Sânpaul Castle

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Sânpaul Castle
limes Dacian Limes
section A / VII / 37
Type Auxiliary fort
unit Numerus Maurorum S ...
size A) unsecured
B) 133 m × 150 m = 2 ha
Construction A) Wood and earth warehouse
B) Stone fort
State of preservation weak soil deformations
place Mărtiniș / Harghita County
Geographical location 46 ° 11 '41.4 "  N , 25 ° 22' 46.1"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 11 '41.4 "  N , 25 ° 22' 46.1"  E
height 490  m
Previous Odorheiu Secuiesc Castle
(north-north-west, A / VII / 36)
Subsequently Fort Olteni
(east-southeast, A / VII / 38)

Sânpaul Castle (also Sânpal or Sinpaul ) is a former Roman auxiliary troop camp in the municipality of Mărtiniș , Harghita County in the Romanian region of Transylvania .

location

In today's settlement the ground monument is in the corridor "Vir" on the north-western edge of the village Sânpaul. Apart from a few weak elevations, nothing can be seen in the area, the area was partly built over with modern construction. Topographically, the former fort is located on the right bank of the Varca brook. In ancient times, the castle crew had the task of monitoring the Vlăhița pass, which led through the Harghita Mountains - a part of the Eastern Carpathians - into the Barbaricum . In addition, according to an inscription find, she seems to have been responsible for the supervision of a nearby salt mine .

Archaeological evidence

During the archaeological excavations , which were carried out in 1957 and 1958 under the direction of G. and I. Ferenczi, two construction phases could be differentiated, whereby little is known about the first construction phase, a wood-earth warehouse, except its existence is.

The second construction phase consisted of a stone fort with a rectangular floor plan and rounded corners. The axis dimensions were 133 m by 150 m, which corresponds to an area of ​​almost two hectares. With its sides it was aligned in the four cardinal directions, with the long sides in the east and west. It was fenced with a 1.25 m thick wall using the technique of Opus incertum , in front of which a simple, 2.70 m wide and 1.70 m deep pointed ditch ran as an obstacle to approach.

Only one unit has been handed down in inscriptions, a Numerus Maurorum S ... , i.e. a unit of indefinite size that was originally recruited in what is now Morocco. Another inscription is interesting, which induced Florian Matei-Popescu and Ovidiu Țentea (2016) as well as Lucrețiu-Ion Mihailescu Bîrliba (2018) to postulate that the garrison was also responsible for guarding (the work) in a nearby salt mine. It is a dedicatory inscription with the text:

Soli Inv
icto pro
salute {m}
C (ai) Iuli Valen
tini c (onductoris) salinar (um)
Iulius Omucio
libertus actor
posuit

Transferred: For the invincible sun god for salvation, (for) Caius Iulius Valentini (the) manager of the salt mine, Iulius Omucio, freedman, set up this (consecration stone).

Lost property and monument protection

The excavation finds were left to the Muzeul Orăşenesc , in Odorheiu Secuiesc .

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 HR-12710 ISB 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

  • Nicolae Gudea : The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 61, ( digitized version ).
  • 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. 203-207.
  • Florian Matei-Popescu: Trupele auxiliare pe limesul estic al Daciei. Stadiul problemei . ANGVSTIA, Studii şi cercetări de Arheologie 17–18 (2014), pp. 205–216, here p. 209, ( digitized version ).
  • Florian Matei-Popescu and Ovidiu Ţentea: The Eastern Frontier of Dacia. A Gazetteer of the Forts and Units . In: Vitalie Bârcă (ed.): Orbis Romanus and Barbaricum. The Barbarians around the Province of Dacia and Their Relations with the Roman Empire . Mega Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca 2016, ISBN 978-606-543-755-5 , pp. 7-24, here p. 13.
  • Călin Timoc: Despre castrul şi vicus-ul militar de la Sânpaul (jud. Harghita) . In: Apulum XXXVII / 1 (2000), pp. 397-399, ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Route / section / fort number (based on Nicolae Gudea , 1997).
  2. ↑ a b AE 1944, 00046 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Nicolae Gudea: The Dacian Limes. Materials on its story. In: Yearbook of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz. 44, 2, 1997, p. 61, ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ AE 2008, +01157 .
  5. ^ A b Florian Matei-Popescu and Ovidiu Țentea: The Eastern Frontier of Dacia. A Gazetteer of the Forts and Units . In: Vitalie Bârcă (ed.): Orbis Romanus and Barbaricum. The Barbarians around the Province of Dacia and Their Relations with the Roman Empire . Mega Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca 2016, ISBN 978-606-543-755-5 , pp. 7-24, here p. 13.
  6. ^ A b Lucrețiu-Ion Mihailescu Bîrliba: Les salines en Dacie romaine. Remarques sur le personnel administratif . In: Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 22 (1), 2018, pp. 51–58, ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ List of historical monuments on the website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage