Altar of Manius Cretinus from Gherla

TNMM 1419 ↔ CIMRM 1918

Altar in limestone (H. 0.84 Br. 0.29-0.335 D. 0.19), the top decoration consists of a crenulated border with a rosette in the middle. Found at Gherla which Cumont erroneously situates in Moesia Superior. Cluj, Museum.

L.H. 0.055-0.07.

I(nvicto) M(ithrae) Maniu[s] / Cretinus / pr(aefectus) al(ae) II P(a)n(noniorum) / v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens).

1. 1: Instead of I.M. the altar was originally dedicated to I.O.M. but later on the o was abrased.

1. 2/3: Buday in Dolgozatok VII, 1916, 80 and fig. 6 reads Man(ius) Lucretianus which in all probability is correct.

Note: Cumont and Vermaseren interpreted the monument as a Mithraic altar reused from an earlier dedication to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, restoring the inscription as Invicto Mithrae Manius Cretinus. However, I. I. Russu proposed an alternative reading (M. N. Lucretianus), leaving only the epithet Invictus for the deity and thus weakening the certainty of the Mithraic attribution. More recently, Romanian archaeologist Irina Nemeti identified the radiate bust on one side of the altar as the god Men, suggesting a more complex religious reinterpretation of the monument:

“Small altar dedicated to the god Men. The crowning element and the base are decorated with mouldings. In the upper part of the monument is the focus, ornamented with a wreath of laurel leaves. The pediment is decorated with acroteria and vegetal motifs. The frieze, which decorates all four sides of the altar beneath the pediment, is composed of superposed double astragals, except on the inscribed side, which presents an egg-and-dart band. The altar is decorated on three sides: on one lateral face appears the schematic beardless head of the god Men, with short hair and a radiate crown; on the opposite side a rosette; and on the back a bucranium. The fourth side bears the inscription.”

—Irina Nemeti