From Hospitium to Hybridisation: The acquisition, adoption, and transformation of Roman zoomorphic forms in Barbaricum

Abstract: This text is an attempt to re-evaluate the significance of Roman imports in Scandinavian contexts as well as to answer overarching questions concerning frontier zones, and the building of core-periphery relationships. This is achieved by applying the Roman concepts of hospitium and dona militaria as well as theoretical frameworks such as provincial ritual practices and cultural hybridisation to a predefined group of material culture. The study traces the lives of these objects, from initial acquisition, through to the adoption of pre-existing traditions, finally culminating in the creation of new material identities via local representations. The frameworks themselves merge into a method of application dubbed “The Three-Part Method”, with each part acting as a theoretical approach to the three main topics of discussion; acquisition, adoption, and lastly, transformation. The empirical material itself comprises Roman zoomorphic imports as well as locally-produced material that exhibits zoomorphic elements. After introducing the various material categories, the study proceeds to analyse the distribution patterns of the Roman and local material prior to the introduction of three analytical case studies, at which the materials are studied based on their origins and find contexts. The study reveals a number of interesting findings with regard to the three central themes of the study (acquisition, adoption, and transformation). Firstly, it is uncovered that Roman imports may not have been brought to the region via a trade network, but instead via the utilisation of Hospitium or possibly as “spoils of war”; and the adoption of provincial Roman practices is generally more commonplace than the use of “pure” and unmixed Roman ritual practices in Scandinavia. Lastly, it emerges that locally-produced material does indeed often share similarities with the Roman zoomorphic material, with the replication of several examples of Roman symbolism, however, the lasting influence of pre-existing traditions may also have served as key inspiration for much of the material that followed the fall of the Empire.