Zăvoi Castle

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Zăvoi Castle
Alternative name Acmonia, Augmonia, Agnaviae
limes Dacian Limes
section A / IV / 18
Dating (occupancy) 101/102 to 106/107
Type Vexillation fort
unit Vexillationes of the
* Legio IIII Flavia Felix
* Cohors I sagittariorum or sagittaria (?)
size 336 m × 336 m = 11.3 ha
Construction Wood-earth warehouse
State of preservation partially visible ground monument
place Zăvoi
Geographical location 45 ° 31 '31 "  N , 22 ° 24' 39"  E Coordinates: 45 ° 31 '31 "  N , 22 ° 24' 39"  E
height 306  m
Previous Tibiscum Fort
(west, A / IV / 17)
Subsequently Pons Augusti
(east, NN)

The Zăvoi castle (ancient names Acmonia , Augmonia or Agnaviae ) is a former Trajan castle of a larger vexillation in the area of ​​the municipality of Zăvoi , Caraș-Severin district , in the Romanian region of Banat .

location

Course of the Dacian Limites
Zăvoi and Zăvoi fort at the time of the Josephinian land survey (1769–1772). The place Zăvoi was then still on the northern bank of the Bistra . Only later did it move to the southern bank for reasons of flood protection.

In today's settlement, the soil monument is located in the middle of the village of Zăvoi in the corridor "Cetate" (fortress) and is cut through by national road 68 . The traces of the fortifications of the former fort, even if they were partly destroyed by building houses and roads, are still visible as clear elevations everywhere in the area. Topographically, the former military camp is located on a flood- protected high terrace on the southern bank of the river Bistra , a tributary of the Timiș (Temesch). In ancient times it was located there in a strategically important position (where the border between the Banat and Transylvania runs today ). Its crew had the task of monitoring the traffic that ran over the Pasul Poarta de Fier a Transilvaniei mountain pass .

Sources and archaeological findings

The ancient place name Agnaviae is recorded on the Tabula Peutingeriana and is also listed as Augmonia in the Cosmographia of the geographer of Ravenna .

Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli (1658–1730) made a short description and sketch of the fort in 1726.

All modern knowledge about the military camp was gained over the course of time through chance observations, systematic archaeological excavations have not taken place in the immediate camp area to this day. The fort had a square floor plan of 336 m by 336 m, which corresponds to a floor area of ​​11.3 hectares, with which it can be regarded as a garrison of one or more vexillations. With its sides it was oriented roughly in the four cardinal directions. Nothing is known about the interior development. The camp was only used for a few years, its construction took place in the earliest phase of the Roman occupation (101/102) and was abandoned soon after the establishment of Roman rule and the establishment of the province of Dacia (106/107). Vexillations of the Legio IIII Flavia Felix and a Cohors I sagittariorum or sagittaria (1st cohort of archers), of which brick stamps were found in Zăvoi, were mentioned as crews . The Cohors I Thracum Sagittariorum was stationed in the nearby Tibiscum, so that the delegation of a detachment to Zăvoi seems plausible.

Fort thermal baths

More recent investigations in the years 2009 to 2013 in the area of ​​the Orthodox cemetery of Zăvoi led to the localization of the fort's baths. The apodyterium (changing room), the caldarium (hot bath), a heated room with a basin, two prefurnia (heating ovens) and a water reservoir were identified. All in all, it is a more complex building structure that is quite appropriate to the size of the fort and cannot be assigned to the two common types of fort thermal baths - the ring bath and the row bath.

Lost property and monument protection

Brick stamp of COH (ors) IS (agittariorum) or S (agittaria)

The finds from the Zăvoi fort are in the Muzeul Judetean Caraș-Severin (Caraș-Severin District Museum ) in Reșița .

The entire archaeological site and are in particular the castle according to the adopted in 2001 Law no. 422/2001 as historical monuments under protection and are using the LMI code CS-ISB 10898 in the national list of historic monuments (Lista Monumentelor istorice) entered . Responsible is the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Ministerul Culturii și Patrimoniului Na ,ional) , in particular the General Directorate for National Cultural Heritage, the Department of Fine Arts and the National Commission for Historical Monuments and other institutions subordinate to the Ministry. Unauthorized excavations and the export of ancient objects are prohibited in Romania.

literature

  • Adrian Ardeț, Dimitrie Pavel Negrei and Lavinia Grumeza: Considerații preliminare privind cercetările arheologice de la Zăvoi - Cimitirul ortodox 2009–2013 (jud. Caraș-Severin, România) negli anni 2009–2013 TIBISCVM series Nouă 5 (2015), p. 235 260.
  • Ovidiua Bozu: Cohors I Sagittariorum la Zăvoi (județul Caraș-Severin) . Banatica, 4, pp. 131-133 (1977).
  • Nicolae Gudea : The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, pp. 34-37, ( digitized version ).
  • Sabin Adrian Luca: Descoperiri Arheologice din Banatul Românesc. Repetoriu. Bibliotheca Septemcastrensis XVIII, Sibiu 2006, ISBN 978-973-7724-84-7 , p. 277, ( digitized version ).
  • Eduard Nemeth: The southwestern limes of Roman Dacia and beyond. New surveys and excavations . Journal of Ancient History and Archeology No. 1.4 (2014), ISSN  2360-266X , pp. 28-36, ( digitized version ).
  • Eduard Nemeth: This and that side of the south-western border of the Roman Dacia. Recent research results . In: Alexander Rubel (ed.): The barbarians of Rome. Inclusion, exclusion and identity in the Roman Empire and in the Barbaricum (1st – 3rd century AD) . Hartung-Gorre, Konstanz 2016, ISBN 978-3-86628-577-4 , s. 97-115, ( digitized version ).
  • Ovidiu Țentea and Britta Burkhardt: Baths on the Frontiers of Roman Dacia / Băile de pe frontierele Daciei romane. Bucharest 2017, p. 18.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Route / section / fort number (based on Nicolae Gudea , 1997).
  2. ↑ Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 34, ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Tab. Peut. Segm. VII, 4.
  4. ↑ Agnaviae on the Tabula Peutingeriana, accessed on February 26, 2019.
  5. ↑ Cosm. Rav. IV, 7.
  6. ↑ Augmonia in the Cosmographia of the geographer of Ravenna, accessed on 26 February of 2019.
  7. ^ Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli: Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus. Observationibus geographicis, astronomicis, hydrographicis, historicis, physicis perlustratus . Vízügyi Múzeum, Budapest 2004, ISBN 963-217-033-4 (reprint of The Hague edition 1726).
  8. ↑ a b Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 37, ( digitized version ).
  9. ↑ On the stationing of the Cohors I Thracum Sagittariorum in Tibiscum with Doina Benea and Simona Regep: Ștampile tegulare romane de la Tibiscum. Roman Tegular Stamps from Tibiscum . Analele Banatului, series nouă Arheologie Istorie XXIII (2015), pp. 188f., ( Digitized version ).
  10. ↑ Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, pp. 34-37, ( digitized version ).
  11. ↑ Adrian ARDET, Dimitrie Pavel Negrei and Lavinia Grumeza: Consideraţii preliminare privind cercetările arheologice de la Zavoi - Cimitirul ortodox 2009-2013 (. Jud Caras-Severin, România) negli anni 2009-2013 TIBISCVM series Nouă 5 (2015), p 235 -260.
  12. ^ Ovidiu Țentea and Britta Burkhardt: Baths on the Frontiers of Roman Dacia / Băile de pe frontierele Daciei romane. Bucharest 2017, p. 18.
  13. ↑ List of historical monuments on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage