Segontium Castle
| Caernarfon Castle | |
|---|---|
| Alternative name |
a) Segontium , b) Segontio , c) Seguntio |
| limes | Britain |
| section | West coast / route 4 |
| Dating (occupancy) | 1st to late 4th century AD |
| Type | Equestrian and cohort fort |
| unit |
a) Cohors I Sunicorum , b) Segontienses ? |
| size | Area: 2 ha |
| Construction |
a) wood-earth, b) stone construction |
| State of preservation | Square system with rounded corners, foundations above ground are still largely visible. |
| place | Caernarfon |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 8 ′ 14 " N , 4 ° 15 ′ 57" W. |
| Previous | Pen Llystyn Fort (northeast) |
| Subsequently | Canovium Fort (southeast) |
Segontium was a Roman military camp near what is now Caernarfon in Gwynedd , North Wales . It was part of the fortress chain to secure the west coast of Britain and is now one of the most famous ancient archaeological sites in Great Britain. The fort secured a junction of Menai Street, where the main Roman roads on the north and west coasts met, and the west coast of Wales. She also oversaw the transition to the fertile and mineral-rich island of Anglesey. The fort was one of the longest-occupied Roman garrison sites in Britain. Together with the auxiliary camp , this article also deals with the late antique small fort of Hen Waliau.
Surname
The name Segontium may derive from the Seiont River, from " sego " -, d. H. the savage, impetuous, or from the Segontiaci (the place or home of the Segontii), an indigenous tribe who lived in 54 BC. Is mentioned by Gaius Iulius Caesar - albeit residing in the south-east of Britain. The square appears in the Antonini Itinerarium of the 2nd century as Segontio . According to this, it was 24 Roman miles from the nearest major settlement Canovium , the starting point of section Iter XI , the route to the Deva legionary camp ( Chester ). The place appears as Seguntio in the 7th century geographer of Ravenna . The name of today's city also reminds of the former Roman camp. " Caer " is the Welsh name for a fortified place. Caernarfon is composed of Caer yn ar-Fon , which can be roughly translated as "The fortress opposite (the island) Mon" or "the fortress at the mouth of the river".
Location and function
The location of the fort is in the east of today's Caernarfon, on a slightly elevated plateau on the right bank of the Seiont, from where his crew had a good view of the surrounding area, the coast and the river mouth. The fort plateau is now completely surrounded by residential areas and is cut through in the southeast by a main road, the Beddgelert Road. It was one of the most western military bases of the Roman Empire and was directly connected to the legion camp in Chester / Deva Victrix by a solid road .
Segontium dominated the access to the island of Anglesey , Cymrisch Môn , which is important for copper mining , and also served as the administrative center for the north-west of Wales. The area around Caernarfon and Anglesey was the settlement center of the Ordovices and two smaller clans , the Gangani and Segontiaci . It roughly corresponds to today's counties of Gwynedd and Anglesey. It is possible that the neighboring Deceangi (in Clwyd ) were administered from here or the Legion in Deva ( Chester , Cheshire) was responsible for them. Segontium's crew controlled the transport of ore from the mines on Anglesey and the Menai Strait and was supposed to protect the coast from incursions by Irish pirates and looters.
Research history
The first investigations took place from 1845 to 1846. The first scientific excavations were carried out by Mortimer Wheeler , Director of the National Museum of Wales, between 1921 and 1923. Most of the foundations visible and preserved today were exposed during these years. During the excavations between 1975 and 1979, wooden crew barracks from the first period of the fort, dating from the time of the late 1st century and the early 2nd century AD, were examined. By 1977 about 1500 m² of the fort area had been examined. The excavations continued until recently. The south-western part of the fort area is still largely unexplored. Terra sigillata from the Antonine era and the building inscription on the aqueduct from the Severan period suggest that the fort was used continuously during this period. Traces of repair on buildings, new road surfaces and other renovation measures from 350 to 360 AD prove that the camp was apparently occupied until the end of the 4th century. The final coin comes from the reign of Gratian (367–383). During the excavations, large numbers of animal bones of ox, sheep, pigs, red deer, wild boar, rabbits and wolves were also found; the latter were probably hunted for fun and to protect the farmers' herds. To the north-east of Caernarfon, a milestone from the early 3rd century was recovered near Ty Coch, which, based on its inscription, could be dated between 212 and 217 AD.
development
Although the region of what is now Wales, which was very inhospitable in antiquity, was little developed, it was by no means isolated from the rest of the island; all of the tribes living here spoke a Celtic dialect and felt that they belonged to the British. The largest of these tribal groups were the Silures in the south-east and the Ordovices in central and north-west Wales. They offered the greatest resistance to the advance of the Roman invaders.
The Legate Publius Ostorius Scapula launched the first attack against the Welsh tribes in AD 48. First, his army subdued the Deceangli in the northeast, who offered little resistance. The fight against the Silurians and Ordovicen, however, was much more difficult and should last for several years. They were initially led by the renegade Caratacus , who came from the south-east of Britain. When the Silurians were defeated in a battle, he fled to the territory of the Ordovicen, where he again faced Scapula's troops in 51 AD and was defeated again. He was able to escape again and fled to the brigands in the north, who, however, immediately handed him over to the Romans. The Silurians had not yet given up and waged a bitter guerrilla war against the Romans. Scapula died during the campaign without having finally subjugated it. After his death they even won a victory against the Legio II Augusta .
Under the governorship of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus , two campaigns were carried out from 58 to 61 AD. One against the Silurians in the southeast, the other against the Ordovices in the northwest. Here Paulinus marched with his army to the coast and crossed over to the island of Mona , whose druid sanctuary - before the subsequent destruction by Paulinus' soldiers - was an important religious center of the British and a refuge of resistance against the Romans. When an uprising of the southeastern British under the leadership of the Icenean queen Boudica suddenly broke out, which was very dangerous for Roman rule , Paulinus had to hastily break off his campaign to oppose the rebels, who had already killed numerous Roman civilians and destroyed Verulamium and Londinium . The Silurians were finally defeated in the year 78 through several campaigns led by Sextus Iulius Frontinus . His successor Gnaeus Iulius Agricola finally subjugated the Ordovicen at the beginning of 79 and reoccupied Mona . To consolidate Roman rule, Agricola had in AD 77 or 78 a. a. also set up the camp of Segontium .
The Romans now controlled most of Wales, built numerous roads and forts, exploited natural resources and introduced new economic methods. The area around Segontium was now part of the province of Britannia Superior , from late antiquity the newly established Britannia Prima , which included the whole of western Britain. The interest of the Romans in this part of the island was otherwise rather low, as there was little fertile arable land to cultivate here. Most of the Roman remains that are still visible in Wales are therefore military in nature. The rugged and mountainous country was largely dominated by the legionary camps at Deva ( Chester ) and Isca (Caerleon), which were connected by well-developed roads with a ring of auxiliary camps inland and on the coast. The Romans only founded one larger city here, Venta Silurum (Caerwent), only the Moridunum fort later also became a civilian settlement.
As a military dictatorship, the imperial throne of the Roman Empire was always strongly endangered by usurpations by its military leaders ( Imperial crisis of the 3rd century ). Some of them also came from Britain. In order to be able to muster enough troops for their march to Rome, they often reduced the British garrisons far beyond what was justifiable. The forts in the west were always the first to give up their crews, as this region was seen as negligible, also due to its low economic importance. In the spring of 383 AD, the Comes Britanniarum Magnus Maximus was proclaimed emperor by his troops. It is believed that he was responsible for the final withdrawal of much of the Roman troops from Wales 20 years before Britain was left to its own devices by the Romans in 410 AD. According to Welsh lore, Maximus organized the island's defense before he left for Gaul. Other sources attribute this to the " warlord " Vortigern . It is possible that the two actors were confused by misinterpretations by the chroniclers. Inevitably, Maximus had to start and make the biggest changes. He probably divided Wales into new military districts, which he then subordinated either to a regional tribal chief or officers of the limitanei . This also happened in northern Britain, which was also never completely permeated by Roman culture.
It is almost certain that the force in Segontium was reduced to less than half of its original number by the handing over of a vexillation to the army of the usurper in the late 3rd century . The border in the west was now much more porous, as the few coast guards and militias that remained here could no longer effectively control it all along the line. Perhaps the worsening living conditions in Ireland led some clans to settle permanently in the western outskirts of Wales, as they now had no fear of being driven out by the Romans. The Irish colonies in Gwynned and Dyfed subsequently began to expand, and the number of attacks by Irish pirates increased, so that the fort finally had to be abandoned by its last inhabitants. In the interior of Wales, the pre-Roman system of rule of the established tribal societies prevailed again. Only in a few enclaves (Chester, Wroxeter, Glouchester, Caerlon) did rudimentary forms of Roman life and culture continue to exist.
Fort
The fort had a rectangular floor plan with rounded corners and thus corresponded to the typical construction scheme of this time (playing card shape). The fortification measured 155 × 126 m square, covered an area of about two hectares and provided space for a garrison of about 1,000 men. The main axis of the fort was oriented to the southwest, perhaps because of the nearby Dinas Dinlle , a coastal hill fort of the Ordovicen, directly at the end of Menai Street.
In the course of its existence the fort went through two construction phases. The fortifications initially consisted of a 5.4 m wide mud wall, a 0.9 to 2.1 m wide berm and two five meter deep and 4.5 m wide weir ditches. The Flavian wood and earth store burned down completely towards the end of Trajan's reign and was then abandoned. Under Hadrian it was completely rebuilt in stone. The two pointed trenches were initially spanned by a causeway at the gates, later one of the trenches was leveled and one of the causeways was replaced by a small wooden bridge, of which traces could still be found. The walls were broken by four gates, each flanked by two square towers attached to the inside. The north-east and south-west gates had two passages, while the south gate only had one. The corners of the fort were additionally reinforced with a trapezoidal corner tower attached to the inside of the wall; no remains of the towers in between could be observed.
During the investigations outside the north-east gate (porta decumana) in 1971, it was found that the road (via decumana) that led through this gate remained almost unchanged from the Flavian period until around 330. The buildings in Segontium were initially covered with tile roofs, the tiles were later mainly replaced by slate sheets. In the 4th century, the floors in the interior were partly paved with slate slabs.
Interior constructions
During the excavation of the Principia (camp commandant's office) in the center of the fort area between 1921 and 1923, Mortimer Wheeler was able to identify a total of four construction phases, which spanned the period from the early 2nd to the 4th century. In the almost completely preserved basement room under the flag sanctuary (sacellum) , where the troop treasury was once housed, 114 coins from the period from the middle imperial era to late antiquity were recovered. The cellar floor was obviously repaired again around AD 235.
In the praetentura of the fort, northwest of the Principia, there is a representative peristyle house (25 × 35 m) from the late Hadrian or early Cantonese period with its own bathroom and a kind of veranda, which was separated by a wall in the western part. An adobe wall could be observed in the south. The walls of the house had been built from mortar rubble. A total of 13 rooms could be detected. This building is either the accommodation of an officer for the supervision of the mining industry (procurator metallorum Augusti) or that of the fort commandant ( praetorium ) .
A building with two apses connected to the east was recognized as a storage bath ( thermal baths ). It is a row-type bath, with the warm and hot water basins housed in the two south-eastern apses. A drainage channel could be detected in the south, but no signs of a heating system could be made out. It is believed that the bathroom was never completed. Coins found in the rubble made it possible to date its origin between 350 and 400 years.
The investigated team barracks in the southeast corner come from the wood-earth phase of the fort (1st to 2nd century). Further investigations were not possible because they are partially covered by three modern buildings. From the 3rd century on, this part of the fort area was probably no longer built on.
garrison
Judging by the archaeological finds from inside the fort, was one here Cohors equitata quingenaria , a 500-strong, consisting of cavalry and infantry reinforcements cohort , as well as in the neighboring camps of Canovium were (Caerhun), Coelbren and Collen.
The following crew units are known for Segontium :
| Time position | Troop name | comment |
| 2nd to 3rd century AD |
Cohors Prima Sunicorum ("the first cohort of the Sunuker ") |
The presence of this cohort - presumably stationed in the camp from 120 AD - is documented by an inscription on an aqueduct from the time of Septimius Severus (188-209 AD). The unit was initially recruited from men from the Sunici (or Sunuci ) tribe , who settled in the province of Gallia Belgica on both banks of the Rhine. The tribe is mentioned by Gaius Iulius Caesar and by Tacitus in its histories . Possibly the unit was set up in 69 AD in the course of the rebellion of Iulius Civilis . The inscription was placed in honor of Septimius Severus and his sons Caracalla and Geta . The name Getas was later erased because after his assassination on behalf of Caracallas it fell to the Damnatio memoriae (non-commemoration). |
| 4th century? |
Segontienses ("the men of Segontium") |
This troop is only known from an entry in the Notitia Dignitatum . She appears on the Comes Illyrici's list of troops , and may have originally been stationed here. |
Vicus, places of worship and burial ground
Outside the fort, the remains of a civil settlement ( vicus ) , a temple and a Mithras shrine could be discovered. In addition, an ancient burial ground came to light. In Britain a total of five places of worship are known that were dedicated to the Persian god of light Mithras ; three stood on Hadrian's Wall, where altars donated by soldiers were also found, one in London (for civilians) and the one in Caernarfon. These temples were usually elongated and relatively low buildings that were supposed to represent the cave in which Mithras is said to have slaughtered the bull, which was considered a symbol of evil for the followers of this cult. The mithraium stood east of the fort, about 46 meters from Menai Strait, and was investigated in 1959. It had a long rectangular floor plan and measured 8.5 × 6.4 meters. Inside the cult room one came across low benches on both sides. The Mithras relief stood at the northeast end. The temple was built around the year 200 and destroyed in the early fourth century. Furthermore, a consecration altar for Minerva by Aurelius Sabinus was found, on which the following inscription was carved:
- Deae / Min (e) rvae / A (u) r (elius) Sabini / anus act (arius) / v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) m (erito)
- "For the goddess Minerva, the steward Aurelius Sabinus fulfilled his vows with joy and reverence."
The stone was found in the SE part of the fort area and was perhaps once set up either in the camp bath from the 3rd century (?) Or in the commandant's office.
Outpost
Approx. A late antique small fort from the 3rd century was found 150 m west of the fort in the Hen Waliau district (= old wall). Its area is now covered by a busy street, a petrol station and seven residential buildings from the 19th century. The excavations from 1952 to 1985 showed that the place had been inhabited since the 2nd century AD. The terrain here slopes slightly towards the Seiont, the east wall runs along a ridge, the west side lies directly on the river bank. From this elevated position, the crew had a good view of the estuary and the vicus of Segontium . Visible remains of the wall remained only east of the street and behind two houses. It most likely served as a fortified storage depot for the auxiliary fort. Others, on the other hand, interpret the fortification due to its altitude as a guard for the harbor or as a location for sling guns such as ballistae or onagri .
The defensive wall originally measured 72 m (NNW) × 52 m (SSE), the fenced area was 0.37 ha. The west wall could be traced completely, but the north and south walls only to 37 m and 55 m respectively. The wall thickness was 1.6 m, in places it was still preserved up to a height of 3.6 or 4.5 m. Only one gate could be proven on the south side - where the wall is partly still well preserved. Traces of a ditch or towers could not be found. Rows of scaffolding holes could still be seen in the solidly built defensive wall and the ribbons, typical of late antiquity, were built in to strengthen the outer cladding made of flat stones and bricks (see also castles on the Saxon coast ). Similar fortifications were also found in Cardiff and Holyhead, they probably date from the reign of Valentinian, around 365 AD.
Note
The remains of most of the fort buildings have been preserved and preserved. The excavation area has been redesigned into a display area with an attached visitor center, in which finds from the excavations are also exhibited. The museum mainly preserves the spectrum of finds from the excavation carried out by Mortimer Wheeler in the 1920s. The most significant finds consist of a gladius , a gilded onion-button fibula from the late 4th century AD discovered around 1820 , a large number of ceramics, coins and leather articles of daily use such as B. Shoes and the rest of a tarpaulin. Furthermore, a figurine of a Roman auxiliary soldiers is issued by a pioneer of experimental archeology and armorer ( Plattner ) of the Tower of London , H. Russell Robinson, was appointed. The archaeological park and its museum, managed by Cadw (Welsh Assembly Government's historic environment service), are located directly on Beddgelert-Road (A4085), the southeastern arterial road from Caernarfon, not far from the city center.
literature
- Christopher J. Arnold, Jeffrey L. Davies: Roman & early medieval Wales . Sutton Publ., Stroud 2000.
- Patrick J. Casey, Jeffrey L. Davies, John Gwynne Evans: Excavations at Segontium (Caernarfon) Roman Fort, 1975–1979. The Council for British Archeology, 1993, ISBN 1-872414-35-4 .
- Robin George Collingwood , Richard Pearson Wright: The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Vol. 1: Roger SO Tomlin: Inscriptions on Stone. New edition with addenda and corrigenda. Sutton, Gloucester 1995, ISBN 0-7509-0917-X .
- Robin George Collingwood: The Archeology of Roman Britain , Methuen, London 1930.
- RW Davies: The Roman Military Diet. In: Britannia. 2, 1971, ISSN 0068-113X , pp. 122-142.
- Guy De La Bedoyere, A Companion to Roman Britain . Tempus 1999.
- Geoff & Fran Doel, Terry Lloyd: King Arthur and his world. A journey through history, mythology and literature . 2nd edition, Sutton Verlag 2000, ISBN 3-89702-191-9 .
- R. Goodburn, MWC Hassall, Roger Tomlin: Roman Britain 1977, I. Sites Explored . In: Britannia 9, 1978, pp. 403-485.
- John Paxton Hall: Caer Llugwy (Bryn y Gefieliau) excavation of the Roman fort between Capel Curig and Bettws-y-Coed . Manchester 1923.
- Michael G. Jarrett: The Roman Frontier in Wales . 2nd revised edition, Cardiff 1969.
- Michael Jonathan Taunton Lewis: Temples in Roman Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1966.
- Frances Lynch : Gwynedd. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1995, ISBN 0-11-701574-1 ( A guide to ancient and historic Wales ).
- Victor Erle Nash-Williams: The Roman Frontier in Wales. 2nd edition, revised under the direction of Michael G. Jarrett. University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1969, pp. 59-64.
- PK Bailie Reynolds: Excavations on the site of the Roman fort of Kanovium at Caerhun, Caernarvonshire . Cardiff 1938.
- Chris Scarre: Chronicle of the Roman Emperors. The reign-by-reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome. Thames & Hudson, London 1995, ISBN 0-500-05077-5 .
- Malcolm Todd : Segontium. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , Sp. 341.
- Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler (Ed.): Segontium and the Roman occupation of Wales. Honorable Society of Cymmrodorion, London 1924.
Web links
- Esmonde Cleary, A., DARMC, R. Talbert, S. Vanderbilt, R. Warner, S. Gillies, T. Elliott: Places: 79678 (Segontium) . Pleiades. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
- Segontium Roman Fort & Museum
- Aerial view of the fort area
- Segontium - National Trust
- 3D animation of the fort
- Reconstruction of the fort
- Segontium Roman Fort, illustrations
- The Caernarfon Project
- Area of the small fort in Hen Waliau
Individual evidence
- ^ R. Davies: 1971.
- ↑ CIL 7, 1164 = The Roman inscriptions of Britain (RIB) 1, 2264: Num (inibus) Aug (ustorum) / Imp (erator) Caesar M (arcus) / Aurel (ius) Antoninus / Pius Fe [l] ix Aug (ustus) Arab (icus) / [...] IX : "To the divine spirit of Augusti, Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus Arabicus [...] nine [miles from / to Canovium?]."
- ^ Doel, Doel, Lloyd: 2000, pp. 17-18
- ↑ Doel, Doel, Lloyd: 2000, pp. 17-18 and 27
- ↑ R. Goodburn; 1977, p. 404.
- ↑ Tacitus, Historien 4, 66, CIL 7, 142 = The Roman inscriptions of Britain 1, 430 [Imp (eratores) Caes (ares) L (ucius)] Sept (imius) Severus Pius Per [tinax et M (arcus) A ] urel (ius) Antoninus [Pius Aug (usti)] et P (ublius) Sept (imius) Geta nob (ilissimus) [[C [aes (ar)]]] [rivosaq] uaeductium vetus [tate conla] bs (os ) coh (orti) I Sunic (orum) restit (uerunt) […] ARE […] […] NL […] "The emperors Caesares Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius, the Augusti, [and Publius Septimius Geta, the noblest Caesar], have restored the canal of the aqueduct for the first cohort of the Sunici, which had fallen into ruin due to its age [...] ”. RIB 430
- ↑ Notitia dignitatum, occ. V.
- ^ AE 1924, 93 = The Roman inscriptions of Britain 1, 429.
- ↑ RCAHMW Caernarvonshire Inventory II (1960), 164, no. 1128 and Boyle: Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 38 (1991), pp. 191-212; RG Collingwood: 1930, p. 54.