Roman sarcophagus from Titel

Abstract

The unusual Roman sarcophagus of green volcaniclastic rock that was found in Titel, a small town in Vojvodina (SRB), and is now kept in the Muzeul National al Banatului, in Timi?oara (RO), caused considerable unease among scholars in the past as it could not be convincingly connected with any of the productions in Pannonia and Moesia Superior. Only Silvio Ferri, albeit a long time ago, correctly identified its connection with the sarcophagus production in Sirmium and with the sarcophagus of Asclepiodota in particular, made of Dardagani limestone. Sarcophagi of volcaniclastic rock have only been recorded in the region of Srem and its immediate vicinity, and were all produced in Sirmium. The material most likely arrived there from the south, quarried near the village of Rajici, ca 25 km west of Domavia, in the valley of the River Drina. The structure and decoration of the sarcophagus from Titel reveal it as essentially the type produced by the workshops at Salona using models from Prokonessos. Having said that, its decorative details reveal a more complex picture. The decoration of narrow strips of plant motifs indicates a close relationship between the sarcophagus workshops at Sirmium and the workshops active in the middle and upper valley of the River Drina with its tributaries, with the centre at Skelani (municipium Malvesiatium), which, in turn, had close ties with the Salona production. The use of the Norico-Pannonian volute of Type 6 (after Pochmarski) on the inscription panel frame of the sarcophagus from Titel shows another area of influence - the travertine sarcophagus production of Aquincum - on the appearance of the sarcophagi from Sirmium that freely use these motifs (including Type 7) to form the frames of the inscription and figural panels. Available evidence clearly shows that the sarcophagus from Titel can be attributed to the Sirmium sarcophagus production of the 3rd century, more precisely its second half.