In the 1970s a large overpass was built to this place in Budapest, but earlier a lagre Roman military bath-complex was found there. So it was not an easy question what to do with it. City management didn’t want to demolish it, but building the overpass was really necessary, because of the increasing car traffic. The decision was imaginative: the overpass was built and the ruins of the Roman bath remained! It became a special kind of museum, and the underpass is decorated with repilcas of the foundings for the pedestians.
That’s a great idea, but it happened in the 70s and since then there was no renovation or modernisation. So this is an interesting place. A bizarre meeting of the past and the present. The dirt, the stink of the present, the sweat of everyday life. And meanwhile, there are copies of Roman stones. Unworthily neglected. Sure, they're just copies, but I really like them. Mainly tombstones. Fighting through a few bazaars, lotteries, gently avoiding the pisses, we can get to the tombstone - and the much-loved Latin inscription. During the upset pigeons, they roar in disdain and I try not to breathe because I get drunk even from evaporation.
Let’s see one of them! In the tombstone, the palm tree trunk and, of course, the Gorgon head were the first I noticed. There is such a beach atmosphere here in the middle of the Carpathian Basin. The carved human figure is framed by two squat palm trunks. You can't go unnoticed. The Gorgon Head is in the tympanum (the small triangle that gives the “top” of the whole composition), and wild sea horses (hippocampuses by their beautiful names) are also raging on this slope. And two sides above the man's head, a dolphin (not a legendary animal, a "wild" dolphin we can meet). So everything is given to a beach-like atmosphere. But what is all this here in Hungary?
The man holds a scroll and an instrument in his hand. We would think he is a musician, but he is not. Although the Romans loved music, they did not surrender to the unbridled, self-forgotten intoxication of Dionysos (Nemo saltat sobrius - as the Latin says - that is, no one dances soberly, as Cicero declared). So they enjoyed the music soberly, thoughtfully, and moderately, but they still enjoyed it. This is the instrument that is almost wrapped around his body: a horn. It is not a complicated instrument that requires a lot of learning, but it is a regular accompanying instrument for gladiatorial fights, for example.
The inscription, on the other hand, reveals everything. The dead man who still looks into our eyes from the depths of time is Aelius Quintus. He was a soldier. Okay, horned, but not a palm-tree musician to entertain the plebs. Responsible soldier. This picture was taken in the subway of Flórián Square. After pigeon-release. The original of the stone can be seen in the Aquincum Museum. Speaking in favor of the copy, I would say it is easier to read the inscription. It is beautifully carved and the makers thought of lovers of Latin inscriptions.
I think everyone is excitedly waiting for the inscription, so I won’t make you waiting any more longer:
D(is) M(anibus)/ Ael(ius) Quintus cornice(n)
domo/ Cirpi probatus/ an(norum) XX militavit/ […]
Unfortunately, the rest of the inscription is missing. The stone broke in two, right at the middle of the inscription. No matter, we can learn a lot from this as well:
To the Gods of Death. Aelius Quintus horn-blower from Cirpi. He was enlisted at the age of 20, served
in the military... The ‘death gods’ is a usual form of greeting. Cirpi is called Dunabogdány nowdays.
So our well-combed soldier was born in Dunabogdány, blow his horn ... and dead. Maybe he brought the palm trees with him from the banks of the Danube...  |
| the portrait of Aelius Quintus (source:lupa.at) |
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