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”Archaeology is a story
about lost knowledge that has to
be studied artfully... What we re-
member and learn is only a small
segment of human permanence.”
The quote, which fits nicely with
UNESCO’s vision of preserving
World Heritage, is an excerpt
from a book written by Dragoslav
Srejović, a famous Serbian ar-
chaeologist and member of the
Serbian Academy of Sciences
and Arts. He is most famous for
unearthing Lepenski Vir, a settle-
ment in Eastern Serbia dating to
the Mesolithic, but he had several
other discoveries, one of which
was
Felix Romuliana
.
The archeological site, added
to the UNESCO World Heritage
List under the name ”Gamzigrad-
Romuliana, Palace of Galerius”,
was a palace compound and memo-
rial complex. It was commissioned
by Emperor Galerius in 298, after
he won glory in battle against the
Persians, and the strong fortifica-
tions around the compound are
an allusion to his military skill.
The name Romuliana refers to
his mother, Romula, and roughly
means ”Romula’s villa.” However,
dr. Srejović argued that there’s more
to it: The adjective
felix
was only
used to indicate the holy, glorious
and prosperous nature of gods or
emperors, and not as a mere decora-
tive adjective. The symbolism here
is manifold: Diocletian, Galerius’s
predecessor, dubbed Galerius ”the
new Romulus,” after Rome’s mythic
founder. Romula herself was named
after Romulus, and served as the
priestess of a pagan cult. Thus, the
complex of temples and palaces
served three main purposes - a place
of worship of his mother’s divine
personality, a monument to his
deeds as emperor, and a luxurious
villa for Galerius.
The complex is comprised of
fortifications with a palace, public
houses, tombs and mausoleums on
the adjacent hill. It was first men-
tioned in 1835 by Saxon mining en-
trepreneur Baron von Herder
Gore:
Mozaik –
Lavirint
Dole:
Mozaik – Dionis
na gozbi
Desno:
mozaički
tepih u pristupnoj
dvorani
e
Up:
Labyrinth,
floor mosaic
Down:
Dionysus on
a feast
Right:
Mosaic carpet
in the entrance court
(vestibulum)
