Iz istorije rimskog rudarstva u Gornjoj Meziji

Povzetek

An unpublished massa plumbea has been discovered at the village of Žuč, near Kuršumlija (medieval and later mining of argentiferous lead is rather well attested west and south of Žuč; the Roman finds there are meagre as yet). Preserved in the Museum of Niš, it bears two inscriptions (Pis. 1/1, 2/2) : (a) Metallo Imp(eratoris) Aug(usti). (b) Q(uinti) Gn(orii) (?). Epigraphical and historical indications suggest a Flavian date and make it almost certain that the man named in b was the conductor of the (silver and lead) mine in question. The conductorial regime is only rarely attested in the argentariae during the epoch of the Principate (with the exception of the mines of Derbyshire). This is probably due to both the dearth of evidence on Julio-Claudian and Flavian mining, and the fact that the metalla of some importance were managed by procurators, not by large lessees; however, the case of the Žuč ingot reveals that the conductoriate was not a wholly isolated occurrence in the minor silver mines of the first century A. D. As the completion Q(uinti) Gn(orii) seems obvious (practically speaking, there is no other nomen beginning in gn-), we are led to assume some connection between the conductor (who was clearly of Italian origin) and the country of Liburnia (cf. CIL III 14000, Nedinum). That connection must have coincided with the immigration of the Dalmatians, especially from the coast, into the mining districts of Moesia and other provinces (cf. S. Dušanić, ANKW II 6, 1977, p. 74, note 137). A lead ingot similar to that from Žuč, fragmentarily preserved and inscribed \_MetalV\o [Cae]saris Aug(usti), has been unearthed at Jasenovik, 12 km. NE of Naissus and 22 km. NW of Remesiana (in the Museum of Niš now; a copy of the inscription, made before its mutilation, confirms our reading). (PI. 1/2). The massa originates from an area where, geologically, the existence of ancient silver and lead mines is unlikely, though not quite ruled out. Two possibilities offer themselves: (1) to assume a Roman metallum, otherwise unknown, in the neighbourhood of Jasenovik, or (2) to connect the Jasenovik find with the traffic along the road leading from the Timaeus valley (the argentariae of which are rather well known) to Naissus and, further on, to Lissus and Italy (cf. below, II); that route, though archaeologically unexplored, may be traced close to Jasenovik. If the first explanation proves the right one, the Jasenovik metallum is probably to be attributed to the fiscal domain centred at Remesiana (see on it ANRW II 6, p. 73 f.). Be it noted that Dalmatian immigrants are met with both in the district of Remesiana (Dalmatas, Proc. De aed. IV 4, p. 123, 8 Haury) and in the metalliferous area of Timaeus (to judge from Jupiter’s attribute and the dedicator’s cognomen, the altar Živa antika 15 [1966] p. 391 ff., no. 10, was set up at Rgotina by a Salonitan). II. CIL XV 7915 The lead ingot CIL XV 7915, drawn from the Tiber in 1879, has been generally considered as a British production (PI. 2/1). Its fabric and especially, its extraordinary weight (247, 600 kg) show that it originates, in fact, from the Kosmaj argentariae. This conclusion is supported by an analysis of its stamps, the understanding of which may be considerably improved on (for the previous readings see the apparatus in the Serbian text); in their turn, they suggest corrections and modifications of the accepted texts of several inscriptions from the region of Kosmaj. Since I identified CIL XV 7915 as a Kosmaj ingot only after my own edition of the Kosmaj inscriptions had been already sent to the printer (M. Mirkoyić-S. Dušanić, Insrriptions de la Mésie Supérieure, I, Belgrade 1976), the identification and its implications could not have been noted in the Inscr. Més. Sup. I. (a) (Metalla) Tr(icornensia). (Argentariae) D(emessenses) Aug(usti) n(ostri). The formula with two geographical names is parallelled by some stamps on British ingots, e. g. (Met.) Lut. ex arg. (Veb.). It has been recently observed (Inscr. Més. Sup. I, p. 103, note 50) that the name of Demessus or Demessum, cited in a constitution of Diocletian of A. D. 294 (Cod. lust. II 12, 20), is likely to refer to the centre of the Kosmaj mines (the fort »Grad« at Stojnik); another stamp on the Kosmaj ingots, M -D (Inscr. Més. Sup. I, no. 162), may consequently be expanded M(etalla) D(emessensia). The abbreviation Tr. on the Tiber massa probably contains the ctetic Tricornensis relating to the civitas peregrina (Ptol. Geogr. III 9, 2), on the territory of which the Kosmaj argentariae were located (the North-west of Moesia Superior); cf. the ethnic Deceangli (or Deceangi) stamped on some British massae. Hence a reading (Regio) Tr(icornensis) (or simply Tr(icornenses)) (Metalla) D(emessensia) Aug. n. should not be ruled out (cf. ANRW II 6, p. 74 ff., on the xä > P “ ' P e i n a u m a t a and y c à p a ’A x u s v ( a io s ) . C. Cet(ronius) M( ) seems to have been the dedicator of an acephalous altar found on Kosmaj, M. Ce[f]ron[ius---]anus com( ), JÖAI 13 (1910) Beibl. 224, no. 40 (= Inscr. Més. Sup. I, no. Ill, where the gentile is not accepted as certain). The identification is corroborated by Inscr. Més. Sup. I, no. 104, a Kosmaj dedication to Mithra made p(ro) s(alute) im(peratoris) S(everi) Alexandri Aug(usti) by C. C( ) Marcellus et Marius Vict[o)rinus. In view of the stamps (b) and (c), the reading of the names may be revised: C. C(etronius) Marcelianus (?) (the inscription, now lost, comprised numerous ligatures) et M. Arius Vict[o~]rinus (for the ligature M, A in M. Arius cf. Inscr. Més. Sup. I, no. 132, line 8). Judging from Inscr. Més. Sup. I, no. Ill, Cetronius figured in (c) as a com(mentariensis), and Arius possibly in (b) likewise (or as a beneficiarius ?); the tria nomina show that we are dealing with milites officiales (commentarienses consularis?). (d) Ada(uctus) rather than Ada(mas) or Ada(mantus), a slave probator (cf. Inscr. Més. Sup. I, nos. 160 f., 164 f.). (e) —(f) numbers noting the approximate weight of the ingot (which is ca. 840 Roman librae) or its place within a production series. The ingot and its inscriptions attest to the Urban import of the Upper Moesian lead acros the sea, and to the role of the commentarienses in the mining business; they also make it probable that other Kosmaj ingots are of a Severan date too (Inscr. Més. Sup. I, nos, 160—165). Their principal interest concerns the mining organization of Moesia Superior. The official nomenclature (Metalla) Tr(icornensia) (the Tiber ingot), (Metalla) Aeliana Pincensia and (Metalli) Dardanici (the legends of mine-coins) reflects a parallelism between the administration of the Upper Moesian civitates peregrinae (cf. Ptol. Geogr. I ll 9, 2) and that of the province's mining districts. This was probably due both to the use of the peregrini in the mining works and to the competence of the governor in the administration of the fiscal territories, of which the mining district formed only a part (cf. ANRW II 6, p. 91). The Upper Moesian ripa was constituted from three civitates with, it seems, one mining region each (Tricornenses: Metalla Tricornensia; Pi(n)censes: Metalla Pincensia; Moesi: the Timaeus mines ? (their official name is still lacking)). The rest of the province was covered by a group of civitates peregrinae under the name of the Dardani. It comprised more than one mining region (five of them ?), judging by the use of the (heteroclite) plural (Metalli) Dardanici, cf. Živa antika 21 (1971), p. 535 ff. The administrative centre of all the Dardanian domains lay at Ulpiana, a circumstance which explains best the occurrence of the inscriptions Spomenik 98 (1941-48), p. 3, no. 4; JOAI 13 (1910) Beibl. 136, no. 38, and CIL III 1686, at Remesiana (see ANRW II 6, p. 72 and 74, note 133).