Un gruppo di stele funerarie provenienti da Viminacium (Moesia Superior)

The topic of research in this study is a group of high quality funerary stelae from Viminacium (modern Kostolac), located in the roman province of Upper Moesia. These funeral stelae are made from marble and exhibit complex decorative schemes with high quality reliefs. Usually, the central reliefs show scenes from Greek mythology such as carved representations of the Rape of Persephone, Helen and Menelaus and Heracles and Alcestis. All of them have a frieze with wild animals in a hunting scene. Important analogies for these reliefs can be found in the funeral art of the provinces of Lower and Upper Pannonia and Noricum. Stelae from Viminacium were erected for citizens and residents who belonged to the city’s higher socio-economic stratum and who would have been able to afford such monuments. They occupied high positions in municipal administration.Iit’s dating from the second to the early third century. They were likely manufactured in local workshops based upon models produced in the art centers of Lower Pannonia, Upper Pannonia and Noricum and were in keeping with the most important artistic trends of the time. The presence of these stelae at Viminacium should be understood in the context of the city's economic and cultural prosperity of the second half of the second or early third century