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Contribution to the Unpublished Relief of Diana from the River Cetina Region
Ante Rendić-Miočević
Sažetak
Diana is, together with the leading Delmatic god Silvanus and his frequent companions nymphs,one of the most loved gods and goddesses of the fairly modest Delmatic pantheon. Her popularityin former Delmatic regions is obvious in rather numerous fi gural images on relief cult scenes thatshow this goddess of hunting and forests, as of other natural phenomena, together with her pairSlivan, but also on her own, as a separate fi gure. Preserved epigraphic monuments, simple altars,with votive inscriptions also witness that fact. It is very indicative that the inscriptions have thenames of the people who have dedicated them and for the major part, they belong to the nativeDelmatic inhabitants. Of course, this does not mean that every image of Diana in this region shouldbe connected to the “native” Diana, especially if we consider her Italic provenance, as well as the factthat her character comes from the Greek spiritual tradition and that her connection to Artemis wasproven by the relevant fi nds of the fi gural and epigraphic monuments in our coastal and especiallyisland regions.The most frequent type that can be found in our area of interest - although situation is similarwith the wider Illyric regions, or Dalmatia - is Diana iconographicaly interpreted as a huntress. Aninteresting rustic relief from the Archaeological museum in Split that originates from the Cetinaregion, present-day Bitelić, also belongs to this type (the inventory of the museum in Split statesthat it was found in the hamlet of Panji). Bitelić is also an origin, according to the data from literature,of another fragment of the relief plate that probably shows Diana, which can be deduced from therelief in spite of its fragmentarity. The goddess on relief from Bitelić is shown en face, standing, andis placed within a niche that seems to have a semicircular ending. Her characteristic bell-shapedclothes, short belted hiton, has at its bottom part parallel oblique pleats, while the upper part ofthe dress is smooth, worn-out, almost without any pleats. The head is also worn out so the details ofthe face and hair are vague, so are the shoes, but it seems that she is wearing a short hunting boots.With her right raised arm, Diana is trying to fetch an arrow from the quiver, which can slightly beseen behind her right shoulder; the belt that held the quiver attached to the chest was unfortunatelylost. With her left arm stretched out, Diana is holding the bow that is placed outside the niche, onthe surface of the right edge, or the frame of the cult image. The characteristic of the relief fromBitelić is that it was designed rustically, which can be seen in some oversized details, and especiallyin accentuated graphisms on the drapery. That is why this relief can be compared to the famouscult image from Tilurium that shows Silvanus and nymphs. Among the other analogies coming fromthe Cetina region, iconographically closest to the Bitelić relief is a scene of Diana on relief that wasoriginally carved in a rock close to Aequum, and according to the way the fi gures are presented andthe aforementioned “naive” rusticality, a scene of Silvanus and nymphs from Brnaze near Sinj is verysimilar.Besides the well-known fact that large amount of diff erent monuments carrying names of localorigin come from Cetina region there is also some information in favour of the hypothesis of theauthenticity of the Bitelić relief, which we defi nitely support. The fact is that all the inscriptions onthe preserved altars dedicated to Diana have the names of the people who have dedicated themof native, Delmatic origin (Panes?, Titus, Madocus). In our opinion, this can hardly be considered acoincidence. All of the aforementioned speaks in favour of the authenticity of the Bitelić relief ofDiana, of her popularity among the Delmatic inhabitants of those times, but it also confi rms thefact about Greek and Italic and so-called “classical” elements that can lead to a conclusion, similarto the one about Silvanus, that this rustic relief is a proof of symbiosis of the indigenous religioussubstratum and the elements taken from the antique cult legacy.
Ključne riječi
Diana; relief; Delmatae; native cult; Bitelić
Hrčak ID:
8310
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.12.2006.
Posjeta: 2.791 *