Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Jews at Intercisa in Pannonia

Author(s): Alexander Scheiber
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Jan., 1955), pp. 189-197
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1452753 .
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 JEWS AT INTERCISA IN PANNONIA

By ALEXANDER SCHEIBER

THE Jewish relics that have turned up in Pannonia so

far, are enumerated in the book of P. Jean-Baptiste Frey;'
these are the lucerna and the gem of Szombathely;2 the
tombstones of Alberti-Irsa3, Esztergom,4 and Sikl6s.5 Joses
who figures on the tombstones of Oescus is also of Pan-
nonian extraction. His father's name was Maximinus
Pannonus.6
The most important Jewish settlement of Pannonia was
Intercisa,7 a frontier fortress of the Roman Empire. The
first castrum was built at the beginning of the 2nd century.
Its origin is to be put in the period after Trajan's second
Dacian war (106-7). The troop of that place (Cohors I
Alpinorum equitata) watched over the security of the

Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, I, Roma-Paris 1936, pp. 487-90.

2
The photograph of both is published by Gyula Gabor in IMIT
Evkdnyve, 1931, pp. 153-4.
3 There are three menorahs on the stone of Alberti-Irsa. Erwin R.
Goodenough erroneously states (HUCA, XXIII, 2, 1950-1, p. 456,
n. 24): "the woman holds a child in whose hand is a bird." On the
photograph I sent him, it is also conspicuous that there is a menorah
in the child's hand.
4 The mother's name is KACCIE. This name Ka&nca has also turned
up in Dacia. Cf. A. Kerenyi, A ddciai szemelynevek (Die Personennamen
von Dazien), Budapest 1941, p. 18. No. 169. In Frey, op. cit., p. 316,
no. 413, the form CACIA occurs. Evidently a derivation of biblical
nyp (Job 42:14).
s Soklos (Frey, op. cit., p. 490, No. 678), the present-day Siklos.
6 Frey, op. cit., p. 492, No. 681. Cf. M. Schwabe, n-nmyn;inni nn my-
,;n1ipnyl n-it, y-i n-npn,1 II, 1935, No. 3-4, pp. 19-25 in more detail.
7
According to the interpretation of Janos Szilagyi, Intercisa means
'inserted' (castra, statio). When under Domitian and Trajan (81-117)
the fortresses were increased, a new camp-fortress bearing this name
was built between the former two Danubian camp-fortresses.
189
190 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW

route connecting Intercisa with Dacia. In the German-

Sarmatian war starting under Marcus Aurelius the camp
and the quarter of inhabitatnts perished (from 169 to 171)
and the cohors garrisoned at the camp crumbled. The
castrum was rebuilt, and about 176 a new cohors arrived
there together with the Emperor Marcus Aurelius re-
turning from Syria; this was the Cohors I milliaria Heme-
sonorum, consisting entirely of Hemesians. Owing to their
organizer, the soldiers' names often began with Marcus
Aurelius.8
The excavation of Intercisa began under the guidance
of Edward Mahler in the first decade of the 20th century.
The excavations were continued in later times. When the
Hungarian government resolved upon building Dunapen-
tele, the settlement on the site of Intercisa, into a city and
one of the centres of iron industry under the name Sstalin-
varos, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences afforded an
opportunity to finish, by a concluding model excavation,
the unearthing of the Roman settlement in 1949. The
Hungarian Academy of Sciences also decided to collect by
a scientific working group all the hitherto excavated monu-
ments of Intercisa, elaborate the older and the recent ones
in a modern manner, and exhibit them in their complete-
ness. In Hungary this is the first time that a decayed city
has been fully excavated and its memorials elaborated
according to uniform standpoints.
The monograph is planned to contain two volumes.
Volume I recently appeared in the edition of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences.9 It exhibits those groups of monu-
8 Louis Robert, REJ, CI, 1937, p. 76.
9 Barkoczy Laszlo, Erdelyi Gizella, Ferenczy Endre, Fuilep Ferenc,
Nemeskeri Janos, R. Alfoldi Maria, Sagi Karoly: Intercisa (Dunapentele-
Sztdlinvdros) tirtenete a romai korban (The History of Intercisa [Duna-
pentele-Sztdlinvdrosl in Roman Age), I, Budapest 1954, 4 , IX, 284
pages, XCII tables.
 JEWS AT INTERCISA IN PANNONIA-SCHEIBER 191

ments from the Roman age and past slave society, which
first of all give clues for the elucidation of the historical
backgrounds and social aspects. Such are the excavations
in search of the layers of the building and improvement
and determining the age, lapidary monuments with in-
scriptions and relievos, the discussions of the circulation of
money as well as the materials of the cemeteries and the
anthropological finds. Volume II will contain the historical
survey of such monuments of Intercisa's material culture
(objects of glass, metal, ceramics, and those used for
building ornaments) as define it more concretely; it will
also raise the ethnical problems and contain a unified
summary.10
This work affords us an opportunity to re-examine the
hitherto known Jewish monument of Intercisa and acquire
more and essentially new information about it, and also to
review for international Jewish science those which do not
figure in the CIJ of Frey.

There may have been many Jews among the Hemesians,

for we read on an inscription of Concordia: "de num/ero/
regi/orum/ Emes/enorum/ Judeoru/m/.""
Indeed, as early as 1864 a rectangular table of inscription
was found by F16ris R6mer, the pioneer of Hungarian
archaeology, immured in the wall of the back building of
the post-office of Dunapentele. On the upper part of the
table the relievo of the head of the Emperor Alexander
Severus, now wanting, was still seen by R6mer. Its
height is 58 cm., its breadth 82 cm., its thickness 22,5 cm.
Its text was deciphered, on the faulty reading of R6mer,

10 To quote the
preface of Janos Szilagyi.
" Frey, op. cit., p. 458, no. 640; cf. Enc, Jud., VI, pp. 592-3.
192 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW

by Theodore Mommsen on his visit to Budapest. The

stone was then already in the Hungarian National Museum,
where it is still exhibited. (Fig. 1).

Its text is rendered by Frey12 as follows:

Deo aeter
no pro sal/ute/ d/omini/
n/ostri/ Sev/eri/ A[lexan
dri] p/ii/ f/elicis/ Aug/usti/ [et Juliae
Mame]ae Aug/ustae/ m/atris/ Au/gusti/ v/otum/
red/dit/ 1/ibens/ Cosmus pr/aepositus/
sta/tionis/ Spondilla synag/ogae/

First of all, let us remark that the name of Cosmius13

clearly stands in the inscription. Spondilla was identified
with Pentele by Samuel Klein.I4 This may have been the
name of the canabae (dwelling-place of the soldiers' relatives
as well as of merchants and tradesmen) by the side of the
camp of Intercisa.
Accordingly, the inscription says no more nor less than
that at the time of the Emperor Alexander Severus (222-
35) there was a Jewish community and a synagogue built
at Intercisa. At its head was Cosmius, in the mundane
life the head of the custom-station (praepositus stationis).
Intercisa may have been an important custom-station, for
the road to Dacia led by that place. Certainly, most of
the bartering with the Barbarians was done there. It
was as a token of his gratitude that Cosmius erected his

12
Op. cit., p. 489, no. 677.
13Similar personal names were in use among the Jews of other
places also: DoD'p(Sanh. 98a; Sabbat 75a), KoWaa, Koaas; cf. Kohut,
Aruch. VII, p. 148; Krauss, Lehnworter, p. 535; VDDp(S. Klein, Jiidisch-
Paldstinisches Corpus Inscriptionum, Wien-Berlin 1920, p. 51, no. 157).
'4 .11np'nyll i4stv,rl' nppnf n-iyrr rimnnrmyt', III, 1935, no. 2,
pp. 63-65; Mult es Jovo', XXV, 1935, pp. 141-2.
 JEWS AT INTERCISA IN PANNONIA-SCHEIBER 193

votive table in honor of the Emperor Alexander Severus and

his mother Julia Mamea.
This explanation was not shared by the Hungarian
archaeologists. According to the famous J6zsef Hampel,
the synagogue "is related to the union of the persons of
Syrian extraction... This union ... may have, first of
all, been a co-operative society for burials." On Cosmius
he writes: "There is no reason for taking him for a Jew;
nay, he may have been a Syrian, and by 'synagogue' the
corporation of Syrians is to be meant."Is This opinion
also found a Jewish follower. Andras Graf, who at a
young age died a martyr's death, stated: "But in this
place too it is to be emphasized that the synagogue does
not implicitly denote a Jewish community."'6
The careful cleaning of the inscription has brought an-
other word to light which is peremptory in the much-
discussed problem. Outside the frame of inscription, on
the border, the following letters have appeared in a per-
pendicular direction: IVDEOR, i. e. Judeor/um.I7 The
existence of a Jewish diaspora at Intercisa, has thereby
become doubtless to the Hungarian archaeologists also.
The most problematic word of the inscription, Spondilla,
is presumably solved by Janos Harmatta on the basis of
the Greek spondaules, "a musician who plays at the
sacrifices." "From this may have derived in vulgar Latin
the spondilla used in the province, i. e. a lower-rank
official of the Jewish synagogue who may have accompanied
the sacrifices with music."'8
This interpretation has not satisfied us at all. In the
3rd century nowhere in Jewry were any sacrifices offered,

'5 Archaelogiai Ertesito, XXVI, 1906, pp. 238, 239.

16IMIT 1vkbnyve, 1939, p. 241.
17 Intercisa, I, p. 269, no. 329.
I8 Ibid. p,. 216.
194 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW

and there could be no question of music in the modest

divine service of the simple synagogues of the diaspora,
such as that of Intercisa might have been. In our view, a
place-name is still to be looked for in the word Spondill/a/,
for it is distinctly followed by a full stop and A' SYNAGI9
denotes archisynagogus.20
Consequently, the improved text of the inscription is
as follows:

Deo aeter
no pro sal/ute/ d/omini/
n/ostri/ Sev/eri/ A[lexan
dri] p/ii/ f/elicis/ Aug/usti/ [et Juliae
Mame]ae Aug/ustae/ m/atris/ Au/gusti/ v/otum/
red/dit/ l/ibens/ Cosmius pr/aepositus/
sta/tionis/ Spondill/a/ a/rchi/synag/ogus/ Judeor/unm/

Its translation is as follows:

In honor of the eternal God, for the salute of our lord,
the pious and happy Emperor Severus Alexander and the
Empress Julia Mamea, mother of the Emperor, Cosmius,
head of the custom-station of Spondill/a/ and archi-
synagogus of the Jews, is glad to fulfil his vow.
It is not to be wondered that a larger number of Jews
could be found at Intercisa where they formed a com-
munity and built a synagogue. From the time of the
Emperor Septimius Severus (d. in 211) the Jews were
treated more favorably. Both the Emperor and his Syrian

I9 The full stop can be distinctly seen after A also. Cf. I. L6w, ny-r,,
III, 1935, no. 3, p. 107.
20 The
equivalent of nomzn Wv (Yoma VII.1). Cf. S. Krauss, Synagogale
Altertiimer, Berlin-Wien 1922, p. 442. s. v. archisynagoge. Recent
Literature: E. L. Sukenik, HUCA, XXIII, 2, 1950-1, pp. 544, 545, 550;
Sylvan D. Schwartzman, HUCA, XXIV, 1952-3; Biblica, XXXV,
1954, p. 140.
 JEWS AT INTERCISA IN PANNONIA-SCHEIBER 195

wife, Julia Domna, were popular among the Jews of

Palestine and the diaspora alike. This is proved by a
Greek inscription from 197 in a Palestinian synagogue,
which was put up in honor of the Emperor, the Empress,
and their family.21 The Midrash also preserves a vestige
of this sympathy.22 There is mention of a synagogue at
Rome named after Severus.23 The attitude of the Emperor
Alexander Severus to the Jews was frankly friendly. The
inhabitants of Antioch and Alexandria, alluding to the
Emperor's Syrian descent, nicknamed him "Syrus archi-
synagogus."24 It is not strange, therefore, that he sent
Jews to Pannonia with the cohors of the Hemesians, and
one of them, Cosmius, was charged with an important
state function.

11

The importance of the diaspora of Intercisa may be

justly inferred from the religious office of Cosmius. Further
data for this point are provided by the work just pub-
lished. From it we get to know some members of the
community who may have attended the synagogue.
1. The left-hand fragment of the inscription of a funeral
slab.25 Its height is 40 cm., its breadth 60 cm., its thickness
14 cm. (Fig. 2).
M. Aur. Malc/h/ia/s mil./
leg. II. adi/utricis/ strat/or/ off/icii/ [cos.]
Mocur signifer c[oh/ortis/ /mill./]
21 S.
Klein, Judisch-Paldstinisches Corpus Inscriptionum, Wien-Berlin
1920, p. 81, no. 11.
22
S. Lieberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine, New York, 1942 pp. 11-12.
nont
23 'na- ed. Ch. Albeck, Jerusalem 1940, p. 209: In Kn 1l'
RnI'3M T"'3mn1 'D1T1inpiDl wn'va 6VIP1,'ID np0n3 hn-1nM ]3'nz-TMK'D
D1 1DMI:.
24 Dubnow, Weltgeschichte des Jiidischen Volkes, III, p. 145.
25 Intercisa, I, p. 236, no. 17.
196 THE JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW

Hemes/enorum/ q. v. ann. LV [Aur?]

Pulchra uxo[r] ip[sius]
fuentissim[a posuit].
M. Aurelius Malchias, soldier of "legio II adiutrix"
and governor's groom (strator officii consularis), puts up
a grave slab at Intercisa, probably to his father Mocur,
standard-bearer (signifer) of the cohors of Hemesa and
his mother Pulchra.
The son, Malchias, may have been a Jew of a biblical
name. rr'nT repeatedly occurs in the Bible (I Chr. 6:23,
9:12). For the name Mocur we cannot find any adequate
explanation. Consequently, Malchias left the cohors of
Hemesa and was transferred to Aquincum, whereas his
father remained among the Hemesians at Intercisa.
2. Tombstone.26 Its height is 193 cm., its breadth 90 cm.,
its thickness 17 cm. In the niche the busts of a man,
two women, and two little girls are visible. There is a
sacrificial scene on the wide batten separating the frame
of busts from the inscription. (Fig. 3).
D. m.
Aureliae Barachae [v]ixit
ann. XXXV et Aurel. Ger
man[n]ilae vixit
ann. 1111 et altera
filia Aurelia Ger
manilla vi[xit] ann.
II et Immostae matri su/a/
e vixit ann. LX German
ius Valens mil. coh. /mill./ Hem
es/enorun/ uxori et matri et fi
liis posuit et sibi vvius fe
cit

Germanius Valens, soldier of the cohors of Hemesa,

26
Intercisa, I, p. 236, no. 19.
 4 1 : 4

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FIG. 1

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FIG. 2
 I;
s o >
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igti~ y?,.
B'4
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tis

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FIG. 3 FIG. 4
FIG.
 JEWS AT INTERCISA IN PANNONIA-SCHEIBER 197

erects a tombstone to his wife Baracha; his two little

daughters, the four-years old Aurelia Germanila and the
two-year old Aurelia Germanilla; his mother Immosta,
and himself.
The wife is a Jewess bearing a Hebrew name, Baracha,
;n:a i. e. blessing. An Aramaic form of the same root,
Baricha, 1'n='blessed' and its Latin equivalent Benedicta
occur in inscriptions.27
3. The upper fragment of the frontispiece of a sarcopha-
gus.28 Its height is 40 cm., its breadth 150 cm., its thickness
12 cm. (Fig. 4).

D. [m]
M. Aur. Sallumas vet.
ex tess/e/r/ario/ coh. /mill./ Hemes/enorum/ domo
Hemesa annorum LXXXII vivo
sibi et Aureliae mat[ri] ... t...
quondam coni/ugi/...
. . . nv ...

M. Aurelius Sallumas of Hemesan descent, veteran of

the cohors of Hemesa, erects a sarcophagus to himself; his
mother Aurelia; later to his wife.
As the erector of the monument bears a biblical name,
he also may have been a Jew. Many biblical characters
bear the name mlb0.29 The name also occurs in the recently
published Aramaic papyri.30 Its identification with the
name Salmas is, therefore, erroneus.3'
The number of the tombstones enumerated is tantamount
to all the tombstones that have so far turned up in Pan-
nonia. Consequently, they largely contribute to the increase
of our knowledge of Pannonian Jewry.
27 Frey, op. cit., nos. 70*, 459.
28
Intercisa, I, p. 250, no. 133.
29
Gesenius-Buhl, Hwb.'6, Leipzig 1915, p. 831.
30 Emil G. Kraeling, The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri, New
Haven 1953, p. 307.
3ZA. Kerenyi, A ddciai szemelynevek, Budapest 1941, p. 187, no. 2168