Alburnus Maior

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Excavated building in Alburnus Maior

Alburnus Maior was a Roman settlement on the site of today's mining village Roșia Montană in Transylvania ( Romania ). It was an important settlement of miners who belonged to the Illyrian (Dalmatian) tribe of the Pirusts (Latin Pirustae ).

Wax tablets by Alburnus Maior

In legal history , Alburnus Maior is particularly important because of the 25 wax tablets that were found in the tunnels there. They are among the few testimonies to everyday legal life in ancient times and are invaluable sources of social and economic history. At the end of the 18th and mid-19th centuries, a total of around 50 Roman inscription tablets were found in the abandoned gold mines, 25 of which have been preserved. 24 tablets were written in Latin and one in Greek. They originated both in Alburnus Maior himself (nine panels) and in other places, such as in the Canabae legionis of Apulum . 13 of the tablets contain a specific date; they can be dated to the period between February 6, 131 and May 25, 169. 12 panels are undated. In terms of content, these are contracts under civil law that relate, among other things, to the acquisition of houses and slaves as well as to employment and rental relationships. In total, the names of 97 people are mentioned on the tablets, including children. Most had Roman names, 42 had Roman citizenship, the others were peregrines (= foreign, foreign) and slaves. The bearers of Roman citizenship appear as bankers, tenants, slave traders, clerks and soldiers, while the peregrines are mainly miners and day laborers. Due to the great social differentiation of the people mentioned, the tablets are a particularly valuable source.

The wax tablets are now in the museums of Budapest, Cluj-Napoca and Blaj , as well as in the Battyani library of Alba Iulia .

Numerus fort Abrud

The protection of the mines (and possibly the supervision of the work in them) was the responsibility of a number who was stationed in the nearby Abrud castle on a high plateau .

Future of ancient sites

A call by the historian Géza Alföldy was followed by several scientists from international communities and scientific institutions and appealed to the Romanian authorities to prevent the destruction of the Roman mining site of Roșia Montană / Alburnus Maior - a unique monument to ancient Roman mining.

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literature

  • Sandrine Baron: Lead isotope analyzes of gold – silver ores from Roşia Montană (Romania). A first step of a metal provenance study of Roman mining activity in Alburnus Maior (Roman Dacia) . Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 38, Issue 5, May 2011, pp. 1090-1100.
  • Carmen Ciongradi: The Roman stone monuments from Alburnus Maior. Mega, Cluj-Napoca 2009.
  • Paul Damian: Alburnus Maior . Muzeul Național de Istorie a României , București 2003.
  • Christo M. Danoff : Alburnus maior. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, Col. 237.
  • Nicolae Gudea : The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 39, ( digitized version ).
  • Nicolae Gudea and Thomas Lobüscher: The writing tablets by Alburnus Maior . In Dies .: Dacia. A Roman province between the Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea . Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 978-3-8053-3415-0 , p. 56.
  • Corina Ionescu, Lucreţia Ghergari and Ovidiu Ţentea: Interdisciplinary (mineralogical-geological-archaeological) study on the tegular material belonging to the legion XIII Gemina from Alburnus Maior (Roşia Montană) and Apulum (Alba Iulia). Possible raw materials sources. Cercetări arheologice 13 (2006), pp. 413-436, ( digitized version ).
  • Heather Ann Pundt: Mining Culture in Roman Dacia. Empire, Community, and Identity at the Gold Mines of Alburnus Maior ca.107-270 CE Portland State University, 2012, ( digitized ).
  • Ovidiu Ţentea: Bath and Bathing at Alburnus Maior / Băile Romane de la Alburnus Maior . Mega Publishing House Romania, Cluj-Napoca 2015, ISBN 978-606-543-429-5 , ( digitized ).
  • Wilhelm Tomaschek : Alburnus maior . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, column 1338.
  • Apostol Virgil: Funerary architecture in Alburnus Maior (Roșia Montană). The circular monument . NS, 48-49, Bucharest 2004-2005, pp. 249-282, ( digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The twelve Latin-language of the total of 13 dated tables in full text and partly with illustrations by Clauss / Slaby : CIL 03, p 0954,17 (dating 131), CIL 03, p 0936,06 (dating 139), CIL 03, p 0940, 07 (dating 142), CIL 03, p 0944.08 (dating 159), CIL 03, p 0959.25 (dating 160), CIL 03, p 0930.03 (dating 162), CIL 03, p 0934.05 ( Dating 162), CIL 03, p 0948.09 (dating 163), CIL 03, p 0948.10 (dating 164), CIL 03, p 0924.01 (dating 167), CIL 03, p 0949.12 (dating 167 ), CIL 03, p 0950,13 (dating 167),
  2. ↑ Undated inscription panels in full text and partly with illustrations according to Clauss / Slaby: CIL 03, p 0949,11 , CIL 03, p 0952,14 , CIL 03, p 0953,15 , CIL 03, p 0954,16 , CIL 03, p 0955,19 , CIL 03, p 0955,18 , CIL 03, p 0956,20 , CIL 03, p 0957,21 , CIL 03, p 0957,22 , CIL 03, p 0958,23 , CIL 03, p 0958 , 24 , CIL 03, p 0924.02
  3. ↑ Nicolae Gudea and Thomas Lobüscher: The writing tablets by Alburnus Maior . In Dies .: Dacia. A Roman province between the Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea . Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 978-3-8053-3415-0 , p. 56.
  4. ↑ Save Alburnus Maior! , List of international scientists and institutions for the rescue of Alburnus Maior, accessed on June 23, 2011 ( Memento of May 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 343 kB)