Despre paharele decorate cu „muguri de lotus” (tip Isings 31) descoperite în Dobrogea romană

Abstract

The glass beakers decorated with knots in relief that are similar to the vegetal motif of “lotus-bud” can be counted among the most interesting mold-blown vessels, due to their shape, pattern of decoration and significance. They were highly appreciated during the second half of the Ist century AD, gradually disappearing at the beginning of the IInd century, when new trends in the shape and decoration of glass vessels occurred. In the northern part of Moesia Inferior (i.e. – today’s Dobroudja) few fragmentary examples were discovered at: Neptun-Mangalia, in a rich cremation tomb, Troesmis, Capidava and Carsium. To these we can add three other fragments coming from Ibida-Slava Rusă (see Map 1), which are altogether presented in our catalogue. The situation is nevertheless, slightly different in the north-Danubian area, where these beakers are quite frequent. Thus, only in the Dacian fortification from Piroboridava (Poiana – Galaţi county) were uncovered eleven different fragments of this type, but we can assume  that their number was far bigger. Although the discussions can still raise numerous debates and it was not our purpose to search for unquestionable theories, the popularity of these beakers (underlined also by the fact that they are encountered in almost every Glass collection) remains very high, and we hope that future discoveries will bring forth new data concerning their history of production and distribution.

Keywords: Roman glass, lotus-bud beakers,‘Herakles club’ motif, Roman Dobroudja.