Bodin
Remains of wall paintings and stucco ornaments add to our knowledge of Singidunum. Fragments of wall paintings found at the crossing of Tadeuša Košćuškog and Gospodar Jovanova Streets represent the earliest known paintings in the territory of Belgrade. Traces of classical paintings and stucco ornaments have also been found in the Lower Town of the Belgrade Fortress, in Knez Mihailova Street, on Studentski Square and Kosančićev Venac.
The preserved fragments of painted wall decoration feature geometric designs, imitations of marble facing, floral ornaments and figural representations. Birds, executed with great skill and with a fine sense of detail, are a common motif of classical wall paintings in the interior of public or private buildings, as well as of sepulchral wall paintings. The pigments used were red, pale ochre, blue, pale green, grey, brown and black. Fragments of painted wall plaster which bear traces of gold colour indicate the existence of luxurious Roman buildings, such as might have been the one in Kosančićev Venac, in which remains of floor mosaics were also discovered. The wall surfaces were usually divided into vertical and horizontal zones by painted borders or wall mouldings, which have also been discovered on these sites. Some stucco decoration imitated architectural elements, such as pilasters, capitals, arches, and cornices.
The glassblowing pipe was discovered in the Near East, probably towards the end of the 1st century B.C. The new technology made possible the making of new forms of glassware, greatly facilitated their production and rendered glass objects available to the broader masses of population throughout the Empire. Trade in this type of goods was intensified when Syria and Egypt became parts of the Roman Empire. Glassmaking was not restricted to the East, as at the beginning; it also developed north and south of the Alps.
All the pottery forms were reproduced in glass. The finds from Singidunum include bottles, jugs, plates, cups, beakers, flasks (guti), urns, and lamps. Small toilet bottles were used for the keeping of exotic scents and medicaments. Clear whitish glass was the most common and greatly esteemed, although there were also vessels made of coloured glass, mostly blue and green. They were decorated with applied glass thread, beads, incised ornaments and polishing. Houses of the rich had glass window panes (oculi). Glass paste was used for the making of jewelry.
The presence of glassware from Italian, Gaulish and east Mediterranean workshops in Singidunum testifies to the widespread trade links and good communications of the town. The glassmaking craft was handed down from generation to generation. The associations of free craftsmen (collegia opificum), to which glassmakers (vitrarii) also belonged, had their statutes with strict regulations, although their members also enjoyed certain privileges.
Fibula (from Lat. figere, to fasten) is a special kind of pin used to join or fasten two pieces of clothing, usually on the shoulder or on the chest. In time fibulae became also objects of adornment. They are very common since they were an obligatory part of the costume of the Roman citizens and of other members of the population. Each fibula consists of the pin and the body, which is made up of the catchplate, the bow and the foot.
They may be made in one or two pieces. They have a long history: the earliest known examples date from the Bronze Age and are simple in form. During the Hallstatt period they evolved into a multitude of forms decorated in various techniques. The late La Tène fibulae provided the basis for the Roman ones.
More than forty kinds of fibulae used by the inhabitants of Singidunum are known: arched, moulded, elbowed, anchor-like, ring-like, flat (glazed and non-glazed), omega-shaped, with the reversed foot,. zoomorphic, T-fibulae, Pannonian, cross-shaped, and others. Their forms depended on the current fashions emanating from various centres or on local influences.
They were decorated in various techniques: incision, openwork, engraving, incrustation, granulation, punctuation, etc. Fibulae were often marks of social and economic status. Those worn by women were smaller, of finer workmanship, and sometimes used in pairs. Fibulae for men were bigger, particularly those used by soldiers and state officials. From the 3rd century on fibulae were presented as official gifts to military tribunes in recognition of particular merits.
The realistic portrait of a man at the end of the middle age and the beginning of old age is expressive of inner strength and well-grounded self-confidence. On the basis of the representations on the coins the portrait have been identified as a portrait of Emperor Macrinus.
Emperor Macrinus (Imperator Caesarus Marcus Opellius Severus Macrinus Augustus, 217-218) was born in a poor family at Caesarea, a port town in Mauritania, in 164. It is thought that Macrinus as a soldier killed Emperor Caracalla in 217 A.D. and succeeded him. Many statues of Macrinus were erected in Rome as a sign of gratitude after the murder of Caracalla, although Macrinus himself never set foot on Italian soil. During the fourteen months of his reign Macrinus tried to stabilize the internal political situation in the Empire and to improve the economic conditions in it. He appointed his close associates as new governors of the provinces of Pannonia, Dacia and Moesia, and their troops remained loyal to him to the end. In spite of his endeavours to strengthen the state, he had powerful enemies, especially among military commanders, whose excessive demands he refused to satisfy.
Faced with rebellion and the proclamation of young Elagabalus (218-222) for emperor, Macrinus shaved his head and beard and disguised himself in an effort to escape. He was, however, betrayed, found out and murdered. After the murder, Elagabalus proclaimed "the razing of memory" (damnatio memoriae). There followed systematic demolition and removal of Macrinus' statues (which explains the scant number of portraits which can be reliably identified as his).
This bust was discovered in the area of Boleč, a village near the supposed line of the road leading from Singidunum to Viminacium (in the vicinity of modern Ritopek), which may have belonged to the Emperor at that time. It is supposed that the bust was commissioned to be placed in the villa of a town or mining magistrate. Macrinus' portrait is made in the Severian and post-Severian style with elements of the new, realistic treatment which aims at representing the inner life of the represented person.
Emperor Macrinus' bust is certainly an anthological work of Roman portraiture.
Бранкова улица, старе зграде на бројевима 16 и 18, према старој нумерацији.