Roman capitals from Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia)

Abstract

The article brings a detailed formal analysis of the Roman capitals from Sirmium, in the light of the stone analysis conducted on the material at the Museum of Srem and elsewhere in Sremska Mitrovica. The capitals dot the historical development of the town from the first half of the 2nd century until the 4th century. First made of regional limestone, they were later joined by those of limestone and marbles of distant source, whereby different stones in capitals coexisted almost throughout the town’s development. This was certainly the situation during the flourishing times of the late 3rd and the 4th century, when Sirmium, as one of the four capitals of the Roman Empire, stood within several formal circles of capitals. The plain-leaved capitals tie it to the rest of Pannonia, the Corinthianizing capitals to the provinces to the east and south, while part of the Asiatic capitals, the largest group, tie it to the wider area of the Mediterranean.

Keywords

• Sirmium
• Roman period
• Roman architecture
• Corinthian capitals
• Corinthianizing capitals
• Corinthian Asiatic capitals
• marble analyses