Kurze Bemerkung zu den Figurenfriesen und Prozessionsdarstellungen auf westhispanischen Denkmälern

Abstract

When analyzing the pieces with figural friezes and animal processions from western Hispania, it becomes clear, that nearly all of them show elements of roman art. So, their datation can only be estimated at a moment, when roman art was known in the region. Nevertheless none of them follows the iconographical canonical roman representation of a suovetaurilia: neither the number, nor the animal species or even Mars, the deity to which these sacrifice are usually dedicated, are always present. The reason should be that, being this a sacrifice of long Indo-European tradition, it must have been a native rite also practised in Indo-European Hispania, and so, not necessarily correspondent to the canonical roman form known as suovetaurilia.