COLLECTIONS

Antique collection

The Antique collection includes material evidence of the culture from the period of Roman rule, collected from all over Istria.

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Information:

Silvana Petešić

Department:

Department of Archaeology

Marble head of a woman, identified as Agrippina the Younger

Pula, mid-1st century AD

Cameo of black-and-white onyx depicting Nero

Unknown provenance, 1st century AD

Multicolored mosaic with tree

Pula, second third of 2nd century AD

Bronze oil lamp of the imperial slave accountant Helops

Pula, third third of 1st century AD

Bone pyxis with lid

Brtonigla, 2nd century AD

Amber ring depicting lion and Hercules

Medulin, Burle, second half of 1st - first half of 2nd century AD

The Classical Antiquity Collection includes material evidence of the culture from the period of Roman rule, collected from all over Istria. Although the conflicts between Rome and the Histri, the indigenous population of the peninsula, began as early as the late 3rd century BC, the conquest of Nezakcij in 177 BC, the main Histrian settlement and the seat of King Epulon, was of crucial importance for the beginning of the Romanization of Istria. The process of Romanization intensified significantly in Caesar's time, in the mid-1st century BC, when the cadastral division of land was established, and the old Histrian settlements of Pola and Parentium became colonies of Roman citizens. These cities became centers of social, administrative, religious, and commercial life, designed according to high Roman urban standards. In the Roman colonies, as centers of Romanization, the Latin language and script, Roman currency, measurement system, religious and other customs were soon adopted. Pula became the most important city in Istria, and its exceptional wealth is manifested through the construction of a lavishly decorated forum with temples, the Arch of the Sergii, the city walls, two theaters, and a magnificent amphitheater.

Few Roman monuments have managed to be preserved to this day; most have been destroyed, demolished, or secondarily used for other purposes. Nevertheless, all the effort invested in collecting, researching, and preserving the material remains from the ancient period of Istria, which began in the first half of the 19th century and continues to this day, has resulted in the formation of a rich collection of ancient artifacts made of various materials. In addition to small utilitarian objects made of ceramics, stone, metal, bone, and glass, stone monuments (funerary, votive, honorary, architectural) stand out as an inexhaustible source of various information about the life and the social and ethnic structure of the Istrian population of that time.

The collection also contains a large number of amphorae, both of local production (Fažana, Loron) and those brought from various parts of the Roman Empire. Among them are more than 2,000 mostly intact amphorae, found in the Pula district of St. Theodore, which represents the largest land-based amphora site in the world. The amphorae were installed for drainage purposes, as part of a Roman quarter that consisted of a luxurious domus, public thermae, and a sanctuary of Hercules.