Summary: | This work is a detailed examination of pagan cults and deities in three settlements along the Pannonian section of the Drava river (Aquae Iasae ~ modem Varaidinske Toplice; Iovia-Bativa - modem Ludbreg; and Mursa - modern Osijek) situated within the present-day territory of Croatia. The evidence examined consists primarily of inscribed votive dedications in stone, dating from the Roman conquest of Pannonia to the late third century A.D. Evidence is examined within the theoretical framework of cultural change, taking into account recent theoretical developments in the concepts of "Romanisation", acculturation, identity expression and syncretisation in order to determine the extent of cultural and religious integration along the Drava. A thorough examination of evidence reveals the emergence of differing and flexible religious identities specific to each settlement although united by the larger prevailing trend of nature-divinity worship. Our Drava evidence also reveals that economic, social, political and geographic factors all produced an impact on the process and extent of cultural and religious integration, thus helping to form local, regional, provincial and imperial expressions of identity(ies).
|