Orșova Castle

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Orșova Castle
Alternative name Dierna
limes Dacian Limes
section A / IV / 14
Dating (occupancy) A) 2nd to 3rd century
B) 3rd to 6th/7. century
Type A) Auxiliary imperial
fort. B) Late antique fortress
unit Vexillationes of the
* Cohors I Ulpia Brittonum
* Legio V Macedonica
* Legio XIII Gemina
* Legio XXII Primigenia
size A) 64 m × 54 m = 0.35 ha
B) 35.5 m × 35.5 m = 0.12 ha
Construction A) stone fort
B) stone fort
State of preservation flooded and overbuilt ground monument
place Orșova / Mehedinți district
Geographical location 44 ° 44 '17.5 "  N , 22 ° 24' 27.4"  E Coordinates: 44 ° 44 '17.5 "  N , 22 ° 24' 27.4"  E
height 82  m
Previous Pojejena Castle
(west)
Subsequently Fort Mehadia (Praetorium)
(north, A / IV / 15)
Fort Drobeta
(east)

Orșova Castle (ancient name Dierna ) was an imperial auxiliary troop camp and a late antique fortress in the urban area of Orșova , Mehedinți district in the Romanian region of Banat .

location

Course of the Dacian Limites
Flooded area where the Cerna flows into the Danube

Orșova is located in a strategically important position at the point where the Cerna flows into the Danube and - due to the artificial backwater of the Danube - forms a large bay. From there, various passes lead through the Southern Carpathians into the interior of Transylvania and Vojvodina . Of these passes, the connection leading from Orșova via the castles Mahadia and Teregova to Tibiscum was probably the most important in ancient times . In the modern geographical context of transport, it is marked by the Romanian national road 6, in its southern part it runs through the valley of the Cerna.

The Roman settlement areas were in the immediate vicinity of the Cerna estuary on a raised terrace . Due to the artificial damming of the Danube for the power stations at the Iron Gate , the lower-lying areas have meanwhile been flooded with Roman findings. The higher areas were built over in the Middle Ages, so that today nothing can be seen in the area.

Archaeological evidence

The continuity of settlements from antiquity to modern times was the reason for the dense overbuilding of the areas in which the relevant findings were or are still hidden in the ground. This means that at no point in the history of modern archeology has large-scale prospecting or excavations been possible. A further complication was the rise in the water level of the Danube by up to 20 meters, which flooded large areas of the former Cerna estuary. Overall, however, it was possible to differentiate between two chronologically different military settlement complexes, a garrison from the imperial era of the second and third centuries and a late antique fortification that was founded in the late third century and probably existed until the Byzantine Empire in the late sixth / early seventh century of the Balkan Peninsula went for a loss.

Imperial auxiliary troop camp

The findings of the imperial camp have hardly been scientifically investigated except for research conducted by Florin Medeleț in 1966 and 1967. The dimensions of the fort were 64 m by 54 m, which corresponds to a total built-up area of ​​0.35 hectares. Theoretically, archaeological findings could still be present in the flooded soil.

Late antique fortress

The late antique fortress was established as a stone fort (with the use of bricks) under the rule of Diocletian (284 to 305) and Constantine I (306 to 337). The fort had a square floor plan with a side length of 35.5 m, resulting in a built-up area of ​​0.12 hectares. With its sides it was oriented in the four cardinal directions. The defensive wall was two meters thick. At the corners of the fort there were towers protruding outwards with different square and rectangular floor plans (southwest tower 10.4 m by 8.0 m, northwest tower 8.9 m by 8.9 m, northeast tower 8.0 m by 8.0 m ). At the end of the fourth century the fortress was destroyed. destroyed. In the context of this building, the remains of a ballista from the fourth century were discovered (see below).

troops

The troops once stationed there can be deduced from epigraphic finds. These are evidence of the Cohors I Ulpia Brittonum , as well as vexillations of the Legio V Macedonica , the Legio XIII Gemina and the Legio XXII Primigenia .

Civil settlement

An auxiliary vicus had already developed next to the fort at the time of the imperial auxiliary troop camp. The vicus was a civil settlement that can be found at almost every Roman military camp and in which the living quarters of the relatives of soldiers, veterans, artisans, traders, innkeepers, prostitutes and other service providers were located. Independent of the existence of the auxiliary camp and also after its existence, the vicus of Dierna developed into an independent civilian settlement, which was bordered at its northern and southern ends by extensive necropolises. Under Septimius Severus (193 to 211) this settlement, which in the meantime also administered a customs post, was raised to the status of a municipality . Individual buildings of the civil Dierna could still be archaeologically examined.

Lost property and monument protection

Arch strut and spring frame of a 4th century ballista from Orşova.
AO: Muzeul National de Istorie a Transilvaniei , Cluj-Napoca

Most of the archaeological finds from Abrud Castle are kept in the Institutul de Arheologie "Vasile Pârvan" (Archaeological Institute "Vasile Pârvan") in Bucharest. A special find, the preserved arched strut and the spring frame of a ballista from the 4th century, is presented in the Muzeul Național de Istorie a Transilvaniei (National Museum of the History of Transylvania) in Cluj-Napoca .

The entire archaeological site and in particular the castle are protected as historical monuments according to Law No. 422/2001 passed in 2001 and are entered in the national list of historical monuments ( Lista Monumentelor Istorice ). Responsible is the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Ministerul Culturii şi Patrimoniului Naţional), 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.

See also

literature

  • Ovidiu Bozu: Public and private buildings on the Roman roads from the Banat . Banatica 18 (2008), pp. 81-105, ( digitized version ).
  • Constantin Coşofreţ: Fortificația antică. Limesul roman . Buletinul Universităţii Naţionale de Apărare "Carol I" 02 (2017), pp. 155–169.
  • Nicolae Gudea : The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 31, ( digitized version ).
  • Nicolae Gudea and Mihail Zahariade: Dacia Ripensis. Fortresses on the northern border of the province and their troops . Amsterdam 2016, p. 30, ( digitized version ).
  • Sabin Adrian Luca: Descoperiri Arheologice din Banatul Românesc. Repetoriu. Bibliotheca Septemcastrensis XVIII, Sibiu 2006, ISBN 978-973-7724-84-7 , pp. 186-189, ( digitized version ).
  • Mihail Zahariade: The Dacia ripensis section in Notitia Dignitatum (XLII) . Thraco-Dacica SN, Tomul VI-VII (XXIX-XXX), 2014-2015, pp 119-154, ( digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

Abbreviations:
CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
IDR = Inscriptiones Daciae Romanae (directory of inscriptions from the Roman Dacia)
AE = L'Année épigraphique (annual publication on Latin epigraphy )
IIFDR = Elizabeth Popescu: Inscriptiones intra fines Dacoromaniae repertae Graeciores CCXXX recentX Latinae IVX . Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Romania, Bucuresti 1976.

  1. ^ Route / section / fort number (based on Nicolae Gudea , 1997).
  2. ↑ a b CIL 03, 08074.10 .
  3. ↑ a b IDR-03-01, 00051c .
  4. ↑ a b AE 1976, 00584d , CIL 03, 08064,01o , AE 1972, 00493a , IDR-03-01, 00051b and IIFDR 00415 .
  5. ↑ a b CIL 03, 06277 and AE 1972, 00491 .
  6. ↑ a b c Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 31, ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ Nicolae Gudea and Mihail Zahariade: Dacia Ripensis. Fortresses on the northern border of the province and their troops . Amsterdam 2016, p. 30, ( digitized version ).
  8. ^ A b Adrian Gheorghe: Orșova , on the private website Alexis Project (English), accessed on February 19, 2019.
  9. ↑ Institutul de Arheologie "Vasile Pârvan" , official website of the institute (Romanian), accessed on February 19, 2019.
  10. ↑ Collection of Antiquities of the Archaeological Institute "Vasile Pârvan" on the official website of the Institutul National al Patrimoniului (cIMeC) București (Romanian), accessed on February 19, 2019.
  11. ↑ Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a Transilvaniei , official website of the museum (Romanian), accessed on February 19, 2019.
  12. ↑ List of historical monuments on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage