Mursa Castle

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Mursa Castle
Alternative name Mursa
limes Pannonian Limes
Dating (occupancy) a) 1st century
to early 2nd century AD
b) 4th century
to early 5th century AD
Type a) Cohort or cavalry fort?
b) Legion camp?
c) Fleet base
unit a) Cohort?, Horseman?, Legion?
b) Vexillation of Legio VI Herculia  ?
c) Classis Histrica
size unknown
Construction a) wood-earth?
b) stone
State of preservation The warehouse area is completely built over.
The location of the fort has so far not been proven archaeologically.
place Osijek / Esseg
Template: Infobox Limeskastell / Maintenance / Untraceable
height 85  m. i. J.
Previous Ad Novas Castle (northeast)
Subsequently Fort Teutoburgium (southeast)

The Mursa fort was a Roman military camp , the crew of which was responsible for security tasks in the border area of ​​the Limes Pannonicus at an important road bridge. In Pannonia, the Danube formed a natural barrier as a river border between the Roman Empire and the Barbaricum . The garrison town founded somewhat backwards to this border line on the Drava is now located in the district of Osijek (Esseg), a Croatian town in the Osijek-Baranja County .

location

The location of Mursa on the Pannonian Limes.

The fortification was built on the edge of a plain south of the Drava . In contrast to most of the Pannonian forts of the 1st century AD, it was not built directly on the Danube Limes to be monitored , but a few kilometers further west. As a result, direct control and observation of the border from the fort was not possible. The main reason for the unusual choice of location is one of the largest, largely untouched marshlands in Europe (Stagnus Mursianus?) , Which forms the Kopački rit nature park on the Croatian side and the Duna-Dráva national park in Hungary . This meadow landscape, which is difficult to access, was created at the mouth of the Drava, which joins the Danube here. In addition to numerous wetlands and floodplains, it is mainly characterized by oxbow lakes and small lakes. The vegetation of the floodplain along the Danube is dominated by the tree-like growing silver willows in addition to the swamps . This pristine landscape, which has remained almost unchanged since antiquity , made an organized and sustainable development of the land on this section of the river border almost impossible for the Roman army and ultimately led to Mursa only being used to a limited extent for border security and even being temporarily abandoned. Only the civil settlement on the Draubrücke that developed from the early camp village ( vicus ) was able to maintain its importance in the long term. Since the middle-imperial-period watchtowers or late antique burgi in the area of ​​the marshland, which are otherwise found in places in Pannonia , may not have been present, the main burden of border control in this area was certainly with the Danube fleet ( Classis Pannonica ) , which from late antiquity under a new name and changed organizational structure. and command structures as Classis Histrica maintained an important naval base in Mursa .

Research history

The fortress of Esseg in its expansion stage from 1861. The often contested complex was built in the Middle Ages west of the lower town. The fastening ring was only broken off from 1923.

Mursa was raised to Colonia under the rule of Emperor Hadrian (117-138) and lost its military importance until the beginning of late antiquity. In particular, the remains of the ancient civil settlement, which were mainly located in Esseg's lower town, had already caused a sensation among scholars in the early modern period. Much of the ancient legacy that humanists such as Stephanus Brodericus (1490–1539) and Wolfgang Lazius (1514–1565) saw and described in Esseg was irretrievably lost due to the numerous sieges of the city by the Ottomans ( Turkish wars ). The front-line cities on the military border with the Ottoman Empire were then - sometimes several times - re-fortified, which required vast amounts of building material that could be extracted from the ancient ruins as quickly and cheaply as possible. Esseg was largely destroyed both in 1526, when the city was stormed by the Turks, and in 1687 when it was reconquered by the Habsburgs . In the 18th century, the Josephinische Landesaufnahme, which was carried out between 1782 and 1785, documented the few ancient buildings that were still preserved at that time. The ongoing loss of substance in the ancient structures continued unchecked during the economic and population boom after the end of the Turkish wars. Around this time, the scholar Matthias Petrus Katancsich (Matija Petar Katančić) (1750-1825) reported, among other things, that 1,600 Parisian fathoms (3,118.46 meters) were found on Roman building blocks at one point and reused for new buildings. The archaeologist and numismatist Friedrich von Kenner (1834–1922) wrote in 1870 that “almost nothing was left” of the “remains of the old Mursa” due to this exploitation .

Viktor Hoffiller (1877–1954), one of the founders of modern Croatian archeology, explored the site on which the gynecological department of the Osijek hospital is located when looking for the fort in 1913, but it still exists today - partly to a limited extent due to the centuries-long, profound stone robbery - not a single sound archaeological finding to determine the exact location of the Roman fortifications.

Building history

In the course of the stationing of Roman troops in Pannonia, an important military base was established in Mursa . How big the camp might have been in its early Roman or early Middle Imperial period has so far remained pure speculation. Scientists suspect that before the great Pannonian uprising (6 to 9 AD) - in the course of the occupation of the country - there could have been a fortified military station at this point to secure an early bridge over the Drava. Presumably on the site of the fort that was abandoned when Mursa was raised to town. Inscription stones from the grave fields around Mursa mention members of several mounted and partially mounted units, who presumably also lay in the garrison here.

In the middle of the 20th century, most Croatian scientists were convinced that there was a legion here in the principality to take the pressure of the warlike Sarmatian Jazyans , who lived on the opposite bank of the Danube, from the Pannonian southern flank. This theory stems from the days of the Croatian scholar Katancsich, who had made the claim during the second half of the 18th century that he had actually found the legionary camp. According to Katancsichs, it had a square, 631.76 × 631.76 meters large floor plan and therefore offered enough space for a legion and several auxiliary troop cohorts. The Austrian garrison commander of Esseg, Karl Matasic, also came to the conclusion at the beginning of the 20th century that this camp must have been rectangular and had sides of 500 × 640 meters. Only a little later, the hydraulic engineer Radoslav Franjetić, who also worked as a hobby archaeologist, measured the alleged location of the camp at 760 × 680 meters. In 1910 Franjetić compared a city map from 1786 with Katancsich's notes as the basis for his work. Ultimately, however, these measurements should always capture the dimensions of the entire ancient city and not just those of the military installations in particular.

Troops and military personnel

Several troops have become known from Mursa through inscription stones that could have been stationed here. To this day, however, it is no longer possible to determine exactly what these were. Some of the military personnel buried in Mursa probably only moved to the city or its immediate catchment area after their active service. In 1906, the grave stele of a cavalry soldier, Velagenus Ulattius, son of Mantus, was recovered from grave 110, in the northeastern burial ground. Before he died at the age of 38, he served for 16 years in the Cohors II Alpinorum equitata ("2nd partially mounted cohort of alpine residents"). His heirs, the Centurio Longinus and Primus, a custos armorum of the beneficiaries , set the tombstone for him. In the same burial field in 1800 the stele of Niger Sveitrius, son of Bataronis, was found in grave 111. He served as a rider in the Ala I Aravacorum for 17 years when he died at the age of 37. The two siblings Marcellus and Publius, appointed as heirs, placed the gravestone for the deceased.

In 1925 the stele of Gaius Iulius Verecundus, son of Gaius, came to light in grave 112 in the northeastern burial ground, who had served as a legionnaire of the Legio X Gemina in the Centurion of Paetus for 20 years before he died in Mursa . The epithet pia fidelis (“dutiful and faithful”) mentioned in the inscription was worn by the Legion since the days of Emperor Domitian (81–96). A grave inscription from the lower town that has only survived in fragments names the veteran Marcus Aurelius Achilleus, a former custos armorum of the Legio II Adiutrix stationed in Aquincum ( Budapest ) . Another funerary inscription mentions Centurio Aurelius Secundus of Legio XIIII Gemina , who died at the age of 40 . His sons, the Centurio Aurelius Annianus and the standard bearer ( Signifer ) Maximianus take care of his funeral .

The military tribune and cohort prefect (…) ntius Antoninus left behind a votive inscription that was carried off to the Esseg fortress. The officer states that he was active as a tribune both for the Legio I Adiutrix located in the Upper Pannonian legionary camp Brigetio and for the Legio II Adiutrix stationed in Aquincum and, as prefect, the Cohors I Ulpia Traiana Cugernorum (civium Romanorum) (“1st cohort the Cugern Roman civil rights 'Ulpia Trajana' ”) led. Another altar - dedicated to Jupiter - was left by the Beneficiarius consularis Censorinius Maximus and the Tesserarius Aelius Balbinus redeemed a vow to the goddess of fortune Fortuna Casualis.

After its elevation to Colonia , Mursa evidently no longer had any Roman troops stationed in it until the 4th century AD. Only then was a vexillation of the Legio VI Herculia ("6th Legion of Hercules ") set up under the rule of Emperor Diocletian (284–305 ) and a flotilla of the Danube fleet ( Classis Histrica ) relocated here. Even if their exact location or port has so far remained unknown, their presence can at least be traced back to the Notitia Dignitatum , a late antique state manual from the 5th century, which included a Praefectus classis Histricae Mursae (commander of the Classis Histrica in Mursa ) in its troop lists. mentioned, prove.

Colonia Aelia Mursa

Main article: Colonia Aelia Mursa

The 40,000 square meter city, built according to a uniform grid, was like the as yet undiscovered fort mainly in the eastern Esseg district of Unterstadt , which borders directly on the banks of the Danube. Archaeologist Mór Wosinsky (1854–1907) was able to observe six stone pillars of the Draubrücke bridge, which is important for the development of the local history and the remains of which were first sighted in 1777, when the water level was low. It was not until 1985 that archaeological excavations took place on the foundations.

During the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117), Pannonia was divided into two provinces, making Mursa an important capital of the new province of Lower Pannonia (Pannonia inferior) . Hadrian, who subsequently elevated the settlement to Colonia by deduction , also donated a public building in 133 AD, the purpose of which is unknown today. A building inscription, preserved only in fragments, mentions the name of the emperor and that the work was carried out by a building vexillation of the Legio II Adiutrix from Aquincum . Another important building inscription fragment comes from a restoration or renovation of the bridge. Although the name and title of the emperor were erased on this inscription, that is, the Damnatio memoriae fell victim, the archaeologist Danica Pinterović was able to make a reconstruction and identify Emperor Caracalla (211-217) as the client. She saw the historically documented stay of the ruler in Pannonia as the logical time frame for this construction work. The archaeologist Zsolt Mráv revised and corrected the text reconstruction of his colleague in a more recent study from 2002 in several points. Gaius Aemilius Homullinus, son of Gaius and city councilor of Mursa (decurio coloniae Mursae) had 50 shops built for traders with an upstream double portico (porticibus duplicibus) at his expense .

Like all important border towns, Mursa had a city wall, a forum , a basilica , a curia , temples , thermal baths and an amphitheater . The ramparts only secured the city area and its residents on three sides, on the northern front facing the Drava, and the Colonia remained unprotected. However, the archaeologists have not yet been able to locate most of these large buildings - such as the presumed large main temple of the city.

There are no archaeological findings for the amphitheater either, and one can only speculate about its location, but the late Roman historian Zosimos briefly mentions it in connection with the battle of Mursa and writes that it was at the gates of the city. In this context, Franjetić identified an elliptical depression on a city map from 1786 in his studies of Mursa in the early 20th century , which lay at the southwestern end of the ancient city area and could have come from the amphitheater. After the end of the Second World War, this area was also built over.

Military clashes near Mursa

In late summer or early autumn 260 AD, Mursa first became a battlefield during the usurpation of Ingenuus . He was possibly the governor of Lower Pannonia at the time and stood here for the reigning Emperor Gallienus (253-268). The usurper was quickly defeated at Mursa by the loyal Dakish cavalry general Aureolus . Another internal Roman dispute culminated in the battle of Mursa in September 351 AD, when Emperor Constantius II (337-360) successfully opposed the usurper Flavius ​​Magnus Magnentius . This battle is considered one of the bloodiest clashes in Roman history.

Important personalities from Mursa

A bishop of Colonia is documented for the first time in AD 335 . Valens was a follower of Arian- homeic theology and appeared in the same year at the Synod of Tire . Another outstanding son of the city was the imperial treasurer Marcellinus . He fought in AD 351 at the side of the usurper Flavius ​​Magnus Magnentius, who he supported, in the battle of Mursa and was killed in the process. The above-mentioned Bishop Valens, who at the Council of Milan in AD 355 , as a staunch supporter of the Arians, demonstratively tore up the Creed of Nicaea before the eyes of the college , acted as a messenger of victory over the emperor .

End and post-Roman development

Towards the end of the 4th century Mursa was devastated by the Germanic Goths in the course of the turbulent events of the Great Migration . At that time, the most dangerous Roman opponents to date in the southern Pannonian region, the Jazygen, also disappeared . After the Roman troops withdrew from Pannonia in 433 AD, Colonia was exposed to the attacks of the new rulers in the country, the Huns , and were therefore sacked by them in 441 AD. At the turn of the 5th to the 6th century, ancient Mursa was finally destroyed and its inhabitants abandoned it. It was not until the end of the Middle Ages that the early modern Esseg developed - on the area of ​​the later fortress - around the castle of the Slavic family Kružić, a little west of the former Colonia .

Limes Street

Esseg on the Danube map published by Marsigli in 1726 with a section of the Roman trade and military route that was still very well preserved at the time.

The most important early researcher, who had the Roman remains that were still visible in his day drawn in his detailed maps, was the Italian scholar and officer Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli (1658–1730). Through his work Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus , a section of the dead straight ancient street course, which was obviously still in excellent condition, became known for the first time. The route, which was heaped up due to the swampy terrain, comes from Marsigli as Agger Romano Antiquus (ancient Roman dam) directly from the north and flows out on the northern bank of the Drau. The Roman bridge was once located at this point. The scholar could probably no longer follow the southern course of the road. A road embankment was probably not necessary there either. In the 20th century, Pinterović described the routes more precisely based on his hypotheses. She assumed that two parallel streets led from the north to the Drava. The route drawn by Marsigli would then have taken the direction of Mursa immediately , while a second would have led a little further east, further in the swampy border area, through the northern fishing village of Kopaćevo (Kopács) to the village of Nemetin. Pinterović based their assumption that the road drawn in the Tabula Peutingeriana does not run directly through Mursa , but to the east of it. According to this theory, the eastern connection route would have been the actual Limes road. The northern edge of Kopaćevo is known for Limes research through the remains of Roman buildings that could have belonged to a fort. In the village itself there were coins, Roman graves, other building traces and an altar dedicated to Jupiter , the father of the gods . Nemetin, east of Mursa on the Drau, was equated with the ancient Ad Labores as early as the 19th century . As the archaeologist Sándor Soproni (1926–1995) noted, Ad Labores could also be equated with Kopaćevo.

Two milestones from the reign of Emperor Severus Alexander (222-235) were found on both sides of the Roman Draubrücke . A third from the term of office of the emperor Maximinus Thrax (235-238) came out of the ground on the important road from Mursa to Aquincum at the point where it met the road branching off to Poetovio ( Ptuj ).

Another important find

Stone monuments

A votive altar to Jupiter was set up by Gamicus, most likely a treasurer of the mining administration, for the good of Gaius Iulius Agathopus, a conductor ferrariarum Pannoniarum itemque provinciarum transmarinarum . The altar was found near the Draubrücke. As a private tax tenant of Pannonian and overseas iron mines, Agathopus was a major entrepreneur and possibly had his administrative seat in Mursa. An important center of the Lower Pannonian iron mining was in Ljubljana (Laibach). Another consecration altar comes from there, this time for the earth goddess Terra Mater, who is particularly revered by the miners . The dedicator Callimorphus worked as a mine administrator (vilicus ferrariarum) for Agathopus. On April 21, 201 AD, he donated a consular altar to the entrepreneur. In 209 AD Callimorphus reappears on a terra mater altar in Laibach, but now he is subordinate to the governor at the time, Titus Flavius ​​Verecundus, since the Pannonian-Dalmatian iron mines had meanwhile been nationalized again and were assigned to the imperial fiscus .

Brick stamp

The brick stamps are among the important finds from Mursa . Especially the military stamps of the Legio VI Herculia , which are important for this article , came out of the ground in large numbers. But brands of Legio VII Claudia and Cohors VII Breucorum are also known. Some of the stamped bricks may have been sold to the Drava, but others may have come from troops stationed here. Construction crews from various units may also have been sent here.

Lost property

The exhibition rooms of the Osijek Archaeological Museum are located in the old city guard.

Roman finds from Mursa are now in the Slavonian Museum in Osijek, in the Archaeological Museum in Osijek, which opened in 2007, in the Vojvodanski muzej in Novi Sad, in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb , in the Janus Pannonius Museum in Pécs and in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest .

Monument protection

Archaeological finds and sites as well as archaeological zones, landscapes and parts thereof are cultural assets of the Republic of Croatia and enjoy special protection. The Croatian Administrative Authority for Monument Protection in the Ministry of Culture in Zagreb is responsible. Law no. 01-081-99-1280 / 2 of June 18, 1999, with its subsequent additions and amendments, is governed by Article 89 of the Croatian Constitution. Damage, destruction and theft of cultural property must be reported to the competent authority immediately, but no later than the next day. Unannounced excavations are forbidden, violations of the export regulations are punished as a crime in the most serious case , and in the lightest case as an offense within the meaning of Croatian law.

See also

literature

  • Dénes Gabler: Sigillates from Mursa in the Hungarian National Museum. In: Osječki zbornik. 16, 1977, pp. 99-114.
  • Erwin Pochmarski , Slavica Filipović: A group of Dionysian reliefs from Mursa (Osijek). In: Annual books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. 65, 1, 1996, pp. 165-173.
  • Mirjana Sanader: The border in Croatia. In: Gerhild Klose, Annette Nünnerich-Asmus (eds.): Limits of the Roman Empire. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3429-X , pp. 153–156.
  • Marjeta Šašel Kos: M. Aurelius Bassus, eques Romanus, from Mursa. In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy. 91, 1992, pp. 176-182.
  • Zsolt Visy : The Yugoslav stretch of the Pannonian Limes . In: Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 , pp. 126-130.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Meid : Celtic personal names in Pannonia. Archaeolingua, Budapest 2005, ISBN 963-8046-56-2 , p. 14.
  2. ↑ a b c d Zsolt Visy: The Yugoslav stretch of the Pannonian Limes . In: Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 , pp. 126-130; here: p. 127.
  3. ^ Friedrich von Kenner: Noricum and Pannonia. An investigation into the development, importance and the system of the Roman defense institutions in the central Danube countries. In: Reports and communications from the Alterthums-Verein zu Wien. 11, 1870, pp. 1-176; here: p. 110.
  4. ↑ gynecological department of klinická Bolnica Osijek at 45 ° 33 '29.64 "  N , 18 ° 42' 42.56"  O .
  5. ^ Mihály Nagy: Urban development in Pannonia. In: Martin Kemkes (Ed.): From Augustus to Attila. Life on the Hungarian Danube Limes (= writings of the Limes Museum Aalen. 53). Theiss, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 978-3-8062-1541-0 , pp. 79 ff .; here: p. 81.
  6. ↑ a b Josip Klemenc: The Pannonian Limes in Yugoslavia. In: Acta et dissertationes archaeologicae. 3, 1963, pp. 55-68; here: p. 60.
  7. ↑ Marin Zaninović: Antička arheologija u Hrvatskoj. In: Opuscula Archaeologica. 11-12, 1, 1987, p. 14. ( online )
  8. ↑ AE 1913, 135 .
  9. ↑ CIL 3, 3286 .
  10. ^ AE 1928, 157 .
  11. ↑ CIL 3, 10270 .
  12. ↑ CIL 3, 3284 .
  13. ^ AE 1974, 535 .
  14. ↑ AE 1973, 447 .
  15. ↑ CIL 3, 10265 .
  16. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum occ. 32, 52.
  17. ↑ a b c d Mirjana Sanader: Ancient Greek and Roman cities in Croatia. Školska Knjiga, Zagreb 2004, ISBN 953-061907-3 , p. 47.
  18. ^ A b Zsolt Mráv: Hadrian's bridge building inscription from Poetovio. In: Communicationes archaeologicae Hungariae. 29, 2002, pp. 15-57; here: p. 45; Location of the bridge according to: Zsolt Mráv: Hadrian's inscription on the bridge from Poetovio. In: Communicationes archaeologicae Hungariae. 29, 2002, pp. 15-57; here: 45. 45 ° 33 '41.92 "  N , 18 ° 43' 1.57"  O .
  19. ^ Zsolt Mráv : Hadrian's bridge building inscription from Poetovio. In: Communicationes archaeologicae Hungariae. 29, 2002, pp. 15-57; here: p. 30.
  20. ↑ CIL 3, 3280 .
  21. ↑ CIL 3, 3288 .
  22. ^ Zosimos 2: 45-53.
  23. ^ Danica Pinterović: Prilog topografiji Murse. In: Osiječki zbornik. 5, 1956, pp. 55-94; here: p. 93.
  24. ↑ Helmut Halfmann : Gallienus 253-268. In: Manfred Clauss (Ed.): The Roman Emperors. Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-47288-5 , p. 230.
  25. ^ Josef Limmer: Councils and synods in late antique Gaul from 314 to 696 after the birth of Christ. Part 1. Chronological presentation. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2004, ISBN 3-631-53303-9 , p. 69.
  26. ↑ Lucifer of Calaris , moriendum esse pro dei filio 1; 4th
  27. ↑ Sarmatians. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 26, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2004, ISBN 3-11-017734 X , p. 511.
  28. ↑ fortress Esseg 45 ° 33 '37.78 "  N , 18 ° 41' 43.87"  O .
  29. ^ Josef Bösendorfer: The orthodox element as a secondary factor in the development of the bourgeois class in Essegg. In: Osječki zbornik. 2-3, 1948, pp. 48-133; here p. 127.
  30. ↑ Kopačevo (Kopács) at 45 ° 35 '58.74 "  N , 18 ° 47' 16.95"  O .
  31. ↑ Nemetin at 45 ° 32 '22.13 "  N , 18 ° 46' 13.12"  O .
  32. ↑ Mirjana Sanader: The border in Croatia. In: Limits of the Roman Empire. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3429-X , p. 156.
  33. ^ Sándor Soproni: Tabula imperii romani, Aquincum, Sarmizegetvsa, Sirmium. AM Hakkert, Amsterdam 1968. p. 70.
  34. ↑ Danica Pinterović: Limes studies in Baranja and Slavonia. In: Archaeologia Iugoslavica. 9, 1968, pp. 55-82; here p. 62.
  35. ^ AE 2006, 1094 .
  36. ^ AE 1973, 411 .
  37. ^ AE 1958, 63 .
  38. ↑ CIL 3, 3754 .
  39. ↑ CIL 3, 10666
  40. ↑ CIL 3, 10668 .
  41. ↑ The legal regulations on the website of the Croatian Ministry of Culture (in Croatian language).