Burgus Szigetmonostor-Horány

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Burgus Szigetmonostor-Horány
(Burgus Ulcisia 8)
limes Pannonian Limes
section 4th
Dating (occupancy) most likely Valentine
Type Ländeburgus
size 22 × 14 m total area ( core plant )
Construction stone
State of preservation The foundations of the central tower, which are over two meters high, and parts of the adjoining wing walls are visible in the bank and partly in the alluvial area of ​​the Danube. Large chunks of the masonry tip into the bank mud.
place Szigetmonostor
Geographical location 47 ° 39 '30.5 "  N , 19 ° 6' 44.9"  E
height 104  m
Previous Fort Szentendre (Ulcisia Castra / Castra Constantia) (north-west)
Burgus Tahitótfalu-Balhavár (north)
Subsequently Burgus Dunakeszi (east)
Fort Göd-Bócsaújtelep (northeast)
Burgus Szentendre-Dera (southwest)

The Burgus Szigetmonostor-Horány is a Roman military camp , which as late antique Ländeburgus for monitoring a Donau transfer on the east side of the Hungarian Donauinselfest Szentendrei (St. Andrae) on pannonian Limes ( Limes Pannonicus ) was used. The river marked the Roman frontier in large sections. Opposite the complex, in the Barbaricum , was another secure state castle at Dunakeszi .

location

The Limes Pannonicus on the Pilis Mountains

The bridgehead-like fortification is located in the district of Szigetmonostor near Horány, around 200 meters south of today's ferry on the east bank of the Danube island of St. Andrä. On the other side of the river on the opposite side of the river, there was another late antique Ländeburgus. From there a road led to the fort of Göd, which was built a little deeper in the Barbaricum . From the central area of ​​the late Roman province of Valeria, troops were able to get to Horány via the Szentendre-Dera Castle and the Danube Island in order to cross the main river of the Danube from there.

Research history

The founder of scientific archeology in Hungary, Flóris Rómer (1815–1889), was in Horány in 1860 and summarized his impressions in a protocol. Subsequently, the place is found in 1864 in the place name collection of Frigyes Pesty (1823-1889), a politician and historian. He mentioned the ruins but saw them as the remains of a bridge. The agricultural scientist, lawyer and local historian Károly Galgóczy (1823–1916) recognized the Roman origins of the buildings in 1877; in the same year, Rómer published the first scientific article on the ancient site. One year later, Horány can already be found in a work by the Budapest archaeologist and art historian József Hampel (1849–1913). Scientists now agreed that the Roman walls of Horány were to be regarded as the Ländeburgus of the Roman remains of Dunakeszi , which were also excavated by Rómer in 1877 . The pathologist Lajos Arányi (1812–1887), who worked as a hobby archaeologist in his spare time, attributed the state of destruction of Burgus Szigetmonostor-Horány to the ice shoving of the wintry Danube and stone robbery. Most of the demolition material from the Ländeburgus was used to build the Csárda von Horány. In the years that followed, the system was repeatedly mentioned in the literature.

On the occasion of the expansion of the water supply on the Danube Island Szentendrei in 1930, the ruins were threatened with final destruction. Therefore, a survey drawing (plan view and cross-section) of the site was made this year. In 1935, Lajos Nagy (1897–1946) carried out an excavation in the course of which the Burgus is said to have been completely exposed. The archaeologist Sándor Soproni (1926–1995) spoke of a "partial" excavation in this context. So far there is only a short preliminary report of this exposure. According to these records, Nagy was mainly concerned with the outer walls. The interior of the building was only cut through with a search trench in an east-west direction; the find material was not inventoried until 1977. In the photo archive of the Ferenzy Museum in Szentendre , some negatives were also found on which a reconstruction model of the Horány Country Castle , made at the time, can be seen. This model could have been created by Nagy himself. In 1995, the Budapest waterworks carried out construction work between pipe wells 46 and 47, which also included the Horany site. The Pest County Museum Directorate was therefore commissioned to carry out an emergency excavation in order to take up the remains that have been preserved according to modern scientific criteria. Under the direction of the archaeologist Éva Maróti , the first search was made for the walls that were exposed in 1935. Only a small part of the western wall was preserved, the tower on the northwest corner was badly disturbed by the installation of a pipe well. The general condition of the fortification had deteriorated considerably since 1935. Nevertheless, based on the excavation results from 1995, it was possible to determine the floor plan more precisely.

After the excavations in 1995, the remains of the central building and the attached wing walls were restored. They can be viewed today in the bank and alluvial areas of the Danube.

Building history

Structural survey of the preserved Burgus foundations
View from the north-west of the central building with the northern wing wall
View from the southwest of the central building
Attempted reconstruction of Burgus von Szigetmonostor-Horany based on a model by Lajos Nagy, 1935

Central building

The rectangular central building of this ship landing area covers a total area of ​​22 × 14 meters. Inside, an area of ​​17.80 × 12.20 meters remained. The building consisted of hewn blocks with bricks shot through between them . The rising walls surrounding the interior were 90 centimeters thick and built on a 215 centimeter thick foundation. In order to be able to support several floors and the heavy roof structure, two massive, rectangular pillars were part of the equipment of most of the central buildings in the Ländeburgi. The pillars were placed one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the building and, in the case of Szigetmonostor-Horány, were made of bricks. In accordance with the load-bearing purpose, the pillars were based on stone foundations that were 40 to 60 centimeters deep. The lower part of the pillars visible on the ancient level consisted of stepped masonry bricks, the dimensions of these steps were 172 × 130, 160 × 110 and 140 × 105 centimeters. Remains of two to three centimeters thick, pink plastering were still adhering to the west side of the northern pillar, and there was also a tiny red-colored fragment of a wall painting. From the rubble of the roof, many pieces of Tegula and Imbrex could be recovered, which were stamped with the brick of Centurion Iovinus.

The remains of an oven remained between the north and inner walls, the floor of which was laid out in two rows with later and Tegula bricks. Another terrazzo floor was observed under a pink terrazzo floor. Between these two levels there was earth and a piece of Tegula with a stamp of the military tribune Valentinus, also known from other Pannonian Burgi . The younger floor was built on broken bricks, the older on stones. In the southern part of the exploratory trench from north to south, fragments of a yellowish ceramic with drained glaze , fragments of a red-walled jug and a spindle whorl were recovered. Under the older terrazzo floor, niches bordered with tegula were discovered in three corners. One of them could be interpreted as a double niche. The tegula were stamped by Centurion Iovinus. Investigations revealed that these niches were built before the floor was laid. The most important find here was a badly damaged, 9.4 centimeter high shield boss with a diameter of 15.9 centimeters. Conical in shape, it may be of barbaric origin. Such shield bosses are often found in Roman burgi and forts (e.g. Verőcemaros-Dunamező , Pilismarót ferry station , Visegrád-Gizellamajor and Dunakömlőd or Őcsény-Szigetpuszta ), but mostly in garbage pits or layers of rubble. In Horány, it was stored in a carefully walled niche under the floor. According to Éva Maróti, this is part of a building sacrifice.

Subsequently, the excavators recognized a separate room within the central building. The heavily damaged mantle wall was still preserved on the inside of its south wall. The interior walls were made of stone in the middle of the south wall and brick around the entrance. A fragment of a gray-toned, late antique bowl with an S-profile was found on a wall plinth in a black layer of rubble.

A large number of seven to nine centimeters round holes were discovered around five to ten centimeters below the top of the wall, which broke through the entire thickness of the wall at a distance of 90 to 100 centimeters from each other. Nagy was of the opinion that these holes had been designed either to fix the scaffolding or to observe the enemy. According to Vitruvius, however, such breakthroughs were used to insert charred wooden beams, which were supposed to connect the outer cladding of the cast concrete wall ( Opus caementitium ) better and more stable. Some such holes have also been observed on the east wall and the north corner tower.

Wing walls, towers and land area

Northern wing wall tipping into the Danube
View from the northern wing wall to the central tower. On the far left a spoil is sunk in the bank mud.
Spolie sitting in the bank mud with debris and brick remnants torn from the structure by the river
View from the southern corner tower of the core plant

To the north and south, a 14 and 16 meter long defensive wall was placed on the bank of this building, each running parallel to the Danube bank and at the outer end of which was a smaller 4 × 4 meter tower. A small exit gate could be seen on the south side tower. The north corner tower was built a little later than the central building. It consisted of hewn blocks, smaller rubble stones with bricks worked in between. It was established in 1935 that this defensive wall had been erected at the same time as the central building, which was designed as a residential and defensive tower, and was reinforced at its northwest corner by a pillar that had no structural connection with the building wall. At right angles to these defensive walls, another wall each went from the two towers directly into the river bank. The current had largely destroyed these wing walls when they were found. The structure, which is open to the Danube, had gravel between the wing walls, made of rubble and small rubble stones that had been embedded in hot lime. This inner area was divided by a narrow wall running from west to east. As the inventory from 1935 documents, this wall was of poor quality and could be the remains of a barrack. Inside the possible barracks there was a pile of sand about one meter thick that had probably accumulated over time due to flooding. Beneath the sand was a 12-inch thick layer of Tegula, probably what was left of the roof, and Nagy hit the floor beneath it.

Only sparse archaeological information is available about the Danube-side expansion of the Ländeburgi, as the erosion caused by the river for over one and a half millennia has removed almost all traces. For a long time, scientific research believed that the fortified ship berths enclosed by defensive walls were open to the Danube. This idea could be corrected using old traditions and drawings. So today we see the picture of a facility that was also closed on the river side and only had a special entrance or a larger opening there. Possibly to pull ships ashore to protect them from enemy attacks, as the classical philologist Wilhelm Schleiermacher (1904–1977) assumed.

The Horány complex is structurally related to the Verőce and Tahitótfalu-Balhavár rural castles . However, the systems differ from each other, particularly when the wing walls are attached to the main building. These walls in Verőce and Balhavár are set in the middle of the flanks, while the wings of Horány, similar to the Burgus Szentendre-Dera, connect to the wall of the central building facing the river bank. While the archaeologist András Mócsy put the construction of the complex in the time of Emperor Diocletian (284–305), the Limes researcher Sándor Soproni pleaded for it to be built under Constantius II (337–361). In Soproni's view, the brick stamps found from the Valentine period (364–375) would only suggest a repair or renovation. The brick stamp material and the excavation from 1995 suggest that it was built under Valentinian I. There are no scientifically usable certificates for older dates.

Finds

Brick stamp of Valentinus

The find area is characterized by many brick stamps , which are important for a more precise dating. As early as 1877, Flóris Rómer mentions a stamp he found of the Lupicinus tribunus ( LVPICINI TRB ) from Hórany, which he brought to the then Natural Science Museum in Budapest . A fragment with the imprint AP V (ALENTIN) I later got into the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest , but it was lost again. In 1935, Laszlo Nagy listed the fragments with the official title dux auf [...] (DVX ) and the stamp of Centurion Iovinus ( AP IOVINI ), which he obviously knew at the time, in addition to other names . However, no brick stamps from his own finds have survived. On the other hand, Sándor Soproni found what he was looking for during a site inspection in 1953 with the stamp remnant AP I [OVINI] . He also pointed to the place name stamp VINCENTIA discovered here . Further stamps come from the Tribun Valentinus ( AP VALEN , [AP VA] LENTINI TRI , AP VALENTINI ) and the Frigeridus dux ( FRIGERIDVS VP DVX ). Frigeridus, the Tribune Valentinus and the aforementioned Centurion Iovinus were active at the same time. Frigeridus, identified by the abbreviation VP as Vir perfectissimus , a knightly denomination of rank, apparently received supreme command of the provincial army (Dux Valeriae ripensis) in 371 and remained responsible in this position until 373 AD. The year Frigeridus took office in the province suggest, among other things, finds of watchtowers between Visegrád-Gizellamajor and Fort Visegrád-Sibrik . The centurion Iovinus and the tribune Valentinus were active at the same time as Frigeridus. The time of the Tribune Lupicinus is placed in the time window from after 368 or before 377 AD.

In addition to the stamps, Nagy only found ceramic shards during his excavations in 1935.

Lost property

The finds from the 1935 excavation were relocated from the Archaeological Institute of the Budapest History Museum (BTM) to the Ferency Karoly Museum in Szentendre in 1953.

Monument protection

The monuments of Hungary are protected under the Act No. LXIV of 2001 by being entered in the register of monuments. The Burgus Szigetmonostor-Horány as well as all other Limes facilities belong to the nationally valuable cultural property as archaeological sites according to § 3.1. According to § 2.1, all finds are state property, regardless of where they are found. Violations of the export regulations are considered a criminal offense or a crime and are punished with imprisonment for up to three years.

See also

literature

  • Jenő Fitz (Ed.): The Roman Limes in Hungary (= Bulletin du musée roi Saint Etienne. Series A, Volume 22). Fejér Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Székesfehérvár 1976.
  • Éva Maróti: A Roman building near Szigetmonostor-Horóny. In: Pannonica provincialia et Archaeologica. Festschrift for Jenő Fitz. Hungarian National Museum, Budapest 2003, pp. 197–203.
  • Zsolt Mráv : On the dating of the late Roman ship lands on the border of the province of Valeria ripensis. In: Ádám Szabó , Endre Tóth (ed.): Bölcske. Roman inscriptions and finds. Hungarian National Museum, Budapest 2003, ISBN 963-9046-83-3 , pp. 33–50.
  • Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest 1978, ISBN 963-05-1307-2 , p. 75.
  • Sándor Soproni: The last decades of the Pannonian Limes. Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30453-2 .
  • Zsolt Visy : 16. Szigetmonostor - Horány. In: Definition, Description and Mapping of Limes Samples. CE Project "Danube Limes - UNESCO World Heritage" 1CE079P4. Budapest 2010. pp. 44-45.
  • Zsolt Visy: The ripa Pannonica in Hungary. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 2003, ISBN 963-05-7980-4 , p. 58.

Web links

Commons : Burgus Szigetmonostor-Horány  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Ländeburgus Dunakeszi (Burgus Ulcisia 9) at 47 ° 39 '29.92 "  N , 19 ° 7' 11.24"  O .
  2. ↑ a b c Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1978, ISBN 963-05-1307-2 , p. 75.
  3. ↑ a b c d Zsolt Visy: The ripa Pannonica in Hungary. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 2003, ISBN 963-05-7980-4 , p. 58.
  4. ^ Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1978, ISBN 963-05-1307-2 , p. 79.
  5. ↑ a b Barnabás Lőrincz : A későrómai hídfőállások bélyeges téglái Valeriában. In: Attila Gaál (Ed.): Pannoniai kutatások. A Soproni Sándor emlékkonferencia előadásai (Bölcske, 1998. October 7th) . Szekszárd 1999, pp. 53-68.
  6. ↑ Zsolt Máté (ed.): Frontiers of the Roman Empire - Ripa Pannonica in Hungary (RPH), Nomination Statement, Vol. 2, National Office of Cultural Heritage, Budapest 2011, p. 176.
  7. ↑ Jenő Fitz (ed.): The Roman Limes in Hungary . Fejér Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, 1976, p. 75.
  8. ^ Zsolt Mráv: Az "előretolt helyőrség" - késő római kikötőerőd Dunakeszin. In: Dunakeszi helytörteneti szemle, December 2009. p. 5.
  9. ^ Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1978, ISBN 963-05-1307-2 , pp. 75-76.
  10. ^ Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1978, ISBN 963-05-1307-2 , p. 76.
  11. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum, IN PARTIBUS OCCIDENTIS, XXXIII.
  12. ↑ Limes between the Visegrád – Gizellamajor fort and the Visegrád – Sibrik fort
  13. ↑ János Szilágyi: Inscriptiones tegularum Pannonicarum . DissPann II. Budapest 1933, plate XXVIII, pp. 53-58.
  14. ^ Barnabás Lőrincz: A későrómai hídfőállások bélyeges téglái Valeriában. In: Attila Gaál (Ed.): Pannoniai kutatások. A Soproni Sándor emlékkonferencia előadásai (Bölcske, 1998. October 7th) . Szekszárd 1999, pp. 53-68 (footnote 12).