Ajka
A Roman grove shrine erected by Sextus Acurius and his wife Iulia Prisca. Their names suggest Dalmatian origins. The couple erected a statue and altar to Hercules and placed their tombstone—prepared in advance—here also. The tombstone's inscription is . . . DEXTER AN . . . SIBI ET COI IVLIAE PR ISCE AN. . . . The blank spaces left for the date show that the tombstone was never used. The statue, three-quarters life size and made of limestone, depicts Hercules Commodus; it is the only known example of the Caesar cult of inner Pannonia and is a work typical of a provincial Pannonian sculptor. The sandstone altar that was unearthed has the inscription HERCVLI P. SEX. ACVRIVS DEXTER. The artifacts of the shrine were made between the last decade of the 2d c. and the first decade of the 3d. The shrine was destroyed following 15 May 319, when Constantine forbade the practice of pagan cults. The artifacts of the Hercules shrine are in the Lapidarium of the museum at Tihany.
BIBLIOGRAPHYE. Thomas, “Ein Heiligtum des Hercules aus Pannonien,” Arch. Ért. (1952) 108-12; id. & T. Szentléleky, Führer durch die Archäologischen Sammlungen des Bakonyer Museums in Veszprém (1959).
E. B. THOMAS