Gherla Castle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gherla Castle
limes Dacian Limes
section B / 97
Dating (occupancy) A) 106 to mid-2nd century
B) mid-2nd century to 3rd century
Type Auxiliary fort
unit Ala II Pannoniorum
size A) 145 m × 138 m = 2.0 ha
B) 162 m × 169 m = 2.74 ha
Construction A) Wood and earth warehouse
B) Stone fort
State of preservation largely overbuilt ground monument
place Gherla
Geographical location 47 ° 1 '23.6 "  N , 23 ° 53' 39.8"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 1 '23.6 "  N , 23 ° 53' 39.8"  E
height 254  m
Backwards Napoca
(south-southwest, NN)
Legion camp Potaissa
(south, C / 104)
Upstream Cășeiu Castle
(north, A / VI / 28)
Ilișua Castle
(northeast, A / VI / 29)

Fort Gherla was a Roman auxiliary troop camp in the municipality of Gherla ( Neuschloß ), a small town in the Cluj district in the Romanian region of Transylvania .

location

Course of the Dacian Limites

In today's settlement, the soil monument is on the south-western outskirts of Gherla. The area, which was around two meters above the surrounding level when it was settled, has been exposed to severe erosion over the centuries from floods of the Someș River and agricultural activities and is now largely overbuilt by a factory, during whose construction other parts of the findings were destroyed. However, the southeast corner of the former military camp still stands out clearly in the area. Topographically, it is located on a low terrace on the eastern bank of the Someș River. In ancient times, the occupation of the fort in the province of Dacia Porolissensis was probably responsible for monitoring the road leading from Napoca to the northern Limes (section A / VI). Strategically, it could have formed a link between the legion in Alba Iulia ( Apulum ) and the northern front in the early occupation period, and later had the tactical function of supporting the troops stationed further north, directly on the outer Limes line.

Research history

Gherla has been known as a place of discovery for Roman antiquities since the late 18th century. The first archaeological excavations were carried out between 1901 and 1906 by József Ornstein . Further investigations followed from 1907 to 1909 by Endre Orosz and in 1937 under Gherasim Pintea . More extensive excavations were carried out in the second half of the 20th century, in particular from 1960 to 1968 under the direction of Dumitru Protase , 1961 to 1965 by Alexandru Nicula , the curator of the historical museum in Gherla (unpublished) and from 1979 to 1983 under the direction of various archaeologists, including again Dumitru Protase, as well as Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan . Some of these investigations had become necessary in the form of emergency and rescue excavations, due to the establishment and subsequent expansion of a timber industry combine that was built on the former fort site.

The ancient name of the fort square has not been passed down. József Ornstein had tried to equate it with the place Congri listed in the Cosmographia of the geographer of Ravenna , but this cannot be considered due to the course of the road. Nevertheless, due to the lack of more reasonable alternatives, this interpretation was able to prevail in the meantime and was partly reflected in the older literature. Since the square was not on the Kaiserstraße from Napoca to Porolissum , but on a branch route through the Someș valley, it is not listed on the Tabula Peutingeriana . An actually correct identification can therefore only be reserved for possible epigraphic finds in the future.

Archaeological evidence

In the investigations and excavations listed above over the past 110 years, two different construction phases were ultimately identified. An enlarged stone fort followed a wood and earth warehouse. According to the inscribed finds, the Ala II Pannoniorum , a cavalry unit of 480 men originally recruited in Pannonia , served as the regular crew in both construction phases . In connection with the Second Dacian War (105/106) this Ala and especially one of her Exploratores (scouts) by the name of Tiberius Claudius Maximus had achieved a certain fame (see below).

Wood-earth warehouse

The earliest camp was set up during the occupation period under Trajan (98–117), by the year 106 at the latest. It had a rectangular, square-shaped floor plan with sides of 145 m by 138 m, corresponding to an area of ​​two hectares. With its sides it was oriented roughly in the four cardinal directions. Due to the erosion and washings, the dimensions of the wood-earth wall could not be determined with certainty. The estimates and calculations vary between widths of 6.50 m and 9.50 m, and between heights of one and two meters. The double trench system of pointed trenches, which - after a berm - ran as an obstacle to the approach in front of the fort, could be recorded better and more safely , although the dimensions are different here too. Very little is known about the interior development of the wood-earth store. Some traces that speak for clay-plastered wooden structures and were found in the deeper layers of the earth could point to the oldest camp, but this is not certain. On the other hand, the courses of the Via praetoria (main warehouse street), the via decumana (rear warehouse street) and the via principalis dextra (right warehouse cross street) seem to be certain, while no traces of the via sagularis ( warehouse ring street) could be identified. The existence of the wood-earth camp is assumed to be around thirty to forty years, which would correspond to the usual maintenance period of Roman wooden structures. The transition to the following stone fort may not have taken place at the same time. It is conceivable that initially only individual structures, primarily the Principia (staff building), were made of stone before the fort was finally given a stone fence.

Stone fort

Around the middle of the second century CE, probably around the year 140 or a little later, the warehouse was enlarged and the previous wood-earth construction was replaced by stone technology. It is not entirely clear whether a related building inscription from the year 143 refers only to the Principia or to the entire fort. The new floor plan shows the axis lengths of 162 m by 169 m, which corresponds to a built-up area of ​​2.74 hectares. Its orientation corresponded to that of the wood-earth camp, the Porta praetoria (main gate) was oriented to the north (a different statement in the Archaeological Register of Cluj-Napoca was rejected as erroneously by Protase, Gudea and Ardevan in 2008).

To construct the stone wall, the trenches of the wood-earth fort were filled and leveled and the new walls were erected in front of it. The wall, which is between 2.30 m and 2.50 m thick and made of mortar stones, was placed on a foundation sunk into the ground between 0.60 m and 0.60 m (?). Between the wall and the new double moat system ran an approximately 1.50 m wide berm , the surface of which had been paved with the fragments of tombstones, sculptures and inscription plates. The trenches themselves were sunk into the pending, previously untouched soil. They were six to seven meters wide and up to two meters deep. A footbridge up to two meters wide remained between the two trenches. It is noticeable that the soles of the new trenches were rounded, while the older trenches were typical pointed trenches. The defensive wall was provided with outwardly protruding, corner and intermediate towers, the four gates flanked by gate towers, whereby it should be noted that due to the erosion and destruction mentioned, all sides of the fort are no longer covered and the correct floor plans and dimensions of the towers are incomplete could be determined. In addition, there are contradicting measurements in the literature.

As with the wood-earth camp, little is known about the interior of the stone fort. The few findings, including individual walls from two different construction phases, traces of a hypocaust and floors paved with brick slabs, were too fragmentary or could not be exposed over a large enough area to be meaningfully added to an overall plan. The periodization of the fort by means of a layer of fire, which in some areas seems to separate two different phases, is similarly problematic. If this was initially still associated with the events of the Marcomannic Wars , the idea has already been rejected by recent research. For one thing, it was found that the layer of fire was not continuous, so that it was more likely that individual buildings were being burned down by the Roman troops themselves. On the other hand, in all of Dacia there was no other proven fire destruction horizon from enemy action from this time.

Troops - The Ala II Pannoniorum and Tiberius Claudius Maximus

The Ala II Pannoniorum , whose full name was Ala II Pannoniorum [veterana] [torquata] (veteran, torqued , 2nd Ala of the Pannonians ) is regarded as the only trunk unit in both phases of the fort's construction . After taking part in both Trajan's Dacer Wars (101/102 and 105/106), she was permanently stationed in Gherla. From 113 to 116 she took part in Trajan's war against the Parthians and then returned to Gherla. Her losses in the Parthian War were compensated for by numerous recruits of Gallic origin, which is why she was subsequently referred to as Ala II Gallorum et Pannoniorum or Ala II Pannoniorum et Gallorum (2nd Ala of the Gauls and Pannonians). It remained stationed in Gherla until the Romans withdrew from Dacia under Aurelian (270 to 275).

Grave stele of
Tiberius Claudius Maximus
FO: Grammeni
AO: Archaeological Museum, Drama

The most famous member of the Ala and probably a good expert on Dacian conditions was the cavalryman Tiberius Claudius Maximus (around 65 to after 117), who had a varied and successful military career. He had occupied various non-commissioned officer positions as a rider in Legio VII Claudia , with whom he participated in the Dacian Wars (85 to 89) of Domitian (81-96) and was honored therein. Later he was transferred to the Ala II Pannoniorum on double pay and thus also took part in the two Dacer Wars of Trajan. Again he stood out for his above-average performance, in particular that he succeeded in capturing the Dacer king Decebalus , which led to his promotion to the officer rank as Decurio (leader of a tower (squadron)). As such, he also took part in the Parthian War, in which he distinguished himself again. He probably spent his retirement and old age in the Philippi area ( Macedonia ), where his tombstone was found in what is now the village of Grammeni .

Vicus and fort baths

An extensive fort vicus stretched around the fort, particularly along the extended axes of the fort roads on the north, east and south of the 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.

However, the same modern industrial settlement measures that had damaged the fort itself also destroyed large parts of the vicus, so that the reconstruction of the vicus can only be carried out on the basis of individual, more or less well-preserved sites, without a really coherent overall plan present. The individual findings point to a relatively large settlement that continued beyond the Someș to the west. The structure of the place was strongly based on the topographical conditions and was therefore not uniform. Its core was probably to the south and southeast of the modern fortress, where the area was particularly high and therefore protected from flooding. Overall, a broad social differentiation can be discerned within the vicus. The quality of the development ranges from heated, brick-roofed strip houses with stone or brick masonry in the more centrally located areas with better infrastructure (drinking water supply, waste water disposal) to simple pit houses on the periphery.

The fort thermal baths could not or could not be located so far. However, in 1865 Károly Torma had already claimed to have discovered a corresponding hypocausted stone building southwest of the fort area. This place was marked on a map by Árpád Buday in 1911 as Fürdöhelye (place of the bath). However, it was not possible to locate it again afterwards, and the buildings may have fallen victim to a flood of the Someș.

Burial grounds

Part of a grave
stele FO: Gherla
AO: Muzeul de Istorie, Gherla
Gravestone of the
2nd or 3rd century
FO: Gherla
AO: Muzeul de Istorie, Gherla

A great number of grave steles, some of them quite monumental, were discovered in Gherla, which were used in particular as spoil in the construction of the fort and other buildings, but so far no actual burial that could have been archaeologically examined. Romanian archeology therefore hopes that the grave fields are located outside the areas destroyed by the modern building measures already mentioned and that they could still be exposed in the future. The areas to the east of the fort and vicus are particularly “suspect areas”. The monumental monuments that were found and made of locally occurring types of rock speak for a certain prosperity of the settlement, the lack of sarcophagi speaks for the dominance of cremations over body burials. Often there were depictions of horses, which on the one hand may of course be due to the fact that only cavalrymen were stationed in Fort Gherla. Another reason could also be that the soldiers came from ethnic groups in which horses were traditionally worshiped.

Lost property and monument protection

The finds are kept in the Muzeul de Istorie (History Museum ) in Gherla, as well as in the Muzeul Național de Istorie a Transilvaniei (National Museum of the History of Transylvania) in Cluj-Napoca .

The entire archaeological site and are in particular the castle according to the adopted in 2001 Law no. 422/2001 as historical monuments under protection and are using the LMI code CJ-IsA-07059 in the national list of historic monuments ( Lista Monumentelor istorice ) entered . Responsible is the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (Ministerul Culturii și Patrimoniului Na ,ional) , 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

  • Radu Ardevan: The cultural development in two military settlements in northern Dakia, Gherla and Ilișua. A comparative overview . In: Dilyana Boteva-Boyanova, Lucreţiu Mihailescu-Bîrliba and Octavian Bounegru (eds.): Pax Romana. Cultural exchange and economic relations in the Danube provinces of the Roman Empire . Files from the conference in Varna and Tulcea 1. – 7. September 2008. Parthenon, Kaiserslautern 2010, pp. 23–32, ( digitized ).
  • Radu Ardevan: The Ala II Pannoniorum in Dacia . Apulum XLIV (2007), pp. 139-155, ( digitized version ).
  • Radu Ardevan: A Roman inscription from Gherla . Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (1993), pp. 220-222.
  • Radu Ardevan: Circulația monetarǎ ȋn aşezarea romanǎ de la Gherla . Ephemeris Napocensis 3 (1993), pp. 111-113.
  • Christian Găzdac: Bronzuri romane de la Gherla . Acta Musei Napocensis 32.1 (1995), pp. 401-430.
  • Nicolae Gudea : The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, pp. 102f., ( Digitized version ).
  • Dan Isac: O tablă votivă din castrul roman de la Gherla . Acta Musei Porolissensis XVIII (1994), pp. 47-52.
  • Felix Marcu: The Internal Planning of Roman Forts of Dacia . (= Bibliotheca Mvsei Napocensis XXX), Mega Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca 2009, ISBN 978-606-543-058-7 , p. 71.
  • Irina Nemeti and Radu Zăgreanu: Monuments sculpturale de la Gherla . Ephemeris Napocensis, 16-17 (2006-2007), pp. 281-286, ( digitized ).
  • Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 .
  • Victoria Rusu-Bolindeţ: Stamped pottery from the Roman fort at Gherla . Roman frontier studies. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, Zalău 1999, pp. 777-805.
  • Mihai Sasarman: Some Roman inscriptions and sculptural elements from Gherla . ANGVSTIA, 12 (2008), pp. 187-200, ( digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Route / section / fort number (based on Nicolae Gudea , 1997).
  2. ↑ a b c AE 1906, 00112 (dating 142/143), AE 2013, 01287 (dating 101 to 200), CIL 03, 01633,03 , CIL 03, 12540 , CIL 03, 12542 , AE 1960, 00221 , AE 1977 , 00704 , AE 1971, 00397 , AE 1993, 01329 , Lupa 11360 and AE 1977, 00703 (dating 123).
  3. ↑ Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , pp. 174f.
  4. ↑ Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 102, ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , p. 171.
  6. ↑ Dumitru Protase, as well as Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , pp. 177-179.
  7. ↑ Dumitru Protase and Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , p. 179.
  8. ↑ Dumitru Protase, as well as Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 .
  9. ↑ Geogr. Rav. 178, 8.
  10. ↑ Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , p. 174.
  11. ↑ a b Radu Ardevan: The Ala II Pannoniorum in Dacia . Apulum, XLIV (2007, pp. 139-155, ( online )).
  12. ^ A b Peter Connolly : Tiberius Claudius Maximus . Part 1: A Roman legionnaire . Part 2: A Roman Horseman . Tessloff-Verlag, Nuremberg 1990, ISBN 3-7886-0186-8 , ISBN 3-7886-0185-X .
  13. ↑ Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, pp. 102f., ( Digitized version ).
  14. ^ Felix Marcu: The Internal Planning of Roman Forts of Dacia . (= Bibliotheca Mvsei Napocensis XXX), Mega Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca 2009, ISBN 978-606-543-058-7 , p. 71.
  15. ↑ Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , pp. 186-195.
  16. ↑ Radu Ardevan: A Roman inscription from Gherla . Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 99 (1993), pp. 220-222.
  17. ↑ Radu Ardevan: The Germanic prisoner of war from the Roman camp of Gherla . Limes 17, Zalau 1997, pp. 879-883.
  18. ↑ Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , pp. 196-206.
  19. ↑ Károly Torma: A szamosujvári romaifürdö . Plague 1865.
  20. ↑ Árpád Buday: A szolnokdobokai rómaitáborhelyekjelentösége . Kolozsvár 1911, pp. 9-22.
  21. ↑ Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , pp. 281-284.
  22. ↑ Irina Nemeti and Radu Zăgreanu: Monuments sculpturale de la Gherla . Ephemeris Napocensis, 16-17 (2006-2007), pp. 281-286, ( digitized ).
  23. ↑ Mihai Sasarman: Some Roman inscriptions and sculptural elements from Gherla . ANGVSTIA, 12 (2008), pp. 187-200, ( digitized version ).
  24. ↑ Dumitru Protase, Nicolae Gudea and Radu Ardevan: Din istoria militară a Daciei romane. Castrul roman de interior de la Gherla. / From the military history of the Roman Dacia. The Roman inner fort of Gherla . Editura Mirton, Timişoara 2008, ISBN 978-973-52-0387-0 , pp. 285f.
  25. ↑ Description of the Muzeul de Istorie Gherla on the website of the Institutului Național al Patrimoniului (cIMeC) (Romanian), accessed on March 9, 2019.
  26. ↑ Muzeul Național de Istorie a Transilvaniei , official website (Romanian), accessed on February 28, 2019.
  27. ↑ Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 102, ( digitized version ).
  28. ↑ List of historical monuments on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage