Egy Porolissumról (Mojgrád/Moigrad, Szilágy megye) származó Venus-ábrázolású csontguzsaly
A Bone Distaff Depicting Venus from Porolissum (Moigrad, Sălaj County, Romania)

Summary/Abstract: In the 1980’s a fragmentary bone carving depicting a female figure was recovered from the big Roman auxiliary fort from Porolissum (Pl. IV/1 A-B). The 64 mm long, 14 mm wide and 7 mm thick carving represents a female figure whose head is missing, being broken along the thin and fragile neck part. The left arm of the figure stretched until the right arm covers the breasts, while its right arm holds the folds of the veil fallen on the hips. The left breast is broken or completely worn out. The wrinkles of the veil are reproduced by transversal and vertical engraved lines. The female figure wears a bracelet ornamented with small incisions. The figure stands on a rectangular pedestal which is formed by four collars delimited by a cylindrical neck. On the backside of the flat carving a straight incised line represents the spine. Although the head of the female figure is missing, its typical posture as well as the iconography of the depiction suggests that we handle with a representation of goddess Venus. On the basis of its size, and by the quality of the carving, one may consider it a little cultic statue of the goddess. However, on the basis of similar artefacts with the same size and iconography recovered from different sites from the Roman Empire it can be presumed that the respective object was the fragment of a distaff ending in a ring, decorated with Venus. Distaffs with Venus-depictions represent a much disputed type among the category of distaffs ending in a ring. The goddess appears in most of the cases naked as she covers her sex with the arms. The iconographical model known as Venus Pudica follows the depiction of the famous Hellenistic Aphrodite from Knidos by Praxiteles. According to M. T. Bíró distaffs with Venus depiction were never employed in proper spinning operations, this type would rather have had a symbolic significance. She regards the ornamental distaffs as symbols of marriage and motherhood. The association of distaffs ending in a ring with married women can be followed on funerary depictions as well, where spindles and distaffs are frequent attributes of wives.The same point of view is shared by M. Cremer, too, who regards the ornamental distaffs likewise wedding gifts. The distaff fragment from Porolissum is a unique find both in Porolissum and in the province of Dacia since distaffs manufactured of bone or other material are rare finds in the Roman material culture of the province. On the other hand, it represents a special type even in the group of Roman bone distaff. Just like the majority of bone distaffs of this type, this object follows the common Venus Pudica iconography. Examining the beautifully carved object, it can be stated that no use wear is observable on the surface. In this consideration, this distaff fragment seems to confirm the opinion of M. T. Bíró that these artefacts were non-functional, symbolic objects. The utilisation of such ornamental distaff for spinning would make meaningless the careful and detailed decoration, especially if one takes into account that this terminal was that part of the distaff where the unspunned wool was fastened. In this situation the wool fibres would completely cover the ornament. On the other hand, this type of richly decorated distaffs are too thin to have supported an intensive use. The fragility of distaffs is well illustrated by the fragment from Porolissum as well which broke at the part where the narrowing shaft of the object would begin. The distribution of distaffs of the respective type is quite limited. They are to be found almost exclusively in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, in provinces along the Lower-Danube and in Pannonia. Analogies for the distaff fragment from Porolissum are coming also from: Asia Minor (unknown site – Pl. 2/1); Ephesos (Asia– Pl. 2/2), Madytos (Aegyptus –Pl. 2/6), Viminacium (Moesia Superior– Pl. 2/4), Dinogetia (Moesia Inferior– Pl. 3/10), Salona (Dalmatia– Pl. 3/8–9), Chersonesos, Bosporos, Aquileia (Illyria), Tordas (Pannonia Inferior – Pl. 2/5), from Pannonia of uknown site,while from the western provinces only from Lauriacum (Noricum – Pl. 3/11), and from Haselbach (Noricum – Pl. 2/3) are known similar items. Among the whole cited parallels the closest, almost identical analogies are coming from Dinogetia and Lauriacum. The three objects are similar not only morphologically, but also by means of proportions and dimensions. Although they were recovered from three different provinces, one should presume that they are the products of a similar workshop or carver. The distaff fragment from Porolissum is the northest item of this ornamental distaff type, and it could have arrived here as an import product or together with its owner possibly from the region along the Lower-Danube, from the direction of Moesia Inferior. Concerning the dating of this distaff type, all the cited parallels were reported from contexts dated to the third-fourth century A.D. For the object from Porolissum with unknown exact find spot inside the camp the general dating (second-third centuries A.D.) of the Roman reign in Dacia can be attributed. How could this object, which is regarded both by ancient written sources and researchers as a definite female symbol, arrive in an auxiliary military camp, or who and for what purpose could have it been used, are open questions. Unfortunately we do not know the exact find spot inside the camp which would help to ellucidate this problem. It is not excluded that the respective object belonged to the wife of a commander since it is known that they could live legally within the forts with their husbands. The occurrence of this type of distaff in military context is unique so far since the overwhelming majority of them were unearthed from female graves.

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