Centenarium Tibubuci

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Centenarium Tibubuci
Alternative name Centenarium Tibubuci
limes Limes Tripolitanus
front Limes line
section Eastern Sand Sea
Dating (occupancy) 303/305 AD
to around 395 AD
Type Small fort, centenarium
unit unknown, partially mounted unit
size Central building: 15 m × 15 m;
total area: 0.32 ha
Construction stone
State of preservation During the excavation in 1901/1902, the complex was partly very well preserved
place Ksar Tarcine
Geographical location 33 ° 12 '58.1 "  N , 9 ° 48' 1.4"  E
height 240  m
Previous Small fort Tisavar (southwest)
Subsequently Small fort Ksar Chetaoua (northwest)
Backwards Small fort Benia bel Recheb (east; rear Limes line)
The Centenarium (left) in the Limes Tripolitanus network

The Centenarium Tibubuci ( Tunisian-Arabic : Ksar Tarcine ) is a former late Roman military camp , the crew of which was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on the Limes Tripolitanus in the late Roman province of Tripolitania . The border fortifications formed a deep system of forts and military posts. The small facility is located on the eastern edge of the Eastern Great Erg in southern Tunisia , Kebili Governorate , in the triangle of the C211 and C114 desert slopes, which meet in the northwest.

location

The C211 coming from the city of Al-Hammah flows in its south leading course near the Libyan desert city Ghadames . Medenine to the east and Tataouine to the south-east can be reached via the C114 . The centenarium is located in the gusset of the streets that meet not far from the Bir Soltane waterhole . The ancient fortification is situated on a 30 × 30-meter hill on the north shore of a mostly dry lying bed of wadi Hallouf that coming from the east over the Haouaya plateau by another Arroyo is fed, consisting of the escarpment mountains of Dahar approach comes. The crew of the small fort, located in the middle of an arid Arthrophytum steppe, was able to observe the entire country from this garrison and control the border traffic of through caravans .

definition

The term centenarium is already handed down in a - clearly military - building inscription from the Centenarium Ksar Duib built in Wadi Soffegin , which was founded during the reign of Emperor Philip Arabs (244–246). Thus, two small forts on the Limes Tripolitanus and Limes Tentheitanus are known to this day, which bore this name. The discovery of these inscriptions sparked a discussion among experts regarding the exact meaning of this term. If it was previously believed that these fortifications , known as Qasr or Kasr since the Arab invasion of North Africa, are exclusively military structures, the archaeologist Erwin M. Ruprechtsberger took the view that the majority of them were fortified farms - so-called Military farmsteads - served in the run-up to the Limes. The building type, which only emerged in the 3rd century AD, would therefore have been built from this time by former soldiers or by military or paramilitary organized locals who were deployed for border defense. This theory goes back to the core of the archaeologists Jérôme Carcopino (1881–1970) and Richard George Goodchild (1918–1968). The archaeologist David Mattingly referred to more recent research results and described these considerations as outdated. In contrast, he expressed the assumption that the Ksur (plural of Ksar) in the chain of castles in the Limes and at other neuralgic points in the hinterland would continue to be addressed as a troop camp.

Since the country was not dominated by Roman colonists, older regional social structures survived. Their transformation through political, social and economic influences at the time can, however, also be archaeologically understood. In the Limes hinterland there was obviously a patronage system in which the farmers who were important for the supply of the troops were involved. The simple farm workers probably lived in small, oven-like vaulted straw huts (Latin: mapalia ) that the African nomads brought with them and from which they formed their camp. The most important cultivation product of the defense farmers on the Tripolitan Limes was olive oil, which was produced for sale and for their own use. In the civilly used Gusur, the harvests of several farms were collected. In addition, the buildings served as refuge in troubled times.

  • Attempt to reconstruct a civil storage and defense structure

  • Illustration of a mapalia on a Roman mosaic in the Bardo Museum, Tunis

Research history

The French archaeologist and Limes pioneer Paul Gauckler (1866–1911) researched the Limes Tripolitanus between 1901 and 1902 on behalf of the Tunisian Antiquities Authority . He was supported in this by the internal affairs department and military personnel, with whom, among other things, the preliminary planning for the desert expeditions was drawn up. It was only shortly before these events that the explorer Paul Blanchet (1870–1900) discovered the structural remains of Tibubuci and identified it as part of the African Limes. As part of the division of tasks, Lieutenant Tardy from the Internal Affairs Department took over the task of digging up the small fort. The work began on December 19, 1901 and ended on January 24, 1902. To ensure the water supply, the Roman soldiers had built a cistern around 50 meters below the centenary in the bed of the Hallouf. This was restored in the course of the excavations in order to make it usable again for the nomads living in the region .

In February 2012 the Tunisian government submitted an application on behalf of the responsible governorates to have the Tibubuci Centenarium, part of the Roman Limes in southern Tunisia, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Building history

The Tibubuci Centenarium after the excavations of 1901/1902

The Tibubuci Centenarium, built around 303/305, may have replaced the Tisavar outpost to the southwest in the early 4th century .

Enclosing wall and cemetery

The excavators discovered a clearly structured rectangular central building as well as an irregular 110-meter-long fence around this building, which was only 1.20 meters wide on its southern side. Charred wood had survived from the former gate lock. In contrast to the central building inside, the carefully constructed surrounding wall was given rounded corners and its floor plan was adapted to the plateau shape of the hill. While the wall was badly damaged in the south and west, it was found almost intact in the north and east with a height of three meters. For the masonry, which consists of three distinct layers, the Romans used stone material grouted with lime. The bottom layer had a uniform width of 1.50 meters, while the other two on the inside of the wall tapered upwards to a width of 0.50 meters. Apparently the surrounding wall had never had battlements or battlements, as there were no traces.

The courtyard between the surrounding wall and the actual centenarium was leveled out of the natural subsoil by the Roman construction crews. A special paving could obviously be dispensed with. The crew used - at least temporarily - the sheltered place to bury their dead there. The grave sites showed typical late Roman features. Only body graves were found that were surrounded by a thick bed of mortar. There were no gravestones or grave goods. Only a single bronze ring could be recovered.

Centenarium

The walls of the square, 15 × 15 meter central building were still up to 2.70 meters high and on average 0.80 meters thick. The building originally had at least one storey and had a semicircular clavicle gate in front of its only entrance in the south, which opened to the southeast. Above the actual access to the fortification there was originally a 0.74 × 0.42 meter building inscription made of yellow sandstone, which was recovered from the rubble. As an extension of this entrance, a narrow, 3 meter long, once vaulted corridor followed towards the interior of the central building, which ended in a carefully leveled, rectangular open inner courtyard. As the wooden remains of a gate found here showed, the direct access to this 4.40 × 3.15 meter courtyard was also secured. At the northern end of the inner courtyard - isolated from the rest of the masonry - 0.50 meter high blocks of stone cut into circular segments were discovered, which formed a two-meter-diameter three-quarter circle that opened towards the corridor. The lieutenant who was excavating saw a bench in the round. Fortress sites excavated in other parts of the Roman Empire, with similar findings, suggest that the flag shrine of the troops can be recognized in the stone circle. All Roman units that operated as independent tactical units had their own standard symbols, which were kept in these sanctuaries.

In front of the end of the circular segment that occupies the rear inner courtyard, an opposing, narrow door with a clear width of 0.80 meters opened on the left and right - in the long sides of the courtyard wall . They led into the square-shaped interior of the small fort, grouped around the inner courtyard, which consisted of a single large room with a terrazzo floor . In the southwest corner were six of the past nine stone stairs in situ condition that led to the verstürzten first floor. On the north and east sides, the interior of the building had a structure that, according to the excavator, belonged to horse stables. On the north side there were twelve 0.90 meter wide bays over the entire width of the room. On the east side there were ten compartments 0.80 meters wide and in the northeast corner an apparently recessed, 2 meter wide bay. Here, too, there was just enough space for a horse. In the desert sand in this area there was still manure and manure mixed with rubble and ash. A total of 22 horses could have been hired here.

The mighty piles of rubble at the centenarium testify to the upper floor where the crews were barracked. The excavators could still see remains of the ceiling of the first floor in the rubble. This consisted of a seven centimeter thick layer of opus caementitium (lime concrete), which had been applied to a wooden lattice mixed with mortar. This grating rested on carefully placed, heavy beams that had been inserted across the width of the room from the outside walls to the inside of the courtyard wall. Tardy found some of the three-meter-long beams, which had been cut from a resinous wood, still in their collapsed state, hardly damaged and only charred on the surface. The excavator wanted to have recognized the ceiling of the first floor by its fragments only 0.60 meters thick, which on the upper side apparently showed clear signs of long use. Possibly a wooden staircase led to the flat roof.

Building inscription

The inscription above the gate of the small fort reveals not only the name of the complex, but also the Roman name of this type of building:

Centenarium Tibubuci
quod Valerius Vibianus
v (ir) p (erfectissimus) initiari
Aurelius Quintianus v (ir) p (erfectissimus)
praeses provinciae Tri-
politanae perfeci curavit

Translation: "The Centenarium Tibubuci, which the governor (vir perfectissimus) Valerius Vibianus began, was completed under the supervision of the [subsequent] governor Aurelius Quintianus, supreme commander of the province of Tripolitania ."

While an undated inscription from Leptis Magna shows Valerius Vibianus as the governor of Tripolitania, Aurelius Quintianus is still known as the governor of the North African province of Numidia . Since the inscription known from Macomades mentions, among other things, the Vicennalia, the 20th anniversary of the Tetrarchy , this text was created in 303 AD. The construction of the Centenarium Tibubuci can therefore be assigned to the late Tetrarchy.

The final coins go back to the 390s.

Troop

These small fortresses (Quasr) were mostly built and manned by local militias (gentiles) who were supposed to support the regular army in securing the border. In the event of a crisis, the crew or residents were commanded by a commander with the rank of tribunus . The individual Limes sections in Tripolitania were commanded from the year 300 by an officer with the rank of praepositus (e.g. praepositus limitis Tenhettani ), who in turn was under the command of a Dux provinciae Tripolitanae .

cistern

Cistern at the centenarium

The cistern found in the river bed and subsequently restored has the shape of a 6.70 meter high bottle, the base of which is 5.60 meters in diameter. On the ground there are two opposite, two meter high and 1.75 meter wide vaulted extensions of the underground structure with a total length of 9.50 meters. The system, built from stone material and lime mortar, can hold 60,000 liters and has a very strong outer layer of waterproof Roman concrete. Despite this precaution, the water issue could have become a serious problem in ancient times. When the excavations began in 1901, the river bed had not been fed with water by the Wadi Hallouf for five years, which would undoubtedly have put the garrison and their horses in a difficult position. The historian and experimental archaeologist Marcus Junkelmann calculated that horses of the size used by the Roman cavalry were kept in open stables in Central Europe, with 25 liters per day per animal when standing calmly. If you add in the extensive lack of fresh food containing water and the heat of the day in North Africa, the need for water increased dramatically. If the three kilograms of barley required per day and working horse are added, the enormous logistical task of maintaining a mounted troop in the desert becomes tangible. Apparently the region was not shaken by major armed conflicts during the establishment of the centenarium , as a consequent siege would have cut off the crew of the small fort immediately from this vital source of water.

Limes course from the Tibubuci Centenarium

The Roman imperial border is formed in this section by the transition from the semi-desert to the unmanageable Sahara, whereby the Wadi Hallouf as a natural landmark illustrates the demarcation. The Limesbegleitstraße also ran here. Most of today's scientists speculate on this route also the course of the road recorded in this area by the Itinerarium Antonini , a directory of the most important Roman imperial roads from the 3rd century AD.

Limes structures between the Tibubuci Centenarium and the Ksar Chetaoua small fort
Bir Soltane

This watering hole, which is still lonely in the desert, was already used by the Roman army. The fountain has been restored for modern use. It is located at the foot of the rising mountains of Dahar to the east in Wadi Hallouf. Immediately to the west, the Sahara begins with the Eastern Sand Sea . Six kilometers southeast of this square, on the way between the small fort Bezereos (near Sidi Mohammed ben Aissa) and Tibubuci, a Trajan boundary stone with a damaged inscription was found in 1906:

ex aucto [ritate]
Traiani [3]
p (ontificis) m (aximi) tri [

Translation: "With the authority of [Emperor] Traian, supreme priest, [in the possession of the] tribunician [power for the ... time] ..."

literature

  • David John Mattingly : Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005. ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 106.
  • Erwin M. Ruprechtsberger : The Roman Limes Zone in Tripolitania and the Cyrenaica, Tunisia - Libya (= writings of the Limes Museum Aalen. No. 47). Society for Prehistory and Early History in Württemberg and Hohenzollern, Stuttgart 1993.
  • 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. 90-92.
  • René Cagnat : La frontière militaire de la Tripolitaine X l'époque romaine . In: Mémoires de l'Institut national de France. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , Volume 39, Paris 1914, pp. 77-109; here: pp. 88–90.
  • Raymond Donau : Recherches archéologiques effectuées par MM. Les officiers des territoires du Sud Tunisien en 1907. In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques 1909, p. 38.
  • Paul Gauckler : Le centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340 ( online ).

Web links

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. ↑ Helmut Leippert, Hans Zeidler : Vegetation Geography - North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria) 32 ° −37 ° 30′N, 6 ° −12 ° E (= Africa maps , series N, supplement 7), Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin / Stuttgart 1984 , ISBN 3-443-28336-5 , p. 53.
  3. ↑ a b c Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 324.
  4. ↑ AE 1991, 1621 .
  5. ^ A b Erwin M. Ruprechtsberger: The Roman Limes Zone in Tripolitania and the Cyrenaica, Tunisia - Libya (= writings of the Limes Museum Aalen No. 47). Society for Prehistory and Early History in Württemberg and Hohenzollern, Stuttgart 1993, pp. 23 and 100.
  6. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , pp. XVII-XVIII.
  7. ↑ Addressed several times in: David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 .
  8. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. XVII.
  9. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. XVIII.
  10. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 321.
  11. ↑ a b Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 325.
  12. ↑ UNESCO: Border systems of the Roman Limes: The Limes in Southern Tunisia [1] , accessed on November 21, 2012.
  13. ↑ The centenarium Tibubuci at 33 ° 0 '30.97 "  N , 9 ° 36' 58.38"  O .
  14. ↑ Gerhild Klose, Annette Nünnerich-Asmus: Frontiers of the Roman Empire , von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 978-3-8053-3429-7 , p. 70.
  15. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 326.
  16. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here pp. 327–328.
  17. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here pp. 328–329.
  18. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 329.
  19. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 330.
  20. ↑ CIL 8, 22763 ; Epigraphic database Heidelberg .
  21. ↑ Hansjörg Ubl:  Noricum. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 21, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017272-0 , p. 331.
  22. ↑ AE 1929, 4 .
  23. ↑ CIL 8, 4764 .
  24. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 170.
  25. ↑ Erwin Ruprechtsberger: 1993, pp. 23 and 100.
  26. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 331.
  27. ↑ Marcus Junkelmann: The riders of Rome. Part 2, The military mission (= cultural history of the ancient world . Vol. 49). von Zabern, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1139-7 , p. 111.
  28. ^ Paul Gauckler: Le Centenarius de Tibubuci (Ksar-Tarcine, South Tunisia). In: Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 1902, pp. 321-340; here p. 332.
  29. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005. ISBN 0-203-48101-1 . P. 106.
  30. ↑ Bir Soltane at 33 ° 17 '2.36 "  N , 9 ° 42' 35.81"  O
  31. ^ 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 . P. 89.
  32. ↑ Gabriel Camps (ed.): Encyclopédie berbère . Vol. 7, Asarakae-Aurès. Édisud, Aix-en-Provence 1989. ISBN 978-2-85744-443-5 . P. 951.
  33. ^ Raymond Donau : Recherches archéologiques effectuées par MM. Les officiers des territoires du Sud Tunisien en 1907. In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques. 1909, p. 38.
  34. ↑ CIL 8, 22763a .