CARNUNTUM. - City of Upper Pannonia (Austria) in the Danube valley, a very ancient road center of great commercial and strategic importance for communications with the north. From the time of Tiberius and Claudius it had a fortified camp, the seat of a legion (XV and then XIII), destroyed between 375 and 400; it had two amphitheaters: one, larger, in the city, the other, smaller, in the Castrum. Hadrian granted it the designation municipium Aelium, assigning it to his tribe (Sergia). Septimius Severus transformed it into a Colonia Septima.

Christianity in C. is attested by monumental remains, among them a baptistery located at the southern entrance of the city's amphitheater, and by terracotta lamps, rings, engraved stones, and medals with Christian signs or formulas such as Dro vivas, discovered there; one of its bishops in the 4th century is documented by a bronze votive plaque found in Rome near the Ponte Sisto, now in the Museo Cristiano Pio Lateranense; it formed part of a disc or of a crown in gold or silver (gabata) which the gens Carnuntum, as the epigram engraved on it says, had offered by Mandronius, venerando nomine, to one of the Roman basilicas, probably the Vatican one. The monogram of Christ is engraved in the small upper tympanum; the style and paleography of the epigram reveal the 4th century.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: Th. Deimel, Christliche Römerfunde in C., Vienna 1911; R. Egger, Der römische Limes in Österreich, XVI, ibid. 1926, pp. 69 ff., 105 ff.; XVIII, ibid. 1937; F. Miltner, Das zweite Amphitheater von C., 3rd ed., ibid. 1936; W. Heydendorff, C. Geschichte und Probleme der Legionsfeste und der Zivilstadt, ibid. 1947. For the votive plaque: G. B. De Rossi, Triplice omaggio, Rome 1877, pl. I, fig. 10; O. Marucchi, I monumenti cristiani del museo Pio Lateranense, Milan 1910, pl. XLIV, no. 10.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec3_carnuntum, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Carnuntum}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {907}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/carnuntum} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry