Tillibari Castle

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Tillibari Castle
Alternative name Tillibari ,
Castra Tillibarensis
limes Limes Tripolitanus
(back line)
section Djebel Dahar
Dating (occupancy) Flavian or Hadrianic
Type Cohort fort
size 157 m × 124 m (= 1.95 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation completely destroyed, the area is now a restricted military area
place Remada
Geographical location 32 ° 18 '50.1 "  N , 10 ° 23' 52.8"  E
height 301  m
Previous Tentheos
(rear Limes line) (southeast)
Subsequently Small fort Henchir Medeina
(rear Limes line) (north)
Upstream Praesidium Si Aioun (southwest)
The small fort (left) in the Limes Tripolitanus network

The Tillibari Fort ( Latin Castra Tillibarensis ) was a Roman military camp whose crew was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on a section of the Limes Tripolitanus , the Limes Tillibarensis , in the province of Africa proconsularis , later Tripolitania . The border fortifications formed a deep system of forts and military posts. The garrison, which was completely destroyed in the First World War , was located south of the old town center of Remada near the route R112, which passed to the west. The city of Tataouine , Kebili Governorate , southern Tunisia is located around 75 kilometers to the south . Today the former fort area is a restricted military area.

location

The complex, which is surrounded by an arid Rhantherium steppe, is located on the western edge of the flattened layered landscape of southern Dahar . The fort site rises on an eroded stratum, which, especially in the northeast, is still partially bounded by the fans of some deeply buried dry valleys. Wadi Knibitt delimits the garrison in the south-west, west and north-west, and Wadi Semna in the south-east, east and north-east.

Research history

The first reference to a Roman fort comes from the year 1894. The ruins were noticed by the artillery lieutenant Henri Lecoy de la Marche during an archaeological expedition. In 1905 and 1907 he carried out even smaller investigations himself. Between March and April 1914, the facility was partially excavated by the French officer Raymond Donau (1862–1930). The funds for these studies were provided by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , Paris and the Fondation Eugène Piot . However, Donaus research was interrupted by the beginning of the First World War. During the war, the French army completely leveled the Roman ruins when building a barracks.

Donaus' sometimes confusing descriptions, the few imprecise excavation sketches and three poorly preserved photographs remained unpublished until 1975. They are the only known documents that describe the fort square. In 1959, vacationers reported that the military decorated the barracks with ancient epigraphic evidence and processed stone . In 1968 and 1970 archaeological investigations were carried out again in Remada, but there were no more recognizable traces of the fort.

Building history

Dating

The founding time of the Tillibari garrison is not certain. The period of the Flavian emperors (69–96) is set as the earliest period . At that time the Romans began to secure the connecting routes in southern Numidia with forts. When it was built, the fortification was close to or directly on the northern border of Phasania . Coins from the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161) and his wife Faustina the Younger come from barrows (tumuli) that bordered the camp village ( vicus ) belonging to the fort . Together with possibly even older coins, they represent the latest point in time at which the fort must have been built. Findings from other types of garrison in Numidia suggest an emergence during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138).

Enclosure

The rectangular complex was 157 × 124 meters (= 1.95 hectares) and large parts of it remained unexplored. The surrounding wall, which was still two to three meters high in places, had rounded corners (playing card shape), was up to 2.47 meters thick and consisted of two-shell mortared masonry ( opus implectum ) that was filled with rubble stones and sand. The surrounding wall was broken through on all four sides by a gate flanked by two towers. Danube found that the wall had improvements and significant repairs. With its long and narrow sides, the fort was oriented almost exactly to the cardinal points, with the partially ditched main gate, the obviously double-lane Porta praetoria facing east and the single-lane Porta decumana , the rear gate, opening to the west.

Remnants of the wall on the inside of the north and south gates indicate that the fort was originally equipped with rectangular gate towers. In late antiquity , several renovation phases took place on all gates. Initially, U-shaped gate towers replaced the previous rectangular predecessors at the north and south gates. At the south gate, these new towers protruded around 3.60 meters from the connection of the surrounding wall. They were solidly built from hewn stone and were plastered with lime. The foundation base of the towers protruded another 0.15 to 0.20 meters. The passages of the two newly built gates were much narrower than in the middle imperial period. The two differently designed Zwingerhöfe, which were in front of the western and southern access, can be assigned to a third construction phase. At the south gate, the kennel wall started on both sides of the surrounding wall and encompassed the entire gate. At the Porta decumana , the kennel wall connected to the northwest corner of the northern gate tower and ended south of the south tower at the surrounding wall. In the period that followed, further changes were made to the gates. The passage of the north gate was first narrowed and then finally walled up. Instead of a passage, there was now an outwardly forward angular tower or wall construction that attached to the two U-shaped towers.

Interior development

The internal structure of the fortification resembled the largely standardized scheme that had been developed for stone forts in the first century AD. At the intersection of the Via praetoria coming from the main gate and the two Viae principalis , which led to the gates on the flanks of the garrison, were the Principia . Donau laid search cuts over the principal streets and the Via Decumana , which reached from the staff building to the rear gate. He also researched parts of the Principia itself using probes and very detailed sections . This building evidently showed serious deviations from the usual standard scheme of comparable buildings. A partially exposed suite of rooms in this building was oriented towards the intersection of the main streets of the camp. The largest exposed space had a rectangular basic structure. In front of its rear, western end, the floor had been raised by means of a layer of earth. On this raised floor level, three small columns also delimited the room to the west. Another room opened behind a door in the west wall. Here stood a column that was slightly offset from the center of the room. In another room there were remains of the wall plaster with graffiti . Danube did not distinguish any construction phases in his excavation sketch and what little excavated was far from being able to form a concrete picture of the Principia . After reviewing the historical documents, the archaeologist Pol Trousset assumed that the Danube had mixed more than five construction phases.

A building inscription from 179 indicates the renovation of a dilapidated building:

[Imp (eratori) Caes (ari) L (ucio)] Sep [timio S] ev [ero Per] -
[ti] naci Aug (usto) Pi [o] Parthico [Ara] -
[bico P] arthic [o A] d [ia] benico p (atri) p (atriae)
[trib (unicia) pot (estate)] V c [o (n) s (uli) II imp (eratori) VIIII] Q (uinto) Anicio Fausto
[leg (ato)] Aug (usti) p [r] o pr (aetore) c (larissimo) v (iro) aedem
[an] norum vetust [at] e dila-
[psa] ma solo restituit et per [f] ecit
[---] M (arcus) Valerius L [epi] dus praef (ectus) coh (ortis) II [Fl (aviae)] Afr (orum)

Translation: “To the emperor Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax Augustus Pius, the conqueror of the Parthians , the Arabs and the Parthian Adiabene , father of the fatherland, bearer of tribucinic power for the fifth time , consul for the second time , emperor for the ninth time. Quintus Anicius Faustus , governor of the emperor, senator, has completely renovated and completed the building, which had decayed through age, [under] Marcus Valerius Lepidus, prefect of the second partially mounted cohort of Africans 'the Flavian'. "

Troop

For the garrison town of Tillibari, the building inscription from 179 shows that the Cohors II Flavia Afrorum equitata has been a regular troop since at least the Severan period. The building inscription of the upstream Praesidium Si Aioun , dating from 197/198, also attests to the troops. As can be seen from the Notitia dignitatum , which probably originated between AD 425 and 433 , parts of this unit were possibly still in Tillibari at least in the late 4th century. The size of the fort testifies to the importance of this rear garrison site for the upstream section of the Tripolitan Limes.

The following commanders of the Cohors II Flavia Afrorum equitata from Tillibari are known:

Surname rank Time position comment
Marcus Valerius Lepidus Praefectus cohortis 179 directed construction work at the Tillibari garrison site
Aelius Fortis Praepositus cohortis
and Decurio alae 		197/198 supervised construction work on the Si Aioun praesidium
? Praepositus limitis Tillibarensis late 4th / early 5th century Secundaeforum ; correct probably: Secundanorum or, according to another reading: Secundae Afrorum in castris Tillibarensibus (Notitia dignitatum)

Camp village

The investigations of the Danube suggest a camp village belonging to the garrison. In this way he was able to examine parts of a separate, around ten hectare enclosure that also included the fort. Danube cut this fortification in several places and found that it was dry masonry with an earth wall on the inside. The wall could be defended from there. The defense of the vicus was straight for long stretches, but then turned east of the fort in a wide arc at right angles. There was a very clear bend north of the garrison. About 220 meters northeast of the fort, the wall met the necropolis of the camp village. Overall, the wall apparently followed a structure that was probably adapted to the camp village. A tombstone from Tillibari shows at least one female resident.

Necropolis

Three barrows were discovered around 200 meters northeast of the fort. At 240 meters, Tumulus B was the furthest away. Tumulus B formed an irregular round in the ground plan, which was set from unworked stone blocks. The hill itself was made of earth and stones. Inside was a square burial chamber measuring 4.27 × 4.27 meters. The chamber had been built from neatly set, smoothly polished white stone. Two rectangular, parallel chambers (2.45 × 0.99 meters) bordered on this vault to the east, some of which had collapsed and contained several bones. In the vicinity of the burial mound, the Danube also found traces of cremations with corresponding small finds. Tumulus C was 22 meters south of this group of graves, and cremation graves were also found here. The same applied to Tumulus D , a little further south , in which a large skeleton lay in the middle on the natural ground. Another necropolis that Danube discovered 500 meters northeast of the fort does not seem to have been investigated.

Finds

In addition to stone objects, an abundance of ceramics came to light during the excavations. It came from amphorae, dishes, floor coverings and lamps. In addition, the abundant metal objects were also interesting. In addition to jewelry objects, there were also furniture fittings, the rest of a silver plate and building supplies. Animal bones were also found in all excavation areas. These included the remains of wild boars.

Among other things, brick stamps of the Coh (ors secunda) Fl (auia) Af (rorum) belonged to the militarily relevant finds . The same stamps were also found on the small fort in Tisavar .

Lost property

Roman finds from the excavation at the fort are now in the National Museum of Bardo , Tunis .

literature

  • Henri Marie Albert Lecoy de la Marche: Recherche d'une voie romaine du golfe de Gabès vers Rhadamès . In: Bulletin du Comité des Travaux Historiques , 1894, pp. 389-413; here: pp. 405–406.
  • Charles Diehl : L'Afrique byzantine, histoire de la domination byzantine en Afrique (533–709) , Leroux, Paris 1896, p. 230.
  • Jean Hilaire: Note sur la voie stratégique romaine qui longeait la frontière militaire de la Tripolitaine . In: Bulletin du Comité des Travaux Historiques , 1901, pp. 95-105; here: p. 104.
  • Raymond Donau: Recherches archéologiques effectuées par MM. Les Officiers des Territoires du Sud tunisien en 1907 et pendant le 1st semestre de 1908 . In: Bulletin du Comité des Travaux Historiques , 1909, pp. 30–50; here: p. 39.
  • René Cagnat : L'armée romaine d'Afrique et l'occupation militaire de l'Afrique sous les empereurs . Paris 1892, p. 530.
  • Pol Trousset: Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. ( Etudes d'Antiquites africaines ). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 . P. 114.
  • Maurice Euzennat , Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Danube (mars-avril 1914). Institut d'archéologie méditerranéenne, Aix-en-Provence 1975; as a contribution also in: Africa 5–6, 1978, pp. 111–190.
  • David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 90; E-book with identical content: ISBN 0-203-48101-1 ; the number of pages in the e-book is different for technical reasons.

Remarks

  1. ^ Itinerarium Antonini 75, 5, 6
  2. ↑ Notitia dignitatum occ. 25, 15, 33
  3. ↑ Michael Mackensen : forts and military posts of the late 2nd and 3rd centuries on the "Limes Tripolitanus" . In: Der Limes 2 (2010), pp. 20–24; here: p. 22.
  4. ^ Georges Viennot-Bourgin : Reports du sol et de la végétation. Masson et Cie, Paris 1960, p. 172.
  5. ↑ Helmut Leippert, Hans Zeidler : Vegetation Geography - North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria) 32 ° −37 ° 30′N, 6 ° −12 ° E (= Africa maps , series N, supplement 7), Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin / Stuttgart 1984 , ISBN 3-443-28336-5 , p. 53.
  6. ↑ Wadi Knibitt at 32 ° 16 '55.01 "  N , 10 ° 17' 47.46"  O ; Wadi Knibitt at 32 ° 21 '44.21 "  N , 10 ° 23' 48.28"  O
  7. ↑ Wadi Semna at 32 ° 15 '7.17 "  N , 10 ° 23' 24.59"  E ; Wadi Semna at 32 ° 20 ′ 38.86 "  N , 10 ° 26 ′ 6.07"  E
  8. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 112; David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 90.
  9. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 112.
  10. ^ A b David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 90.
  11. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 114.
  12. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). Institut d'archéologie méditerranéenne, Aix-en-Provence 1975
  13. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 113.
  14. ^ Egon Schallmayer : The Limes. Story of a border . 2nd edition, Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-48018-8 , p. 30.
  15. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 80.
  16. ^ Trousset: Recherches sur le limes tripolitanus. Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2222015898 , pp. 116–118; here: p. 118.
  17. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 91.
  18. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 119.
  19. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 92.
  20. ↑ AE 1975, 00870 .
  21. ↑ AE 1909, 104 ; Epigraphic database Heidelberg with picture . The inscription is in the National Museum of Bardo in Tunis: Zeïneb Benzina Ben Abdallah: Catalog des inscriptions latines païennes du Musée du Bardo. Rome 1986, no.22.
  22. ↑ Notitia dignitatum occ. 25, 33 ( Comes Africae ) and occ. 31, 21 ( Dux provinciae Tripolitanae )
  23. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 188
  24. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Batsford, London 1995, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 221.
  25. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 123.
  26. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 124.
  27. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 125.
  28. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here pp. 128–129.
  29. ^ Maurice Euzennat, Pol Trousset: Le camp de Remada, fouilles inédites du Commandant Donau (mars-avril 1914). In: Africa 5-6, 1978, pp. 111-190; here p. 127.