Gilau Castle

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Gilau Castle
limes Dacian Limes
section B / 95
Dating (occupancy) A) 106 to 117/118
B) 117/118 to 2nd half of 2nd century
C) 2nd half of 2nd century to 275
Type Auxiliary fort
unit A) Cohors I Pannoniorum (?)
BC) Ala Siliana
size A) 130 m × 116 m = 1.51 ha
B) 221 m × 127.5 m = 3.04 ha
C) 213 m × 138 m = 2.94 ha
Construction A) Wood-earth warehouse
B) Wood-earth warehouse
C) Stone fort
State of preservation ground monument visible on the surface
place Gilau
Geographical location 46 ° 45 '26.4 "  N , 23 ° 22' 49.9"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 45 '26.4 "  N , 23 ° 22' 49.9"  E
height 430  m
Subsequently Fort Sutoru (Optatiana)
(north-north-west, B / 96)
Fort Gherla
(north-east, B / 97)
Backwards Potaissa (Turda Castle)
(southeast, C / 104)
Upstream Resculum
(west-northwest, A / V / 21)
Napoca
(east, NN)
Course of the Dacian Limites

Gilău Fort was a Roman auxiliary troop camp in the municipality of Gilău , Cluj County in Transylvania , Romania .

location

In today's settlement image, the soil monument is in the undeveloped park of the Gilău Castle , a noble residence dating from around 1300 and first mentioned in 1428 on the western edge of the town of Gilău in the corridor “Cetate” or “Var”. It can be clearly seen in the area there, but the eastern boundary was partially impaired by the construction of the castle. Topographically, it is located on a ridge near and above the mouth of the Căpuc stream in the Someș river . In ancient times, the fort's garrison probably had the task of monitoring the traffic on the road leading west from Napoca to Resculum . Administratively, the fort was located in the province of Dacia Porolissensis .

Archaeological evidence

The fort site has been known as a site of archaeological relics since at least the 19th century, scientific archaeological excavations took place from the second half of the 20th century, in particular in 1951 and 1958 under Mihail Macrea and M. Rusu, and from 1979 to 1985 under Dan Isac, Alexandru Diaconescu and Coriolan Horatiu Opreanu. It was possible to differentiate between three construction phases for the fortifications and four construction phases for the principia and the crew barracks. All camps faced eastward with their praetorial front.

Small wood-earth warehouse

The small wood-earth warehouse was built in Trajan's time and had a floor plan of 130 m by 116 m, which means that it covered an area of ​​around 1.51 hectares.

Inside, the wooden Principia could be proven, a building with a rectangular floor plan, which was 27.75 m long (east-west axis) and 23.25 m wide (north-south axis), making it an area of ​​645 m² took up what was about 4.3% of the total area of ​​the fort. These early principia are a very simple architectural construction, with a large inner courtyard (24.3 m by 23.25 m = around 565 m²), possibly flanked by porticoes, but secured by only one, at the rear Escape with a total of five rooms, the middle and largest of which was the flag sanctuary ( aedes or Sacellum ), was delimited.

The praetorium (home of the commandant) of the first construction phase was located eleven meters east of the Principia and measured 27 m by 26 m, which corresponds to a built-up area of ​​702 square meters (= 4.68% of the total fort area). The building is an atrium-type villa in which, however, only the rooms delimiting the inner courtyard on the northern side (with a depth of 4.60 m) could be identified beyond doubt.

A total of four crew barracks were found, all in the latus sinistra (left half) of the praetentura (front part of the camp). These were two single barracks and one double barrack. The single barracks and one of the double barracks were provided with front porches. The size of the barracks could be interpolated to nine by 40 meters, i.e. 360 square meters, which were divided into ten contubernia (team rooms ) and a head building for the centurion . A total of around 25 pestles for Mortaria were found in one of the rooms , which led to the assumption that a central kitchen might have been located there. This would be unusual in that in the Roman army meals were usually prepared in the individual communal rooms.

The construction team and the first base unit of the camp are not secured, the Cohors I Pannoniorum , which is sometimes claimed in the literature and whose presence is based on a single brick temple found in the Praetorium , remains controversial. Due to its small size, the fort is most likely to have served a simple cohort (infantry troops of 480 men) as a garrison location.

Large wood-earth warehouse

In early Hadrianic times, probably in the years 137 or 138, the fort was considerably lengthened to the west and a little widened to the south in order to provide the necessary space for a new type of unit, an ala , a cavalry force of 480 men. which - although of the same size as its predecessor - naturally required more space to accommodate their horses. The new warehouse measured 221 m by 127.5 m and thus took up an area of ​​3.04 hectares. It was reinforced with a 10.6 m wide and 1.5 to 2.0 m high wood-earth wall, in front of which there was a simple, five-meter-wide and 2.80 m deep trench as an obstacle to approach. The internal structure followed the layout of the small wood-earth fort, in particular with regard to the axis of Via praetoria (main camp street) and Via decumana (rear warehouse street), which was also used for the layout of the corresponding gates, so that the new warehouse was not symmetrical Ground plan had more, but the axis of the two streets mentioned was shifted to the north, to the left half of the camp. The shift was also inconsistent, so that Via Praetoria and Via decumana no longer formed a uniform axis, but were shifted slightly from one another in such a way that the Via decumana ran more centrally than the Via praetoria .

The Principia remained in the same place as in the previous camp, but were structurally changed slightly. Due to the changes in the camp streets described above, the central axis of the Principia lay in line with the Via praetoria , but the Via decumana was slightly shifted to the south. The building itself was enlarged to 33.20 m by 24.50 m, so that it now took up an area of ​​789 m², 696 m² of which was in the inner courtyard. Also in this construction phase there is no evidence of a basilica . The praetorium kept its place next to the principia .

In contrast to the first construction phase, in which crew barracks were only found in the Praetentura , in the second construction phase such could also be found in the Retentura des Latus sinistrum . They now had dimensions of 56.50 m by 7.50 m and had no veranda. A special feature was that the centurions' apartments did not form a head building, but that they were located as a larger room in the row of contubernia and behind them another room the size of a contubernium closed off the barrack. Isac (1997) interpreted this space as the stable master's apartment . The barracks of the first construction phase in the Praetentura des Latus sinistrum were replaced by a larger building, facing north to south, with a previously undefined function.

Stone fort

Traces of the foundations of the Gilău castle in the castle park

The expansion to a stone fort took place at an undetermined time in the Antonine period (161–192). Presumably it happened through the Ala Siliana [civium Romanorum] [bis torquata] [bis armillata] ( German  Ala des Silius [the Roman citizen] [twice with Torques ] [twice with Armilla ] ), which from this point on also the Was the main unit of the camp. The new building was based on the floor plan of the large wood-earth warehouse, so that the total area was only slightly reduced. The stone fort was 213 m long and 138 m wide, resulting in a total area of ​​2.94 hectares. The wood-earth wall was replaced by a 1.40 m thick wall using the technique of Opus incertum , in front of which a 6.5 m wide and three meters deep ditch ran as an obstacle to approach. The rounded corners of the fort were provided with corner towers with a trapezoidal floor plan (4.00 m, 5.40 m, 5.20 m, 5.00 m). In addition, there were intermediate towers on the long sides with a rectangular floor plan (4.50 m by 5.50 m). The Porta decumana (rear camp gate) and Porta principalis sinistra (left side gate) were identified from the four fort gates. The Porta principalis sinistra had a double passage a total of eight meters wide, the Porta decumana only a single, 3.70 m wide passage. Both gates were flanked by gate towers protruding slightly outwards with a rectangular floor plan. The dimensions of the gate towers of the Porta decumana were 8.00 m by 4.50 m and 7.60 m by 4.70 m, those of the Porta principalis sinistra 7.75 m by 5.50 m and 8.00 m by 5, 25 m.

In the Retentura (rear part of the camp) stables were found, as well as at least one crew barrack, which was now also made of stone. In the second half of the third century there was a repair phase, which is particularly evident in the Principia (Principia IV) and the crew barracks. In their last construction phase, the Principia have a circumference of 38.10 m by 28.50 m, which corresponds to a floor area of ​​1,086 m². For the first time in this phase there are findings that point to the existence of a basilica , in whose northwest corner a tribunal could be identified. To the side of the sanctuary there were only two more rooms, instead of the four previous ones. The function of a larger stone building (so-called "Building A", approx. 41 m by 41 m = 1,681 m²) in the Praetentura has not yet been satisfactorily clarified. Due to the secured areas of its floor plan, it does not correspond to a barrack (not even a double barrack) or stables, it could possibly have been used to accommodate riders and horses together. It was built in good quality using the technique of Opus incertum .

Lost property and monument protection

The finds are kept 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-07068 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

  • Alexandru Diaconescu: Propuneri pentru reconstituirea unor elemente de fortificaţiie ale castruluide la Gilău . Acta Musei Napocensis, XXI (1984), pp. 145-168.
  • Christian Gazdac and Dan Isac: The auxiliary forts from Samum (Căseiu) and Gilău . Editura Mega, Cluj-Napoca 2007, ISBN 978-973-1868-03-5 , pp. 29-60, 149-182, 185, 188-192 and panels IV to VI, ( digitized version ).
  • Marius Ioan Grec: Din istoria militară a Daciei Porolissensis. Trupele auxiliare . “Vasile Goldiș” University Press, Arad 2010, ISBN 978-973-664-426-9 , pp. 105-108, ( digitized version ).
  • Nicolae Gudea : The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, pp. 100f., ( Digitized version ).
  • Dan Isac: Castrele de cohortă şi ală de la Gilău, Zalău . Zalau 1997.
  • 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 , pp. 71-79, as well as plates 7 and 8.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Route / section / fort number (based on Nicolae Gudea , 1997).
  2. ^ A b Dan Isac: Castrele de cohortă şi ală de la Gilău, Zalău . Zalau 1997, p. 14f. and panel IV / 1.
  3. ↑ Ala Siliana: CIL 03, 00847 , CIL 03, 00847a , IDR-App-01-14 (dating 117 to 138), IDR-App-01-15 , AE 1993, 01331 (dating 211 to 222), ILD 00601a and ILD 00601b .
  4. ↑ a b c Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 100, ( digitized version ).
  5. ^ 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. 76.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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 , pp. 71f. as well as plate 7.
  8. ↑ Dan Isac: Castrele de cohortă şi Ala de la Gilău, Zalau . Zalau 1997, p. 45.
  9. ^ 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 , pp. 77f. as well as plate 8.
  10. ^ A b 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 , pp. 71-79.
  11. ↑ a b Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, pp. 101f., ( Digitized version ).
  12. ↑ Muzeul Național de Istorie a Transilvaniei , official website (Romanian), accessed on February 28, 2019.
  13. ↑ Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 101, ( digitized version ).
  14. ↑ List of historical monuments on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage