Cult and rituals in the sanctuary of Iuppiter Heliopolitanus

Stratigraphical documentation and interpretation of repeated appearances of objects in certain contexts offer the possibility of reconstruction of cults and rituals as an important part of studies on ancient sanctuaries. Especially animal remains are often closely related to cult meals and offerings, mostly disposed of in pits. The faunal record is therefore believed to contribute to the understanding of ritual acts, involving treatment of carcasses and the transformation of meat. In the course of the enlargement of the Roman pantheon by the introduction of `foreign` gods, not only Mithras, but also Syrian deities, like Iuppiter Dolichenus or Iuppiter Heliopolitanus, arrived at the Western provinces. Evidently, Carnuntum has been an early centre of these `oriental` influences, maybe due to the importance of the army and its participation in the Jewish war. The sanctuary of Iuppiter Heliopolitanus at Carnuntum is the only known sanctuary in the western provinces and offers the unique possibility to study an until now insufficiently known cult and its transformation. The exploration of the sanctuary from 1978 to 1981 started as rescue excavation on the site "Mühläcker" in the eastern area of the Carnuntine canabae and its research was resumed recently as part of a programme of the Institute for Studies of Ancient Culture of the Austrian Academy of Science. The project provides the detailed analysis of the archaeological contexts, complemented by a comprehensive study of the material culture to get insight into the activities and processes of cult and rituals. Documentation and study of the archaeozoological material are of particular importance for the topic as until now investigations of that kind are nearly totally missing for Pannonia, so that we can expect basically new conclusions. The animal bone samples envisaged for study are estimated to contain more than 35,000 specimens from different context types. It is especially the species composition in which the Mühläcker samples differ from normal settlement refuse and from other, presumed ritual, pit assemblages. The main issue of the first phase of the project is to verify the stratigraphic evidence, to connect it with the architectonic remains of the main buildings and to analyse the general development of the sanctuary. In the second phase this detailed analysis of the archaeological contexts will be complemented by a comprehensive study of pottery and small finds as well as of the archaeozoological material to achieve new insights into the characteristics and the development of cult and ritual in the sanctuary of Iuppiter Heliopolitanus. Both working groups - archaeologists and archaeozoologists - will start with the processing of their materials while the third year will be dedicated mainly to the interdisciplinary interpretation of the results and the preparation of the publication.

The cult of the so-called Heliopolitanian trias, consisting of Iuppiter, Venus Victrix and a third mals deity, had its origins in Syria in todays Baalbek and was transferred to the west mainly by soldiers and merchants during the Roman Imperial period. The sanctuary of Iuppiter Heliopolitanus in the east of the legionary fortress of Carnuntum (Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, Austria represents the only known sanctuary for this deity in the North-Western provinces and thus offers the unique possibility to study an until now insufficiently known cult, its transformation in the west and its connection with the Roman army.The present project focused on the detailed study of the documentation of the excavations which took place from 1978-1991, but then remained unpublished, and succeeded in reconstructing a convincing sequence of at least six different phases from the second half of the 1st c. to the 4th c. AD. Most interesting issue was the discovery of an early phase of the cult-complex, built in wood and dated to the Flavian period, representing one of the earliest known cult-places in the province Pannonia. The western and central area of the sanctuary had not been excavated in the 1980s so that an overall interpretation of the complex was difficult. As the resuming of the excavations in this large area was beyond our possibilities due to organisational and financial reasons, we organized a geo-radar prospection, by which it was possible to detect and complete the ground-plan of the sanctuary without digging. Its results changed our interpretation of the sanctuary drastically as it turned out that on the western side of the central court an impressive temple-building with possible similarities to Syrian temples was situated, followed by a large court and several smaller buildings in the west. The project also provided a comprehensive study of the material culture to define the chronological development and to get insight into the activities and processes of cult and rituals. Following an interdisciplinary approach the archaeo-zoological material referring to cult activities was studied. The species composition of these samples differed clearly from normal settlement refuse and showed a preponderance of particular parts of young cattle, of sheep/goat and of birds (domestic hen and geese), while pigs were nearly totally absent. The counting of animals consumed during a large feast connected with the reorganization of the sanctuary in the Severian period points at a total of at least 300 participants and underlines the important of the cult at Carnuntum.