Ivan Valchev

        Assist. Prof. Dr.

        Sifia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“, Faculty of History Archaeology Department

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 Pagan gods in the late Roman cities on the Lower Danube.

The symbolic presence of the gods in the human space through temples, altars and statues has always been important. In the crisis years of the middle and the third quarter of the 3rd century, this practice seemed to die out, but with the beginning of the Late Antiquity traditional religion became "visible" again. During the reign of Diocletian and his co-rulers in the Lower Danube cities of Oescus, Durostorum, Tomis, Dionysopolis, Novae, Noviodunum and others, a number of statues of Jupiter, Cybele, Sol, and Liber Pater were erected or restored. The official nature of these acts is underlined by the high rank of the devotees – provincial governors or military commanders. In all cases, only the pedestals with the dedication inscriptions are preserved, while the statues themselves are missing. The pedestals were reused in later constructions, and it is not clear where the images of the gods were originally placed. There is no doubt, however, that they were in the public spaces of the cities - at the forum or in a sanctuary. In the ruins of the basilica civilis of Oescus fragments of statues of Apollo, Diana and Fortuna have been found. The images were placed in niches in the north wall of the building. Their discovery in layers with destructions from the end of the 70s of the 4th century shows that they were in their original place until that time and the processes of Christianization had not led to their destruction. Whether they were considered as "idols" during this period or simply as part of the decoration of the public building is not clear. However, the pagan deities retained their presence in the heart of the civic center of Oescus. At the same time in Durostorum two monuments of Jupiter dedicated in the time of Diocletian were reused in constructions dated in the middle of the 4th century, and in the Tropaeum Traiani – perhaps even earlier – around 316–317. It is very difficult to reconstruct the last phase of the “life” of the ancient statues and through it the presence of the pagan gods in the late Roman cities on the Lower Danube.