Centenarium Gasr Duib

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Centenarium Gasr Duib
Alternative name Centenarium ...? ;
Centenarium Philippianum?
limes Limes Tripolitanus
front Limes line
section Limes Tentheitanus
Dating (occupancy) 244–246 / 247 AD or earlier
by the end of the 4th / beginning of the 5th century?
Type Burgus
size 16.25 m × 15 m (= 0.02 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation The ground floor of the Burgus has been preserved in full; Islamic tags.
place Gasr Duib
Geographical location 31 ° 39 '8.6 "  N , 12 ° 28' 3.4"  E
height 598  m
Previous Small fort Gasr Wames (southeast)
Subsequently Praesidium Si Aioun (west)
Backwards Tentheos (northwest)
The small fort (middle) in the Limes Tripolitanus network
The remaining building remains of the ground floor with the post-Roman changes
The remaining building remains (dark gray) of the first floor with the post-Roman changes

The Gasr Duib Centenarium (also known as Kasr Duib and Qasr Duib ) is a small Roman military site . The crew of this residential and watchtower ( Burgus ) was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on the Limes Tentheitanus , a section of the Limes Tripolitanus in the province of Africa proconsularis , later Tripolitania . The border fortifications formed a deep system of forts and military posts. The archaeologically examined remains are located around 39 kilometers southwest of the city of az-Zintan and around 28 kilometers west of the Wames oasis in the municipality of al-Jabal al-Gharbi in Libya .

location

The small facility is located in a south-sloping region of the crescent-shaped Nafusa mountain range opening to the north . Here begins a mighty steep step , partly criss-crossed by wide dry valleys, which slopes down towards the south towards Fessan . The most important and largest dry valley in Tripolitania , the Wadi Sofeggin, forms a ramified river system with its many tributaries. It stretches from the city of az-Zintan , in the vicinity of which the important fort of Tentheos is to be found, in a crescent-shaped arc along the south and south-east side of the Nafusa and Garian mountain ranges to the coastal Djeffara plain and to Misrata . Sand, gravel and scree deserts shape the country. The vegetation includes bushes and desert shrubs, the occurrence of which is concentrated in the floodplains of the Sofeggin. Some trees, mainly acacia and tamarisk , survived deforestation by charcoal burners in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The wadis in the dry valleys direct the rainwater, which sometimes comes from the Nafusa Mountains, to the south of the mountainous country and enable the formation of oases there .

The centenarium was part of a chain of Roman military facilities that monitored the North African Limes. Some descriptions claim that Gasr Duib and the small fort Gasr Wames , located just 25 kilometers to the east, are close to the road, on the upper reaches of Wadi Sofeggin. This information is incorrect because the Gasr Duib Centenarium is actually a few kilometers southwest of the path. A small hill in a dominant position above Wadi Duib was chosen as the location. This wadi joins the Wadi Sofeggin a little further north. To the west, near the hill, is Saniet Duib, an important watering place for nomad tribes who drive their herd through the wasteland of the Upper Sofeggin.

Research history

The plant was already known in the first years of the Italian occupation of Libya (1934–1943). After the Italians were expelled during the fighting for North Africa , the province of Tripolitania came under British administration. This set up an antiquity service. In 1948 the first scientific investigation took place at the Gasr Duib, led by the archaeologists Richard Goodchild (1918–1968) and John Ward-Perkins (1912–1981). It was then that the first documentation of the building inscription, which is important for the region, was created. As part of the UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey carried out between 1979 and 1989, a further examination of the fortification took place in 1981.

Building history

Roman Imperial Era

Gasr Duib was an outpost close to the border, which was probably administered from the rear fort Thenteos. The exact location of Thenteos is still unknown today. At the time the centenarium was built, around 246 AD, the military tribune Numisius Maximus , who was probably stationed in Thenteos, was in command of the section over the Limes Tentheitanus . The division of the Limes Tripolitanus into smaller units like the Limes Tentheitanus seems to have originated at that time. This is also indicated by a building inscription from the Gholaia fort, erected only a little later .

Numisius Maximus had the facility built on the orders of the Praepositus limitis Tripolitanae , the border guard commander of the region (regio) to prevent barbarian incursions along the road through the Wadi Sofeggin (viam incursibus barbarorum constituto novo centenario ... praecluserunt) . Possibly the building from the years 244 to 246/247 replaced an older fortification in the same place, as the building inscription explains that the centenarium was "new" (novo) . As Ginette Di Vita-Évrard emphasized in 1991, this construction project cannot have been just a restoration.

The rectangular, 16.25 × 15 meters (= 0.02 hectare) Burgus has a clear interior layout. In the middle there is a small atrium around which a number of rooms are grouped. The structures that are still preserved indicate that the centenarium must have had at least a second floor. The only entrance to this building is in the middle of the southeast wall. There is the arched door lintel, chiseled from a monolith , on which there is a building inscription. It broke in two. In the entrance area, the left side of another rectangular inscription plaque, reused as a spoiler , was discovered. Its decoration, chiseled on the narrow side, has the shape of a curly bracket with its tip pointing towards the inscription. This shape is known in the same way from the building inscription of the Centenarium. The inscription is so far illegible because it is covered by a multitude of graffiti . Inside the gasr, some of the original barrel vaults have been preserved.

During the investigation in 1948, the fragmentary remains of another inscription tablet were found. This was in the area in front of the centenarium. The inscription, which has only been preserved in fragments, has not yet been resolved and translated:

[…]
[…] MEMORSV [.] IM […]
[…] OE [.] ATILIVE […]
[…] CERMAT […]

As reported by the Notitia dignitatum , a late Roman state manual , this section of the Limes still existed administratively in the late fourth and perhaps even in the early fifth century AD. A continuation of the Gasr Duib centenary up to this time cannot be ruled out.

Post-Roman use

In Islamic times, the building was made habitable again. Some damaged Roman ceilings have been repaired, while others have had their original wooden structures replaced. The new owners also reinforced the south-east wall of the building. Later on, a new plaster was applied, which also had decorative stucco such as the Star of David .

Building inscription

Inscription after Goodchild and Ward-Perkins

In 1948, the building inscription, which was broken in two, was found in situ in front of the entrance to the centenary. The right part had been reworked later - possibly only by the Arabs . To this day, the original resolution of the text, as presented for Goodchild and Ward-Perkins, is under discussion. The names of the Caesars on the inscription were sacrificed and erased after their death in the course of a Damnatio memoriae , a condemnation of their memory:

Imp (erator) Caes (ar) [[[M (arcus) Iulius Ph] ilippus]] Invictu [s Aug (ustus)]
[[et M (arcus) Iul (ius) P [hilippus]] Ca] es (ar ) n (obilissimus) regionem limi [tis Ten] -
theitani partitam et e [ius] viam incursionib (us) Barba [ro] -
rum constituto novo centenario…
..A..S prae [cl] useru [nt] Cominio Cassiano leg (ato) Augg (ustorum)
pr (o) pr (aetore) Gallican [o…] v (iro) e (gregio) praep (osito) limitis cura
Numisii Maximi domo [..] SIA trib (uni)

Translation: “The emperor Caesar Markus Julius Philippus, the undefeated Augustus and (his son) Markus Julius Philippus, the most noble Caesar, saved the area, the border region of Tentheitanus and its road, from the barbarian invasions by building the new centenary ... S..A..S (?). [By order of Marcus Aurelius] Cominius Cassianus, governor of the emperor, senator and Gallicano ..., [the eminent man], border guard commander, under the supervision of Numisius Maximus, whose hometown is ... SIA, tribune. "

After novo centenario , the actual name of the complex has obviously been erased. Archaeologists like Michael Mackensen can therefore imagine that the centenarium could have borne the name of the emperor carved above. Thus the Gasr Duib could originally be referred to as the Centenarium Philippianum .

The last line of the building inscription doesn’t end at the right edge of the stone tablet, but, left-aligned, in the last third. The archaeologist David Mattingly has therefore wondered whether a part of the inscription could be missing here, especially since the last word, trib (uni) , was placed so suddenly at the end of the inscription. He therefore added the following to the last line:

Numisii Maximi domo [..] i [..] SIA trib (uni cohortis I Syrorum sagittariorum)

Translation: "Numisius Maximus, whose hometown is ... SIA, Tribune of the First Cohort of Syrian Archers."

Mattingly could only speculate as to why the ancient stonemason did not complete the inscription. There would have been room for eight or nine letters. Perhaps, however, he lacked the space for the content that still had to be accommodated and so the letters could only have been painted on very closely with color. Mattingly chose the Cohors I Syrorum sagittariorum for the addition because he had succeeded in identifying Numisius Maximus as the commander of this unit.

Inscription after Di Vita-Évrard

In 1991, Di Vita-Évrard presented an improved reading that she had developed. Among other things, the name Gallicanus becomes … at Di Vita-Évrard Licinius An… . In this case, this has to do with the listing of the titles of the Cominio Cassiano on other contemporary epigraphic documents of this governor. These give a uniform picture, from which the inscription on the Gasr Duib would differ according to the older reading.

Imp (erator) Caes (ar) [[[M (arcus) Iulius Ph] ilippus]] Invictu [s Aug (ustus)]
[[et M (arcus) Iul (ius) P [hilippus]] Ca] es (ar ) n (obilissimus) regionem limi [tis Ten] -
theitani partitam et finitam (?) viam incursionib (us) Barba [ro] -
rum constituto novo centenario…
S..A..S (?) prae [cl] useru [ nt] Cominio Cassiano leg (ato) Augg (ustorum)
pr (o) pr (aetore) c (larissimo v (iro) Lic (inio) An […] v (iro) e (gregio) praep (osito) limitis cura
Numisii Maximi domo [..] i [..] SIA trib (uni)

Translation: “The emperor Caesar Markus Julius Philippus , the undefeated Augustus and [his son] Markus Julius Philippus , the most noble Caesar, have the Limes Tentheitanus , which is part of the region, and the end (?) Of the road before the barbarian invasions with the new construction of the Centenarium… S..A..S (?) closed. [On the orders of Marcus Aurelius] Cominius Cassianus, governor of the emperor, Senator and Licinius An ..., [the outstanding man], border guard commander, under the supervision of Numisius Maximus, whose hometown is ... SIA, tribune. "

Di Vita-Évrard translated the section regionem limitis Tentheitani partitam by proceeding with regio partita according to the rules of ab Urbe condita (since the founding of the city). This is how she came up with the translation of “divide the region into parts”. For them, this translation was synonymous with “part of the region”. For further understanding, Hackett made it clear that the unspecified regio encompassed a larger topographical area than the Limes Tentheitanus did. This was only part of the regio . It seems obvious that an organizational reform of the Tripolitan border guards took place around the reign of Emperor Philip Arabs (244–249). The structure of the border sections and the border protection departments has become more differentiated. Regionally responsible Praepositi limitis were now responsible for the surveillance of the African Limes. They had their staff positions in the larger rear cohort forts.

Troop

The unit stationed in the Centenarium Gasr Duib probably consisted of regular soldiers, the Limitanei (border guards). As the dimensions of the centenarium suggest, it offered space for around a dozen men. These border guards performed military and police duties. She was probably also responsible for overseeing the work of the local forces employed by the Romans.

literature

  • Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (=  Etudes d'Antiquites africaines ). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 . Pp. 38, 153.
  • David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 105; E-book with identical content: ISBN 0-203-48101-1 ; the number of pages in the e-book is different for technical reasons.
  • David J. Mattingly: The constructor of Gasr Duib, Numisius Maximus, Tri (unus cohortis I Syrorum sagittariorum). In: Antiquités africaines. 27, pp. 75-82 (1991).
  • Michael Mackensen : The border in North Africa using the example of the provinces 'Africa Proconsularis' and 'Numidia'. In: Gerhild Klose, Annette Nünnerich-Asmus (eds.): Limits of the Roman Empire. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3429-X , pp. 62–71, here: p. 69.
  • Christian Witschel: On the situation in Roman Africa during the 3rd century. In: Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and their reception in modern times. Steiner, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , pp. 145-22; here: p. 185.
  • Philip M. Kenrick: Tripolitania. Libya Archaeological Guides. Silphium Press, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-900971-08-9 , p. 201.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Michael Mackensen : forts and military posts of the late 2nd and 3rd centuries on the "Limes Tripolitanus" . In: Der Limes 2 (2010), pp. 20–24; here: p. 22.
  2. ↑ Olwen Hackett , David John Smith : Ghirza. A Libyan settlement in the Roman period. Department of Antiquities, Tripoli 1984, p. 33.
  3. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 12.
  4. ↑ a b Christian Witschel: On the situation in Roman Africa during the 3rd century . In: Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and their reception in modern times . Steiner, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , pp. 145-22; here: p. 185.
  5. ↑ fortlet Gasr Wames at 31 ° 38 '25.8 "  N , 12 ° 40' 41.46"  O .
  6. ^ A b David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 105.
  7. ↑ Saniet Duib at 31 ° 39 '8.85 "  N , 12 ° 28' 0.15"  O .
  8. ^ Richard Goodchild : Libyan studies. Select papers of the late . London 1976, ISBN 0-236-17680-3 , p. 22.
  9. ↑ Richard Goodchild: The Limes Tripolitanus II . In: The Journal of Roman Studies 40, 1950, pp. 30-38; here: p. 30.
  10. ^ A b c d David J. Mattingly: Farming the Desert. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey. Gazetteer and pottery . Volume 2, Unesco, 1996, ISBN 92-3103273-9 , p. 76.
  11. ↑ a b c Christian Körner: Philippus Arabs. A soldier emperor in the tradition of the Antonine-Severan principate . de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 2002, ISBN 3-11-017205-4 , p. 244.
  12. ^ A b c David J. Mattingly: The constructor of Gasr Duib, Numisius Maximus, Tri (unus cohortis I Syrorum sagittariorum) . In: Antiquités africaines , 27 (1991), pp. 75-82; here: p. 79
  13. ^ A b Christian Witschel : Crisis, Recession, Stagnation? The western part of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. Chr . (=  Frankfurt ancient historical contributions . 4) Marthe Clauss, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-934040-01-2 , p. 194; AE 1993, 01709 .
  14. ↑ The regionem in the building inscription from the Centenarium Gasr Duib is probably used here as an administrative term for regio Tripolitana . See also: Christian Witschel: On the situation in Roman Africa during the 3rd century . In: Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and their reception in modern times . Steiner, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , pp. 145-22; here: p. 185.
  15. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 73; AE 1991, 1621 .
  16. ↑ James Lander: Roman stone fortifications. Variation and change from the first century AD to the fourth . (= British archaeological reports. International series, 206), BAR 1984, ISBN 0-86054-267-X , p. 159.
  17. ↑ Michael Mackensen : The border in North Africa using the example of the provinces 'Africa Proconsularis' and 'Numidia'. In: Gerhild Klose, Annette Nünnerich-Asmus (eds.): Limits of the Roman Empire. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3429-X , pp. 62–71, here: p. 69.
  18. ^ A b Richard Goodchild: Libyan studies. Select papers of the late . London 1976, ISBN 0-236-17680-3 , p. 28.
  19. ↑ Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: IRT 881 (with photo) , accessed on February 4, 2015.
  20. ↑ Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: IRT 882 (with photo) , accessed on February 4, 2015.
  21. ^ Richard Goodchild: Libyan studies. Select papers of the late . London 1976, ISBN 0-236-17680-3 , p. 28; the Notitia dignitatum calls this Limes section Limes Tentheitanus or Limes Tenthettanus .
  22. ↑ Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: IRT 880 (with photos and drawings) , accessed January 29, 2019.
  23. ↑ The full name of Cominius Cassianus can be found in an inscription on the Gholaia fort : AE 1972, 00678 .
  24. ↑ Michael Mackensen: The border in North Africa using the example of the provinces 'Africa Proconsularis' and 'Numidia'. In: Gerhild Klose, Annette Nünnerich-Asmus (eds.): Limits of the Roman Empire. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3429-X , pp. 62–71, here: p. 69.
  25. ^ David J. Mattingly: The constructor of Gasr Duib, Numisius Maximus, Tri (unus cohortis I Syrorum sagittariorum) . In: Antiquités africaines , 27 (1991), pp. 75-82; here: p. 80
  26. ^ David J. Mattingly: The constructor of Gasr Duib, Numisius Maximus, Tri (unus cohortis I Syrorum sagittariorum) . In: Antiquités africaines , 27 (1991), pp. 75-82; here: p. 81
  27. ↑ John Spaul: Cohors2. The evidence for and a short history of the auxiliary infantry units of the Imperial Roman Army. BAR, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-84171-046-6 , p. 416.
  28. ↑ AE 1991, 1621 . The resolution of the inscription, first published in 1949 in L'Année épigraphique , differs somewhat from the variant presented here; Ginette Di Vita-Évrard: Gasr Duib. Construit ou reconstruit sous les Philippes? In: L'armée et les affaires militaires. (=  113e congrès national des sociétés savantes, Strasbourg, 1988 ), CTHS, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-7355-0214-7 , pp. 427-444.
  29. ↑ example AE 1972 00678 and AE , 1985, 00849 .
  30. ^ Ginette Di Vita-Évrard: Regio tripolitana. A reappraisal. In: David J. Mattingly], DJ Buck (Ed.): Town and Country in Roman Tripolitania. Papers in Honor of Olwen Hackett. (=  Society for Libyan Studies occasional papers 2), BAR, Oxford 1985, ISBN 0-86054-350-1 , pp. 143-163; here: p. 151.
  31. ^ Christian Witschel: On the situation in Roman Africa during the 3rd century . In: Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and their reception in modern times . Steiner, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , pp. 145-22; here: p. 181.
  32. ^ Christian Witschel : Crisis, Recession, Stagnation? The western part of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. Chr . (=  Frankfurt ancient historical contributions . 4) Marthe Clauss, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-934040-01-2 , p. 197.