Original scientific paper
Stele of the Veteran of the 14th Legion Gaius Antonius Sentinus from Siscia
Rosana Škrgulja
orcid.org/0000-0001-6354-6375
; Gradski muzej Sisak, Sisak, Hrvatska
Branka Migotti
orcid.org/0000-0003-4486-9667
; Odsjek za arheologiju HAZU, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The article discusses the so-far unpublished fragmentary stele of Gaius Antonius Sentinus, a veteran of legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix, found in 2009 in Kvirinova Street in Sisak, in the northern section of Roman Siscia within the town walls. The discussion comprises the epigraphic, prosopographical, iconographic and structural components of the funerary stone in question as the basis for its dating at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. In spite of the fragmentary state, the relief can be reconstructed as representing a deceased person reclining on a couch (klinē) and a single servant turned towards him. Placed centrally in front of the klinē is a tripod with a kantharos and with large vessels at its sides on the floor – a jug on the left and a bottle on the right side. Such funerary scenes were widespread among the Roman army in both Germanias, and are typical of the army stonemasons’ workshops in Mogontiacum (Mainz) and Colonia Agrippina (Köln) in the Flavian and Trajanic periods. The stone is further discussed in terms of its importance for the military history of Siscia, especially in the light of the poorly known epigraphic evidence for the early presence of the army in this town. The funerary stele of Gaius Antonius Sentinus represents an additional argument in favour of the archaeologically still unproven hypothesis that a detachment of the Fourteenth legion was present in Siscia as early as the late 1st century.
Keywords
Pannonia; Germania; Siscia; Roman army; funerary stele; Fourteenth legion; veteran
Hrčak ID:
151717
URI
Publication date:
26.1.2016.
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