Painter's grave

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The painter's grave from Frankfurt - Heddernheim is a Roman cremation grave that was discovered in a burial ground in the Roman city of Nida . Job-specific grave goods in ancient graves are among the rarer finds. They are a little more common with doctors, as the discovery of a doctor's set from Bingen shows. Since the inventory of the Heddernheim painter's grave is a considerable part of the furnishings, this allows important conclusions to be drawn about the painting technique and the colors used in the Roman Empire .

The painter's grave in the Archaeological Museum in Frankfurt .

Find situation

In front of the north gate of the Roman town of Nida-Heddernheim, one of the largest known necropolises in the Limes hinterland on the right bank of the Rhine was buried with an estimated 4,000–7,000 . Spatially separated from this, a smaller burial ground ( burial ground 6 ) followed along the road to Fort Okarben , of which 38 cremation graves by Heinz Janse were uncovered in 1965/66. The painter's grave was located in the southern part near the road (today's location of the find: ⊙ ).

At 0.5 m, the grave was relatively flat below today's surface. In the subgrade it was oval in shape, 2 m long and 0.5 m wide. Without any discernible arrangement, the corpse fire and the burial jars had scattered in the grave pit . The latter were mostly shattered and sometimes burned in very different ways, which suggests they were smashed over the pyre fire.

content

In addition to a few metal fragments (iron shoe and decorative nail, melted) and a Loeschke IX clay lamp , the grave contained numerous ceramic vessels, consisting of:

  • Terra Sigillata - Plate Shape Drag. 18/31 with stamp CRISSTO F, on the underside Graffito III with cross hatch.
  • Collar bowl made of so-called Wetterauer Ware , shape similar to TS shape Drag. 38.
  • Five engobed cups with a carnation rim, one of which has a grout.
  • One clay-ground mug and one plate each
  • small one-handle mug and large two-handle mug
  • 29 paint pots in three different, mostly cylindrical types, mostly with paint residues

The grave inventory is now in the permanent exhibition on Nida-Heddernheim in the Frankfurt Archaeological Museum .

Dating

The beakers are quite long-lived forms that can only roughly be dated to the first half of the 2nd century AD due to the filigree design of the rim lip. The oil lamp as well as the bowl of Wetterauer goods point to the same time. The terra sigillata potter's stamp of the potter CRISSTO, who made pottery in the Heiligenberg factory around the middle of the 2nd century, provides more precise information about the date .

Paint residues and analysis

The paint residues within the 29 paint pots could be seen partly as a film, partly as a centimeter-high dried mass and occasionally also indicated the original filling level inside the vessels. In addition, loose pigment remains could be recovered from the grave, including the edge of a bar. The X-ray fluorescence analysis of these paint residues gave the opportunity to gain insights into the composition of the pigments, their manufacture and processing.

Four basic colors were available to the Heddernheim painter, which are also mentioned in Vitruvius :

All other colors were created by mixing these basic colors, whereby it is noticeable that the combination lacks a pure green and black. It can no longer be said whether the paint pots also contained the organic colors mentioned at the end of the Vitruvian chapter, such as purple or madder red, since organic pigments decompose much faster. The inventory could also have included brushes and other organic painting utensils that were not preserved in the floor.

It is not possible to determine with certainty what surface the Heddernheim painter painted on. This may seem obvious from the numerous fragments of Roman wall paintings from that time, but it can no longer be recognized due to the poor preservation of organic materials. Comparisons with Heddernheim wall paintings showed at least a similar color composition. Unfortunately, no statements can be made about the binding agent used in the paints, as this has also passed in the case of organic substances such as gum arabic .

literature

  • Hans-Gert Bachmann / Wolfgang Czysz : The grave of a Roman painter from Nida-Heddernheim. In: Germania 55, 1977, pp. 85-107.
  • Ingeborg Huld-Zetsche in: Dietwulf Baatz / Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (ed.): The Romans in Hessen. 3. Edition. 1989. Licensed edition Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , p. 292f.
  • Ingeborg Huld-Zetsche: NIDA - a Roman city in Frankfurt am Main. Stuttgart, 1994 ( Writings of the Limes Museum Aalen 48 ), p. 151 u. Fig. 34.
  • Ingeborg Huld-Zetsche / Peter Fasold in: The permanent exhibition. Introduction to the departments. Frankfurt 1989, ISBN 3-88270-313-X ( Archaeological Series 12 ) p. 54 Cat.-No. 10.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerd Rupprecht in: The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , p. 333; Jakob Como: The grave of a Roman doctor in Bingen. Germania 9, 1925, p. 151f.
  2. ↑ Hans-Gert Bachmann / Wolfgang Czysz: The grave of a Roman painter from Nida-Heddernheim. In: Germania 55, 1977, pp. 85-107.
  3. ↑ Vitruvius: de architectura 7.7–14, Latin original text at thelatinlibrary.com .