Edificiul ca ornament: observaţii iconografice asupra nimfeului severan din Sarmizegetusa
Building as ornament: iconographic observations on the severan nymphaeum from Sarmizegetusa

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to analyze the fountains discovered at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa in the broader context of the historiography of monumental wells of the Roman Empire. It deals systematically with the emplacement of this type of monuments in Roman cities using examples from various parts of the Roman Empire, then it presents the types of fountains and their decorations. Next, the analysis is stressing the situation of the public fountains from Sarmizegetusa built during the 2nd century AD by Lucius Ophonius Priscus. Several archaeological observations by Alexandru Diaconescu, Ioan Piso, Gică Băeștean, conjugated with sculptural details are compared with observations made by Croatian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian archaeologists in regard to other similar fountains from northern Balkans and Hungary. As the information concerning the fountains of Sarmizegetusa seems fairly abundant, it is possible to pursue a project of restoration, since both the emplacement and the building materials as well as part of the decoration of those monuments can be reconstructed.

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