STVDIA ARCHVS VIII (2004), fasc. 1-4, p.

41-59

THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY

IN THE RURAL AREAS OF POST-ROMAN DACIA
(4th-7th CENTURIES)

Alexandru MADGEARU
Faculty of History, University of Bucharest

Like in other Western Roman provinces, the first Christians in

Dacia were inhabitants of the cities. Not a single Christian object dated
before the withdrawal of the Roman administration in 275 was found
outside the cities and the camps (see Fig . 1). The Christian character of a
3rd century lamp decorated with a chrismon on the bottom, found in a
rural settlement at Gornea, is not sure (GUDEA 2003, p. 267). These
objects are few, but still significant for the spreading of the new religion
in this peripheral province. In the cities were discovered: a Christianized
funeral inscription (Cluj-Napoca), two funeral monuments with Christian
symbols (Potaissa-Turda), a gem with the representation of the Good
Shepherd (Potaissa), another gem with Christian symbols (Romula-
Re]ca), a lamp decorated with a cross (Romula), a fragmentary cup
ornated with crosses and grape stalks (Potaissa). Some objects with
uncertain Christian character were excavated in the camps and their
canabae, like the pottery sherds from Gherla decorated with the symbol
of the fish, or the objects from Racovi\a (Praetorium II) and Cop`ceni.
The single certain Christian object found in a Roman camp is a funeral
monument from Gil`u (GUDEA, GHIURCO 1988; ZUGRAVU 1997, p. 179-
181; MADGEARU 2001, p. 21-28; ARDEVAN 1998).
The concentration of most of these finds near Potaissa (present-day
Turda, Cluj County) could be explained by the presence of the V
Macedonica legion in the camp of Potaissa. This legion was moved here
in 167 AD from Troesmis (Turcoaia, Tulcea County, in Dobrudja).
Having strong relations with the Oriental provinces, Dobrudja (a part of
the Roman province Moesia Inferior) was an area where Christianity
began to spread since the 2nd century.

Centre for History of Religions, University of Bucharest

42 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

The number of the Christian objects increased very much in Dacia

in the 4th century, because the Roman population of the former province
preserved commercial and perhaps political relations with the Roman
Empire. The bronze coins continued to be used on the territory of the
post-Roman Dacia, like other Roman imports. The coin circulation
decreased into a significant way only after 376. The Hunic invasion and
the following crisis were the reasons of the hiding of the coin hoards
closed between 375 and 395 (Bistre\, Celei, Dr`nic, Gherla, Laslea,
Or]ova, Redea, Rupea-Hoghiz see BUTNARIU 1987, p. 113-140; 1988,
p. 131-196; 1991, p. 67-107). The Christian objects dated in the 4th-6th
centuries were found especially in the same places where the coins are
present too in great amount (Apulum, Potaissa, Porolissum, Tibiscum,
Sarmizegetusa, Romula). This reveals the connection between the Roman
imports and the spreading of Christianity.
The towns did not suddenly disappear. They were less peopled and
they became ruralized settlements, but the life survived in most cases
during the 4th century and sometimes until the 6th century. The devolution
of the townlife in Dacia presents strong analogies with the process
occurred in Britain (from town-life to life-in-town). This post-urban
milieu was defined by the gradual disappearance of the urban features
(the public buildings, the water supply, the pavement, the street network,
the administration) (BROOKS 1986, p. 77-102; REECE 1992, p. 136-144).
In Dacia, the ruralization of the former towns is evidenced, for instance,
by the conversion of the amphitheater of Sarmizegetusa (the former
capital) into a kind of fortress (DIACONESCU, OPREANU 1989, p. 583-
584). This conversion has analogies in other cities. The gates of the
amphitheater from Aquincum (Budapest) were blocked with walls in the
second half of the 4th century (SZKELY 1973, p. 339); at Circencester, the
amphitheater was transformed into a fortress used until the beginning of
the 6th century (BROOKS 1986, p. 88). The ruralization was in fact a
transition period, when elements of typical urban life continued to be
present. Buildings made with stonewalls and with mortar were still
erected at Sarmizegetusa and Tibiscum, during the 4th century
(DIACONESCU, OPREANU 1989, p. 574-575). What was indeed specific for
Dacia was its total ruralization. No cities survived until Middle Ages,
even if some of them were peopled again after the 9th century. For a
while, some forms of Roman military and administrative organization
survived, until the Hunic domination weakened the contacts with the
empire: the belt garnments from Sic (Cluj County) and Feisa (Alba
County), dated in the second half of the 4th century are pieces of military
equipment and rank insignia which are showing the survival of some
forms of local military organization (DIACONESCU 1999, 203-244).
 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 43
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

The withdrawal of the Roman administration meant the

disappearance of the great landowners. In the Western Roman provinces,
where several barbarian kingdoms were established, the survival of the
local aristocracy and of their villae was full of consequences for the
evolution of the village communities. The aristocrat became finally a
feudal, and his villa became a center of social and political power for the
peasants. This is the reason why lat. villa was inherited in the Western
Romance languages, while the Romanian language has for the same
notion a word evolved from fossatum (sat), like in Albanian, and also
another one inherited from the Dacian substratum (c`tun). The absence of
a rural aristocracy in Dacia led to a stronger cohesion of the village
communities. This kind of social organization was hardly opened to
influences, changes and exchanges. The spreading of a new religion was
very difficult in a conservative milieu like this. In the West, the rural
aristocrats, after their Christianization, played an important role in the
spreading of Christianity and of the Latin language among the villagers
(BROWN 2003, p. 232).
In Dacia, the Christianization of the countryside was instead the
work of the townsfolk who took refuge in the rural areas. The second
stage of the ruralization was the displacement of the people from the
towns to the surroundings, where they founded small rural settlements.
This process is attested at Napoca, Potaissa, and in the civilian settlements
developed near the camps of Berzobis and Arcidava (HICA 1974, p. 171;
IAROSLAVSCHI, LAZAROVICI 1978, p. 258; ISAC 1978, p. 252;
BRBULESCU 1980, p. 185; CHIRIL, GUDEA 1982, p. 132). Sometimes,
the displacement came together with the settlement of the barbarians in
the area of the former town. For instance, a very rich 5th century grave of
a Germanic woman was found at Potaissa, inside the Roman walls
(BRBULESCU et alii 1997, 70-71). The migration to countryside was a
large-scale phenomenon, because only in this way it can be explained the
curious and unique evolution of lat. pavimentum in the Romanian
language: it became p`mnt, earth (with all the meanings, ground,
soil, the planet Earth). In the Romanian language spoken in the
former Dacia (present-day Romania), lat. terra has preserved only the
meaning of country, unlike in the South-Danubian Romanian dialects
(LOZOVAN 1957, p. 133; IVNESCU 1980, p. 171). Therefore, an urban
word came to be applied to a major notion of the rural life.
The displacement of the population from the post-urban milieu to
the countryside had a key role in the Romanization, because the village
communities entered in closer contacts with the agents of this
acculturation process. These newcomers were also agents of Christianiza-
tion.
44 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

Of course, the relations with the Late Roman Empire were the
necessary condition for the spreading of Christianity in Dacia, but these
relations were exerted in the 4th century especially through the ruralized
cities that preserved a part of their economic function (which is proved by
the bronze coins). If we compare what happened in Dacia with the better
known situation of Britain, we can observe that the end of the city life did
not affected the development of the conversion to Christianity, like in
Britain, because the Dacian Christendom continued to be supported by the
strong contacts with the empire, even after the disappearance of the
towns. In Britain, the revival took place in different circumstances, which
have no analogy in Dacia (the new mission sent from Rome in 596), but
the folk Christianity (with the words of Peter Brown) had probably
some common features. The local British peasants preserved even
without an organized clergy a folk religion that was ?largely invisible
to outsiders (BROWN 2003, p. 341).
The archaeological evidence shows that the Daco-Roman Christian
antiquities dated between 275 and the middle of the 5th century were
found especially in the former towns or camps inhabited by civilians after
the retreat of the army (10 from the total of 14): Alba Iulia-Apulum,
Moigrad-Porolissum, R`cari, Sarmizegetusa, Turda-Potaissa, Zlatna-
Ampelum (see Fig. 2). The Christian finds from the North-Danubian area
occupied again by the Roman Empire in the 4th century are not included
here, because they are not relevant for this discussion.
Among these sites, only Potaissa has Christian objects from the
2nd-3rd centuries, which means that the Christian communities spread from
the early concentration area of Potaissa-Napoca to other areas. An
important evidence for the conversion to the new religion is the basilica
from Porolissum, built in the 4th century by the transformation of a
heathen temple (GUDEA, GHIURCO 1988, p. 199-200). In the same period,
the Christian objects began to penetrate in the rural settlements of
Criste]ti (Mure] County), and Mic`sasa (Sibiu County). The
archaeological context of two other finds (a finger ring from B`ile
Herculane, Cara]-Severin County, and the liturgic vessels from Biertan,
Sibiu County) is not known. The important discovery from Biertan will
be largely discussed in the second part of this study.
The Christian character of other objects is not sure. They were
found in nine sites, from which four are former cities or camps, still
peopled in the 4th-5th centuries (Ili]ua, Tibiscum-Jupa, Potaissa-Turda,
Micia-Ve\el). Other four come from the rural settlements of C`rbunari
(Cara]-Severin County), Deva (Hunedoara County), Jab`r (Timi]
County), Snnicolaul Mare (Timi] County). A clay lamp from Merchea]a
(Bra]ov County) does not have a known archaeological context
(references for these objects in MADGEARU 2001, p. 114-119).
 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 45
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

No surprise, the countryside remained almost heathen in the 4th

century. The funeral evidence illustrates the differences between the
former cities and the rural settlements from the less developed area from
the central and eastern Transylvania. While several Christian cemeteries
were known at Apulum, Napoca and Potaissa (with inhumation graves W-
E oriented and without offerings), the rural cemeteries are almost
composed from cremation graves (the great cemetery Bratei-1 and the
small groups of graves searched at Cip`u, Cluj-Baciu, Cuci, Iernut, Sfntu
Gheorghe, S`r`\eni, Sighi]oara, Soporu de Cmpie). The five inhumation
graves found in the rural regions (Cernat, Sfntu Gheorghe, Suatu ]i
Trn`vioara) were not W-E oriented (see the bibliography in MADGEARU
2001, p. 46-47).
A comparison with the Christian objects dated between the second
half of the 5th century and the beginning of the 7th century shows the same
trend of expansion to the areas that did not belonged to the post-urban
milieu (see Fig. 3). Seven from thirteen sites with Christian objects dated
in this period are former cities and camps: Apulum, Bumbe]ti, Moigrad,
R`cari, Romula, Feldioara-R`zboieni, Turda. Only two are rural
settlements (Craiova, Dolj County, and Poian, Covasna County). Other
four finds did not have a known archaeological context (Lipova, P`latca,
Periam, Dej, the St. Menas flask from Sibiu Museum). Among the sites
that have objects with uncertain Christian character, three of them belong
to the post-urban milieu (Alba Iulia, Moigrad, Turda), and six to the rural
area (Bra]ov, Bratei, Poian, Rotbav, Snmicl`u], Sighi]oara). The vitality
of several Christian communities (Apulum, Porolissum, Potaissa,
Romula) is evidenced by the number of the finds, dated between the 4th
and the 6th century. For instance, from Porolissum are known four certain
pieces and one not certain (references in MADGEARU 2001, p. 120-123,
127-129; for the St. Menas flask and other finds from Alba Iulia, see
MOGA 2000).
It is clear that the 6th century displays a uniform spreading of the
Christian relics in the space of the former Roman province of Dacia. In
the same time, the number of the Christian objects increased very much in
the neighbouring regions of Wallachia and Moldavia, which remained
outside the Roman administration during the 2nd-3rd centuries. These areas
which are not dealt in this study were close to the Late Roman Empire
and by this reason the spreading of the Christianity was fulfilled in other
circumstances (the action of the prisoners taken by the Slavs or even by
missionaries sent by the bishops).
The archaeological evidence shows how the Christianity has
spread from the post-urban milieu. This process began in the 4th century
and it was activated by the wasting of the cities, in the harsh times of the
Hunic attacks, and next in the period of the Ostrogothic and Gepidic
46 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

invasions in Transylvania. The period discussed here is dated before the

coming of an Avar group around 630 in the salt mines area located in the
middle basin of the Mure] River. The Avars conquered the Gepidic power
center established there. Among the most recent Christian objects from
the former Dacian cities are a clay lamp of Syro-Palestinian origin,
decorated with a cross on the bottom, discovered at R`cari (end of the 6th
century, beginning of the 7th century) (DIACONESCU 1995, 281-283, nr.
13, Pl. VIII/1), and a St. Menas flask from Moigrad (beginning of the 7th
century) (CURTA 2001, p. 58.). The objects from Transylvania seem to be
dated only up to the middle of the 6th century. The establishment of the
Avar qanate between Tisza and Danube in 567 and the Avar-Byzantine
conflicts made difficult the penetration of the Christian imports in
Transylvania.
It is not surprising that the imported Christian objects were mostly
found in the post-urban milieu. They are dated especially in the 6th
century. There are, however, some imports found in the rural areas: the
finger ring from B`ile Herculane, the objects from Biertan, the stilus
decorated with a dove head from Craiova, the bread stamp from P`latca,
the lamp with the shape of a fish from Lipova, the liturgic bowl from
Periam. In most cases, they are dated in the 6th century. The bowl from
Periam is an Egyptian product which has several analogies dated between
600 and 650, including a piece found in Pannonia, at Zamrdi (GARAM
2001, p. 174). It is therefore possible that the Periam bowl came here in
the first half of the 7th century. The place of this discovery is near the
confluence of the Mure] and Tisza rivers, where both Gepids and Avars
had established their power centers in order to control the salt traffic.
In the 4th-5th centuries, the Christian life in Pannonia was well
developed (THOMAS 1982, p. 255-293; GSPR 2002). It is not surprising
that the contacts with this region have contributed to the spreading of the
Christianity in Post-Roman Dacia, as well as the relations kept with the
South-Danubian area. The survival in the Romanian language of the
words paganus (p`gn) and basilica (biseric`) was recently explained as
a result of a missionary activity of the small monastic communities of the
Western provinces (Noricum, Pannonia) fulfilled in the 5th-6th centuries
(OPREANU 2001).

The objects found at Biertan require a special discussion, because

Uwe Fiedler denied in a recent study the usual historical interpretation of
these important relics (FIEDLER 1996-1998, p. 389-397).
According to a report sent in 1779 by the mayor of the city of
Media] (Germ. Mediasch) to the Austrian governor of Transylvania
Simon Bruckenthal, several bronze objects were found in 1775 into a
valley near a spring located 5 km south of the Biertan (Germ. Birthlm)
 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 47
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

village: a pitcher (Kanne), a bowl (Schssel), a medallion decorated with

the chrismon, and a votive plate. The loss of the pitcher and the bowl
impede us to establish a more accurate chronology of this deposit. The
medallion with chrismon can be dated in the 4th century, especially in its
second half, on the basis of several similar pieces. The objects are
detailed described in GUDEA, GHIURCO 1988, p. 136-138 (with the whole
bibliography until 1985). For the circumstances of the discovery, see
HOREDT 1979, p. 340-343.
Kurt Horedt, who discovered the objects for a second time in the
depository of the Sibiu Museum founded by Bruckenthal (HOREDT 1944,
p. 10-16), has made field researchs in the area in 1958 and 1976, but he
was not able to identify any 4th century settlement in that point.
Contemporary sites were however found in the surroundings (A\el, Bratei,
the coin hoard from Laslea see HOREDT 1982, p. 165-167).
Uwe Fiedler supposed that the objects were put near the spring as
an offering given to the god associated to that spring. He recalls some
cases of spring worship in the Preroman and Roman times and even in the
early Christian period, when this worshipping was assimilated with the
cult of some saints. Fiedler accepted the possibility that a church was
erected by a Christian missionary near a heathen temple, but he considers
that such an idea would be contradicted by the absence of any building
remains on that swampy soil. He proposed another idea: the hiding of
these objects by a Gothic warrior, who has taken them during a raid and
who has dedicated them to the spring as a personal offering (FIEDLER
1996-1998, p. 391, 394-395). The hypothesis of a pillage made by a
Gothic warrior was previously expressed by ALFLDI 1942, p. 257 (who
also accepted a possible Christian mission to the Transylvanian Goths).
We agree that the relics found at Biertan are a deposit, a group of
objects intentionally put in the ground by their owner. Some deposits
were made with the purpose to be later recovered (for instance, the coin
hoards), while other were offerings left in the earth into a secure place as
nobody will find them. The condition for the hiding of such objects was
their intrinsic or symbolic value. In the case of such small bronze objects
like the Biertan medallion, the intrinsic value can not be taken into
consideration. For this reason, it is probable that the objects had a
symbolic value, and this means that the owner was a Christian, for whom
an object decorated with a chrismon was worth to be saved. This was the
current interpretation before Fiedler.
The medallion and the votive plate (both casted in bronze) were
the two parts of a single object. It is certain that the deposit also included
a small chain that linked these two parts. It is supposed that the plate and
the medallion were bound at the upper part of a chandelier or a bronze
lamp. The known analogies suggest that the medallion was put between
48 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

the chandelier and the plate (CIGLENEKI 1993, p. 219). The medallion
(Fig. 4) has a diameter of 195 mm (237 mm, including the two rings used
for pending). The tickness is 4 mm. The medallion is decorated by
openwork with the superposed Greek letters P and X - the chrismon.
The votive plate (donarium, or ex voto) measures 325 x 126 x 4
mm (Fig. 5). The piece was made in the same technique of openwork.
The inscription EGO ZENOVIVS VOTVM POSVI is put on three lines.
The plate has two ansae, which are larger than the central part (132 mm)
and which are provided with three holes used for binding on a support).
Two rings used for pending were placed up and down. The upper one is
now broken, but it was entire when the plate was found; it appears in the
design made by the cardinal Giuseppe Garampi in 1780 - preserved in the
Latin manuscript 9104, f. 155 from the Vatican Library (POPESCU 1976,
p. 388).
The existence of two binding systems is strange for an object of
this kind. Usually, the votive plates have only rings. It is sure that the
donarium had the two rings when it was made, because they are casted
together with the rest of the piece. However, the holes pierced on the
ansae seem to prove that the donarium was destinated to be fixed on a
wall, on a beam, or on other wooden object. It could be supposed that the
ansae were perforated in another moment, when the function of the object
has changed. This would mean that the plate was initially destinated to be
exposed by hanging, but for some reasons the fixing system was changed.
Another hypothesis was expressed by Mihai Gramatopol. Unlike other
archaeologists, he sustained that the tabula was fixed on a chest, and that
the medallion (linked with a chain) was used as a symbolic fastener of
this chest (GRAMATOPOL 1982, p. 228, 305 n. 10). This can explain the
existence of the holes on the ansae. In this case, the bronze vessels were
put in that wooden casket. We think that this idea deserves full attention.
We do not know proper analogies for the Biertan donarium,
because these tabulae ansatae with pending rings do not usually have
holes on the ansae. If we ignore the holes, then a close analogy is that
indicated by A. Alfoldi: the plate found at Siscia in Pannonia (Sisak,
Croatia), which bears an inscription made in the same technique of
openwork, but with Greek letters (Fig. 6). This votive plate is dated in the
3rd-4th centuries, and the dedicant could be either Christian, either heathen
(ALFLDI 1942, p. 256, Taf. XL/1). The inscription was published by V.
HOFFILLER, B. SARIA, Antike Inschriften aus Jugoslavien, I, Zagreb,
1938, p. 240, nr. 525: Gaeianc Diognou(c) pr eqc njeto.
Another analogy is the tabula ansata (Fig. 7) from Dion (Greek
Macedonia), which has the letters made in the same technique (FEISSEL
1983, p. 79-80, nr. 79 - who quotes the tabula from Biertan).
 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 49
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

It was supposed that the coarse technique of execution suggests the

local origin of the donarium found at Biertan (HOREDT 1944, p. 15;
GIURESCU 1970, p. 476). However, this argument is not too strong,
because the tabula ansata from Siscia is similar in this respect.
From the epigraphical point of view, the Biertan inscription can be
dated in the 4th century, on the basis of the special form of the letter G,
which is attested in several contemporary inscriptions (HOREDT 1944, p.
14). The expression votum posui (votum posuit) or votum libens merito
posuit is usual in the inscriptions dedicated to the heathen gods, including
in Roman Dacia (POPESCU 1976, p. 389).
Zenovius was supposed to be a missionary, a bishop, a priest, or
even a layman (a wealthy man or a ruler) (DAICOVICIU 1970, p. 524525;
POPESCU 1976, p. 388; PETOLESCU 1983, p. 146-147; PETOLESCU 2000,
p. 58; DIACONESCU, OPREANU 1989, p. 579; ZUGRAVU 1997, p. 290). The
name Zenovius is very rare in the Greek and Roman onomastic
(references in POPESCU 1976, p. 389; see another dedication in Anne
Epigraphique, 1968, nr. 0232: Invicto Deo Serapidi et Isidi Cl(audius)
Zenobius proc(urator) Aug(usti). Zenobius was also the name of a Greek
sophist from the first half of the 2nd century AD. The feminine form,
Zenobia, was bore by the famous queen of Palmyra. Because the origin of
the name is Syrian, some researchers supposed that the dedicant was an
oriental merchant or, in any case, a person from the oriental provinces
(GIURESCU 1970, p. 473-478; POPESCU 1976, p. 389). However, there is
another possibility. The name Zenobius became a Christian one because it
belonged to a martyr killed during the great persecution of 303-311: the
saint Zenobius, celebrated at 30th October, together with his sister
Zenobia. Zenobius was a physician in the city of Aegae from Asia Minor.
It seems that he was the same with Zenobius of Antiochia (killed in 310),
who was too a physician. In this way, Zenobius became a name used by
the Christians, not only in the East. The evidence is given by the name
bore by another saint, who was not Greek or oriental, but Italian: St.
Zenobius from Florence, who died in 390 (remembered by ALFLDI
1942, p. 257). He was a friend of St. Ambrosius. If this name has entered
in the 4th century Western Christian onomastic, then we can suppose that
the person who has dedicated the donarium from Biertan was not
necessary of oriental origin.
The form Zenovius reflects the vulgar spelling (v instead of b).
This does not prove the local origin of the object, because the same
mistake could be made by a craftsman from Dalmatia or Pannonia.
However, the use of the name Zenobius in 4th century Dacia was possible,
because the contacts with the Church from the empire are attested by
other liturgic objects dated in the same century (the chandelier from
R`cari, the North-African lamp from Potaissa). It is interesting that the
50 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

name Zenovie was used until the 20th century by the Transylvanian
Romanians.
The medallion with chrismon has many analogies in the northern
Dalmatia and in Pannonia. Based on five similar pieces, Andras Alfldi
and Kurt Horedt supposed that these medallions were first produced in the
workshops from Aquileea, one of the most active economic and religious
centers in Illyricum in the 4th-6th centuries (HOREDT 1982, p. 167). Other
four medallions were identified by CIGLENEKI 1993, p. 213-221, and
FIEDLER 1996-1998, p. 392-393. Their mapping shows a penetration from
Aquileea toward East. The medallion from Biertan is the most eastern
piece and it could be observed that its location is in the prolongation of
the direction traced by the pieces from Dalmatia and Pannonia. K. Horedt,
followed by other archaeologists, supposed that this reflects a trading
route. This point of view was challenged by U. Fiedler, who considers
that the spreading of these objects indicates the direction of a Gothic
attack. He supposed that the Goths plundered from Italy or Dalmatia the
objects deposited at Biertan. It seems unlikely that a Gothic warrior has
took from a Italian or Pannonian church these small bronze objects that
had no symbolic value for him, in order to hide them hundreds of
kilometers far from that church. Fiedler was not able to provide a similar
case of deposition of bronze or iron objects made by the Germanic
warriors settled in Transylvania or in the neighbouring areas in the 4th-6th
centuries. All the deposits and hoards that can be ascribed to them are
composed from gold and silver pieces.
The medallioans from Aquileea, Ljubljana, Vipota (2 pieces) and
from the cave of kocjan differ very much from that from Biertan. They
are much more sophisticated and display other symbols, like the letters A
and , or the grape stalks). These pieces belonged to a group specific for
the northwestern Illyricum, created at Aquileea. Other pieces recorded by
Fiedler are in fact chandeliers decorated with the chrismon of Egyptian
fashion, not simple medallions (Rogoznica, near Ptuj-Poetovio)
(KOROEC 1980, p. 55-61). They should be excluded from the list of
analogies for the piece from Biertan. The most similar pieces are those
found in the nearest area, in present-day Hungary. One of them, preserved
in the Rth collection of the National Hungarian Museum, was found
somewhere in Hungary. The chrismon is not very different from that from
Biertan; the disc is smaller (110 mm; 136 mm with the upper and lower
rings) and it has six lateral protuberances. The second close analogy is the
piece said to be found at Bonyhd. In this case, the form is the same. Only
the dimensions are different (diameter 234 mm; 29,2 mm including the
rings) (TTH 1977, p. 147, Abb. 3, 148, note 8, 149, Abb. 4; THOMAS
1982, p. 271, Abb. 12, 13; UBL 1982, p. 575-576). A recent monograph
 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 51
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

shows that the location at Bonyhd is not sure, but that the piece could
still be considered of Pannonian origin (GSPR 2002, p. 140).
Because it is obvious that the medallions from Pannonia and
Biertan belong to the same group, it could be supposed that they were
made in the same workshop or in neighbour workshops that can be
located in Pannonia (for instance at Sirmium), not in Aquileea (as has
observed ALFLDI 1942, p. 257). We think that the more simple
Bonyhd-Biertan type was created by the imitation of the Aquileea type.
Therefore, it is much more probable that the piece from Biertan was made
somewhere in Pannonia and that it came in Dacia by the Mure] valley. It
is interesting that the medallion from Bonyhd was found in a place near
the Danube, at the end of the road that linked Partiscum (at the confluence
of Mure] with Tisza) with Dacia. The western connection of the Dacian
4th century sites is proved by the discovery of several coins struck at
Siscia, Sirmium, and even Aquileea, arrived by the same trading route on
the Mure] valley (HOREDT 1982, p. 182-184; BUTNARIU 1991, p. 83). It
seems that this direction of penetration for Christian objects survived until
the 7th century, because two later pieces were found on the lower Mure]
valley (the lamp with the shape of a fish from Lipova and the liturgic
vessel from Periam). The St. Menas flasks found in Transylvania came
too by Pannonia in the 6th century (BARNEA 1995; KDR 1995).
It is certain that the donarium, the medallion, and the two other
liturgic objects from Biertan were used in a church. Some researchers
supposed that this church was located somewhere near the place where
the objects were found (PROTASE 1966, p. 145; POPESCU 1976, p. 389;
HOREDT 1982, p. 165 (perhaps a baptisterium near a spring);
GRAMATOPOL 1982, p. 228; ZUGRAVU 1997, p. 290; TEODOR 2000, p.
14). There is no proof, but this fact can not be excluded. Even U. Fiedler
admits that the Christians worshipped the springs in certain occasions.
This could be the case at Biertan. But, if we consider that the objects were
put in the earth by a Christian, then the hiding can be ascribed to refugee
people who have took with themselves the precious liturgic vessels of a
church located elsewhere. In this case, the time of the hiding is not
necessary close to that when the objects were made. If we take into
account the isolated character of the area where the objects were hidden,
then this supposition is worth of consideration. In fact, nothing proves
that the objects were deposited in the 4th century. Their uniqueness in the
rural milieu can be thus explained. Their presence at Biertan would be
strange for the 4th century, but not also for the 6th century, when the
Christianization of the countryside was already initiated by the people
displaced from the ruralized cities. In this case, the hiding can be dated in
the 6th century or even in the 5th century, when the townsfolk took refuge
in the rural areas. If we accept the idea expressed by M. Gramatopol, then
52 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

the using for deposition of a wooden chest on which the plate was fixed
can be explained only by the hiding of these objects by a Christian who
transported them to Biertan from another place, for instance from a city.
It is interesting that one of the medallions from Dalmatia (Vipota)
was found into an isolated place, on the slopes of a mountain, where the
people from Celeia (Celje, Slovenia) took refuge in the 6th-7th centuries;
another one was discovered in a cave, at kocjan (CIGLENEKI 1993, p.
219-220).
In conclusion, the significance of the liturgic objects found at
Biertan can be clarified if it is studied within the historical and
archaeological framework of the 4th-6th centuries. These relics are not an
isolated presence in the countryside. Like other objects, they testify the
displacement of the Daco-Roman Christians outside the post-urban
milieu, and, on the other hand, the contacts established with the Christian
communities from Pannonia.

List of illustrations

1. Map of the Christian finds dated before 275: 1: Cluj-Napoca; 2:

Cop`ceni; 3: Gherla; 4: Gil`u; 5: Gornea; 6: Racovi\a; 7: Re]ca; 8: Turda.
2. Map of the Christian finds dated between 275 and the middle of the 5th
century: 1: Alba Iulia; 2: B`ile Herculane; 3: Biertan; 4: C`rbunari; 5: Criste]ti; 6:
Deva; 7: Ili]ua; 8: Jab`r; 9: Jupa; 10: Merchea]a; 11: Mic`sasa; 12: Moigrad; 13:
R`cari; 14: Sarmizegetusa; 15: Snnicolaul Mare; 16: Turda; 17: Ve\el; 18: Zlatna
3. Map of the Christian finds dated between the middle of the 5th century
and the beginning of the 7th century: 1: Alba Iulia; 2: Bra]ov; 3: Bratei; 4:
Bumbe]ti; 5: Craiova; 6: Dej; 7: Feldioara-R`zboieni; 8: Lipova; 9: Moigrad: 10:
P`latca; 11: Periam; 12: Poian; 13: R`cari; 14: Re]ca; 15: Rotbav; 16:
Snmicl`u]; 17: Sighi]oara; 18: Turda
4. The medallion from Biertan
5. The tabula ansata from Biertan
6. The tabula ansata from Siscia
7. The tabula ansata from Dion
 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 53
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

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54 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

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OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

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56 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

1. Map of the Christian finds dated before 275: 1: Cluj-Napoca; 2: Cop`ceni; 3:

Gherla; 4: Gil`u; 5: Gornea; 6: Racovi\a; 7: Re]ca; 8: Turda.

2. Map of the Christian finds dated between 275 and the middle of the 5th century:
1: Alba Iulia; 2: B`ile Herculane; 3: Biertan; 4: C`rbunari; 5: Criste]ti; 6: Deva; 7:
Ili]ua; 8: Jab`r; 9: Jupa; 10: Merchea]a; 11: Mic`sasa; 12: Moigrad; 13: R`cari;
14: Sarmizegetusa; 15: Snnicolaul Mare; 16: Turda; 17: Ve\el; 18: Zlatna.
 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 57
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

3. Map of the Christian finds dated between the middle of the 5th century and the
beginning of the 7th century: 1: Alba Iulia; 2: Bra]ov; 3: Bratei; 4: Bumbe]ti; 5:
Craiova; 6: Dej; 7: Feldioara-R`zboieni; 8: Lipova; 9: Moigrad: 10: P`latca; 11:
Periam; 12: Poian; 13: R`cari; 14: Re]ca; 15: Rotbav; 16: Snmicl`u]; 17:
Sighi]oara; 18: Turda.

4. The medallion from Biertan.

58 ALEXANDRU MADGEARU

5. The tabula ansata from Biertan.

6. The tabula ansata from Siscia.

 THE SPREADING OF THE CHRISTIANITY IN THE RURAL AREAS 59
OF POST-ROMAN DACIA (4th-7th CENTURIES)

7. The tabula ansata from Dion.