The ill-fated archaeological site of Viminacium

Most people never heard the name Viminacium – not surprising for who would be looking for it in Serbia? Tourists are not exactly flocking into that country which is not high on the priority list of the archaeologists either. The Balkans are a true stepchild of Europe. 

When Alexander campaigned against the people north of Macedonia in 335 BC, his march took him across the Ister (Danube) River. After subduing the Getae, he led his army back to camp where he received many envoys from other tribes along the Danube. The Celts from the Adriatic coast also visited the young king with messages of friendship, maybe including the tribes living in what was to become Viminacium.

Viminacium originated as a Celtic settlement on which the Romans built their fort in the early 1^st century AD. It eventually grew to become the capital of the Roman province of Moesia with a population reaching up to 30,000 people. The site is hidden under the fertile fields outside of the village of Stari Kostolac roughly 50 km east of Belgrade. Situated south of the Danube River, it occupied an exceptional position at the crossroads of a flourishing communication and trade network on Rome’s northern frontier. 

As no systematic excavations were ever carried out, all we have are tens of thousands of fragmentary and occasional finds. The majority of the artifacts come from the city’s necropolis which counts some 14,000 tombs - one of the largest in the region.  

Serbia, like its neighbors, does not have the infrastructure, the means, or perhaps the will to invest in the country’s past. Useless to point out that illegal digs are frequent.

So far, scanning of the area has revealed the presence of the Roman Imperial Palace, the Roman Baths, an amphitheater, a hippodrome, several temples, a mint, and a fleet of ships. Simultaneously, the ten-meter-wide colonnaded Decumanus has been located, complete with its sewage system. It also showed traces of a triumphal arch erected in 195 AD to honor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known as Emperor Caracalla. An inscription to that effect was found nearby. 

Otherwise, much is left to be discovered as only two percent has been explored by ‘experts’. 

Meanwhile, the locals dug out and reused Roman bricks bearing their recognizable stamp to build their own walls and houses. Even mosaics and other items served today’s needs. Nearby mining projects, a recent coal project, and a power plant function unhindered, it seems. 

As recent as 2020, a ship from the first century BC had been recovered about two kilometers away, according to the article in Phys.org News. In the summer of 2023 another ship, 20 meters long and 3.5 meters wide was discovered. This was a flat-bottom vessel powered by oars and sail that has not yet been dated. 

The decline of the ancient city of Viminacium was triggered by the invasion of the Huns in the mid-5^th century AD. By the time the Slavs settled in this area at the beginning of the 7^th century, the busy Roman settlement was entirely abandoned.

[Pictures from Phys.org News]

Pergamese offerings

In one of the rooms of the Archaeological Museum in Naples, I am confronted with a group of statues lying on the floor. It looks like dead bodies that collapsed on the spot. The label near the entrance reads Small Pergamese Votive Offering, Roman copy of the 2nd century AD, from a Greek original of the 2nd century BC. 

The scene makes me feel uncomfortable and I don’t know what to think. It looks spooky. I don’t even realize the connection with the site of Pergamon and if there is one I cannot tie it to anything. 

The figures are a little less than life-size and represent an Amazon, a Giant, a Dead Warrior, and a Wounded Gaul. More examples of this group are, apparently, exhibited in the collections of the Vatican and Venice in Italy, Paris and Aix-en-Provence in France. 

The statues fit the imposing reliefs of Gigantomachy and Amazonomachy that surrounded the Altar of Zeus, created by Eumenes II in Pergamon. This Votive Offering is a copy of the original that was placed along the south wall of the Acropolis in Athens in 167-166 BC, probably by Attalus II. 

They represent four battles, two mythical (the Gigantomachy and the Amazonomachy) and two historical (the Battle of Marathon and the one against the Galatians). According to recent research, discoveries near the Acropolis have led to believe that the Athenian votives were originally made of bronze. They may even be copies of a series located initially at Pergamon. The entire composition, which counted at least 50 sculptures, was meant to celebrate the greatest epic battles between gods and men, and the Pergamene victories over the Galatians, who were a constant threat to the Attalid kingdom. 

The Roman copies were based on the Athenian votives and executed in marble. They portrayed only the victors rather than all the characters from the Greek original, which raises the question of establishing the historical circumstance of their creation. From the stylistic point of view, the Neapolitan copies found in the Baths of Agrippa have been dated to the 2nd century AD. 

These votives have been leading a life of their own, and it is not impossible that more of their history will be revealed in the future.