Konzervatorski odjel u Splitu
Abstract
During the visit of Austrian Emperor Francis I to Dalmatia as well as to the monuments of Salona, in a little cave, what was called a sarcophagus with depictions of the labours of Heracles was discovered. Carved out of the living rock, it was protected first of all by the building of a chapel, and then of a church dedicated to St Caius the Pope, in which it served as an altar. The labours of the very popular deified hero of the antique world, the Greek Heracles, or the Roman Hercules, were shown in high relief. These are individual scenes of his life, particularly of the well-known cycle of the 12 Labours performed for the king of Mycenae: Heracles and Cerberus, Heracles taking Alcestis from the underground, Heracles and the Stymphalian birds, and the apples of the gardens of the Hesperides. Since the reliefs are carved on a stone chest the appearance of which recalls a sarcophagus, and since it lies in the immediate vicinity of the western Salona necropolis, this was crucial for the monument in the literature to date having been interpreted as an antique sarcophagus. This was contributed to by its identification with the tomb of St Caius Pope and Martyr, since it was used as altar in the sanctuary of the church dedicated to him. However the very existence of a spring and of the water that collected in the stone chest, a recipient, with the reliefs of Heracles, from which it flowed out as if consecrated, rules out the possibility of interpreting the monument as antique sarcophagus. It is very likely a shrine to Heracles placed in nature. The tradition about the holy water has been preserved down to this very day through the cult and reverence for St Caius the Pope, confirming the importance of the ancient spring dedicated to Heracles. The monument, of a very high artistic quality, the stone of which is polished until it resembles marble, was created by the local craftsmen of the Salona workshops according to models of imported plastics, which figured a lot in Salona. Heracles's shrine in nature with a spring in the rocks of a cliff from which reliefs with the exploits of Heracles were carved out is an outstanding example of a cult of a deified ancient hero. According to finds to date, reverence for Heracles was extremely widely distributed in the Roman province of Dalmatia, particularly in the capital and environs. The placing of a sculpture in the city forum of the Roman colony of the meritorious military veterans in Aequum or in some private settings, as N. Cambi considers with respect to two Salona sculptures found in the channels of the Jadro River, that is, by the Five Bridges or in the nearby ancient quarries, confirms the places and context of the Heracles cult. From this point of view, the cult of Heracles at a spring, as shrine in nature - perhaps once a Iucus Herculis, today the Church of St Caius, is an exceptional example, which considerably enriches our understanding of the cult of Heracles in the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. According to the examples in Pula of Heracles shrines in nature directly linked with sources and watercourses, something similar can be assumed with respect to the cult and the reverence for it in Salona. That is, the find of a sculpture of Heracles with the Apples of the Hesperides by the Five Bridges, where the 48 channel of the Jadro flowed , and the spolia of a relief of Heracles in battle with the Nemean lion in the floor of the cathedral in the immediate vicinity perhaps belonged to the same shrine of Heracles, also alongside a watercourse. We do not know the precise place of the Roman copy of the Lysippus statue the so-called Weary Heracles found in a channel of the river of the eastern part of the town. For this reason in Urbs Orientalis, where many channels and springs were discovered in archaeological research, the reverence for the cult of Heracles was discovered, and precisely perhaps as a patron of water. In this context, the shrine in nature in St Caius's harmonises very well, however, with the topic of Heracles as patron of springs and the underworld, which shows the reverence for the most popular hero of the ancient world in Roman Dalmatia in a very new light.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
110131
URI
Publication date:
8.8.2005.
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