Clay statuettes of male and female paredros from Roman Dacia

Ota, Radu (2017) Clay statuettes of male and female paredros from Roman Dacia. Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 68 (2). pp. 339-349. ISSN 0001-5210

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Abstract

This paper synthetises knowledge concerning the spread of the paredros type statuette in Roman Dacia. Thus, we examined their manner of distribution, the workshops, and most importantly their significance. The author notes that these statuettes were discovered solely in Dacia Superior and Porolissensis, especially in the former. He highlights the fact that these statuettes were found in the area of the most developed urban planning, along the Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa–Apulum–Potaissa–Porolissum line, in highly Romanised towns with important military units stationed nearby. Similarly, it shows the important role the Apulum urban centre played in producing and distributing these votive statuettes. The author concludes that these statuettes are additional evidence of the lower classes’ affiliation to imperial power. Due to the spread of the Jupiter cult in Apulum, it is no wonder that people sought to obtain a cheaper variant, accessible to the poor. Due to this aspect, as well as the sober, rigid stance of the characters, we attribute them to the deities Jupiter and Juno. Considering that such statuettes were not found in burials, it is unlikely that they were funerary offerings that were more likely to depict the divine couple Pluto and Proserpine. The statuettes cannot represent local Dacian deities since the conquered population is rarely mentioned in provincial inscriptions with anthroponyms (just over two percent), and sculptural or epigraphic monuments do not represent the deities of the ancient local pantheon. Furthermore, in the urban environment where these votive terracottas were produced, the presence of the Thracian-Dacian population is almost never mentioned epigraphically (more than 1% of epigraphs depict anthroponyms) or archaeologically.

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