Castra ad Herculem

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Castra ad Herculem
limes Pannonian Limes
section 3
Dating (occupancy) End of the 3rd century
until around AD 433 at the latest.
Type Late antique fortress
unit Auxilia Herculensia with Equites Dalmatae
size 133 × 340 m
Construction stone
State of preservation Remains clearly visible in the area
place Pilismarót
Geographical location 47 ° 46 '54.2 "  N , 18 ° 52' 45.5"  E
height 141  m
Previous Pilismarót-Malompatak Castle (northeast)
Esztergom-Hideglelőskereszt Castle (northwest)
Subsequently Small fort Visegrád-Gizellamajor (southeast)
The Limes Pannonicus on the Pilis Mountains
The village, known as Maroth in the 18th century, on a map of the Josephinian land survey from 1782 and 1785 . The fortified hill used for agriculture is clearly recognizable.

Castra ad Herculem was a late Roman military camp which was responsible for defending and monitoring a section of the Danube in the Pannonian Limes ( Limes Pannonicus ) near the Danube . The river formed the Roman frontier in large sections. The facility is located on the "Kishegy" (Small Mountain) in the area of ​​the village Pilismarót , in Komárom-Esztergom County in Hungary . A partially mounted crew consisting of two units was stationed in the fortification.

Location and research history

The weir system was built around 1300 meters south of the Danube on the oval hill called Kishegy at the foot of the Pilis Mountains and was located on an important trunk road leading to the Budapest Castle (Castra Aquincum) . The route through today's village Pilismarót, in the southeast of which the military base was located, still follows the ancient route. From Ad Herculem , the crew had a line of sight to some of the mid-imperial and late Roman watchtowers standing directly on the Danube. After the construction of the nearby north-eastern Valentine Danube fortress Pilismarót-Malompatak, this connection could also be established.

The fort area was used for agriculture for a long time. In 1906 the first excavations took place under Gábor Finály . The fortress has not yet been fully excavated.

Building history

The oval-elongated fortification, measuring around 133 × 340 meters, has the restless floor plan typical of late ancient Roman military buildings and was probably built in the late 3rd century, possibly during the first years of the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284 to 305). This consideration is based on the stipulation that the mention of the fort in the Itinerarium Antonini , a list of imperial streets that was created under Diocletian between 285 and 290 AD, is not a later addition. Some researchers have objected that the Ad Herculem of the time of Diocletian could not be identical to the ruins visible today and suggested a later dating.

The fortress follows the shape of the hill on which it stands, there was no moat. As the findings on a longer section of the defensive wall for Finály showed, the system was only subsequently equipped with a larger number of intermediate towers in the Valentine period. The ground plan of these towers protrudes in a semicircle from the defensive wall, while behind the wall it is shaped at right angles and only protrudes slightly into the interior of the fort. The flanks of the towers of the fort can therefore be described as relatively short, which gives the floor plan a very compact appearance. Research also refers to this type of intermediate towers as horseshoe towers . Since no traces of older predecessor towers were observed during Finaly's excavations, which may be due to the excavation-technical possibilities around 1900, essential approaches and questions of a more precise dating of the fort remain open for science and, in comparison with other late antique fortresses, also feed doubts about the time Assignment of the intermediate towers through the old excavations. The excavator uncovered eight intermediate towers on the section of the wall, which was checked by Finály and was partially 2 to 3 meters high and was 1.8 meters thick. Brick stamps found during this excavation testify to building work under Valentinian I.

Interior fittings could not be determined when the facility was founded. They were probably made of wood. It was not until the end of the 4th century that a rectangular, 33 × 27 meter large granary ( Horreum ) with the typical stone pillars was built near the north wall inside the fort. The walls of this building were 1.16 meters thick. Two smaller rooms, one behind the other, were leaned against the east wall of this horreum, to which an elongated one-room building was attached, which, like all the other structures found inside the fort, was oriented precisely in a north-south direction. An apse was added to the northern front of this building. Only a few meters to the east was a somewhat smaller, further hall with an apse. The archaeologists Laszlo Barkóczi and Ágnes Salamon were able to provide evidence of the temporal position of this even typical overall building complex. Other late Roman garrisons with the grouping of a horreum and two apsidal halls are the Limes fort Tokod and the inland fort Keszthely-Fenékpuszta on the southern shore of Lake Balaton .

In the absence of complete exposure, no gate of the facility is known to date, so that no statement can be made about the number of inlets.

  • Pilismarót with the fort hill in the middle

  • Plan of the Limes Fort Castra ad Herculem

Late Roman burial ground

In the only partially cut grave field, a gold coin from the time of Emperor Honorius , which dates to the last years of the 4th century, was found. A find object of daily use was a bronze weaving utensil, which also came from the late 4th century and which Barkóczi described as a "rasp".

Troop

Legionsziegelei Dömös: Oven I - probably the older of the two brick kilns with a rectangular perforated barn

In Castra ad Herculem the cavalry squadrons of the equites Dalmatae lay together with the auxilia Herculensia , an auxiliary infantry force. Both units are mentioned in the Notitia dignitatum , a Roman state manual for Ad Herculem that was probably written between 425 and 433 . Another inscribed evidence on site was provided by an altar of the equites Dalmatae that was formerly set up in Pilismarót and is now kept in the depot of the Balassa Bálint Múzeum in Esztergom .

[D] eo Mart [i]
pro salute dd (ominorum) nn (ostrorum)
Aauugg (ustorum) et Caess (arum)
eqq (uites) Dalmat (a) e
s (ub) c (ura) Luciani pr (a) ep (ositi)
v (otum) p (osuerunt)

Translation: "For God Mars, for the salvation of our lords, the Augusti and Caesars, the Dalmatian squadron under the leadership of their commander, the Praepositus Lucianus, erected this altar following their vows."

Another andesite inscription fragment with a dedication to Jupiter, which was discovered in the castle in 1934, is now in the depot of the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest.

Legion brick Dömös

During the first half of the 2nd century a brick factory of the Legio I Adiutrix was set up in Dömös on the Danube Bend, a little west of Pilismarot, which was operated by soldiers in the Antonine era. This is evidenced by the brick stamps of the Legio I Adiutrix stationed in Aquincum ( Budapest ). Two brick kilns were uncovered from this facility in 1987 and 1988 under the direction of Márta H. Kelemen in the center of the municipality of Dömös. The spectrum of finds of the ovens ranges from ceramic fragments to some everyday objects and animal bones to the stamped bricks. The most important find for dating was a bronze coinage from the reign of Emperor Mark Aurel (161–180), which dates from 169/170 , in Ofen I. The coin serving as an ante quem terminus was discovered in the topping-up layer in the perforated tennis court after the stove was abandoned. The location was one of the drafts. Products from this brick factory were also found in the southwestern town of Drostdorf -Hosszúrétek, which is south of Gran .

Limes course between Castra ad Herculem to the Visegrád – Gizellamajor fort

Traces of the Limes structures between Pilismarót and the Gizellamajor district belonging to Visegrád.
route Name / place Description / condition
3 Dömös-Tófenék (Burgus Solva 20) At Dömös-Tófenék, Ibolya Sellye (1913–1995) examined the remains of the Middle Roman watchtower (also Dömös-Tófenék dűlő or, in earlier counts, watchtower 18 ) in the immediate vicinity of the river, which had already been partially destroyed by the Danube . Two rooms were connected to the preserved 16-meter-long western wall. The found material, ceramics, was assigned to the period of the 2nd to 3rd century. It may have been built during the reign of Emperor Commodus (180–192). Today nothing can be seen at this point.
3 Dömös-Kövespatak (Burgus Solva 21)
The watchtower based on the findings from the 1959 excavation
As the finds from the closer and wider surroundings lying below the Roman horizon showed, there was already a settlement and a grave at this place in the early Iron Age . The Roman Burgus 21 (also known as watchtower 19) was first discovered during a field inspection in 1955 and was completely excavated in 1959. During the time of its excavation, it was located at the mouth of the Köves brook, directly on its southeast bank. The path along the Danube was about 20 meters away from the site. During the excavation it was found that only the lowest stone layers of the tower walls had been preserved. Nevertheless, important construction details could be clarified. The building had a square floor plan. Its dimensions (clear width in brackets) on the southeast wall were 10.90 (8.87) meters, on the northeast wall 10.90 (8.90) meters, on the northwest wall 10.95 (8.86) meters and on the Southwest wall 10.95 (8.95) meters. The wall was one meter thick, the foundation was five to ten centimeters thicker and had a height of 0.98 to one meter. The lowest row of stones in the foundation was laid dry. Above it was a 0.45 meter thick layer of cast masonry ( Opus caementitium ), the sides of which were plastered with mortar. The stone bowl in front of the cast masonry was executed in Opus incertum . The Rising Opus incertum also shows beyond the area of ​​the plastered layer , but here no traces of plastering could be detected on the outer walls of the tower. The building consisted of gray andesite , its high-quality mortar was heavily thickened with gravel.

The entrance at ground level was on the south-west side facing away from the Danube. The imprints of two threshold stones had been preserved from him during the excavation over a length of 1.50 meters. The inside of the tower, filled with fire debris and remains of the charred roof structure, consisted of an uneven, tamped and scorched floor, which still had remains of a terrazzo floor of inferior quality. This walking horizon seems to have been the only one that the building possessed. In the northeast half of the interior of the tower, 2 to 2.5 meters from the north wall, the remains of a 1.90 meter long and 5 to 10 centimeter thick, largely destroyed mud wall were found. This ran almost parallel to the north wall and was set on the Roman floor level.

In front of the late antique building, at a distance of 12.60 meters (northeast), 10.32 meters (southeast) and 11.15 meters (southwest), there was originally a ditch that was originally 4.20 to 4.92 meters wide and around 2 meters deep and rounded Corners. Smoothed ceramics and stamped bricks were missing. The sparse finds included a heavily worn centenionalis of Emperor Valentinians I, gray ceramic shards from the 4th century and the fragment of a green-glazed jug as well as iron nails. The nails were found in the center of the burgus and gave an indication of the construction of the roof. This must have been designed as a tent roof over the square tower, with the iron nails holding the pyramid-shaped tip together. Post-Roman pottery shards with wavy ribbon decoration were found above the rubble of the burnt Burgus, which date from the migration period.

3 Dömös ferry (Burgus Solva 22)
In the foreground Dömös, on the other bank, in the Barbaricum , the Sankt-Michaels-Berg. To the right of the southern bank was the Burgus near the ship station.
Sándor Soproni carried out smaller test excavations at Dömös -Alsóföldek, southwest of the ship station (Hajóállomás) and 20 meters west of federal road 11, at the mouth of the Szőkeforrás brook at the late antique Burgus Solva 22 in November 1955. At that time, the outer edge of the south wall of the Burgus was exposed to a length of two meters. The Roman running horizon in late antiquity was reached at a depth of 0.95 meters. The ancient ground was badly burned and covered with a very thick layer of roof tiles and rubble. The opus incertum masonry consisted of the local andesite and high-quality mortar. Soproni assessed the tower size based on the existing rubble at around 10 × 10 meters. There were valentinian brick stamp fragments of Terentianus tribunus , Lupicinus tribunus , Olimpus tribunus as well as a fourth stamp, which bore the blurred letters I and P , but no ceramic decorated with smoothing. The name of the Tribune Olimpus can be read retrograde on the brick .
3 Visegrád – Gizellamajor To the southeast of the last castle are the remains of the Visegrád – Gizellamajor castle that can be visited .

Monument protection

The monuments of Hungary are protected under the Act No. LXIV of 2001 by being entered in the register of monuments. Castra ad Herculem as well as all other Limes facilities belong to the nationally valuable cultural property as archaeological sites according to § 3.1. According to § 2.1, all finds are state property, regardless of where they are found. Violations of the export regulations are considered a criminal offense or a crime and are punished with imprisonment for up to three years.

See also

literature

  • László Barkóczi: Késõrómai temetõ Pilismaróton (A late Roman burial ground in Pilismarót.) . In Folia Archaeologica , 12, 1960, pp. 111-132 (in Hungarian).
  • Ulrich Brandl: Card 6: Brick stamp distribution of the Legio II Adiutrix. In: Investigations into the brick temples of Roman legions in the north-western provinces of the Imperium Romanum. Catalog of the Julius B. Fritzemeier Collection. P. 68. No. 7.
  • István Erdélyi , Ágnes Salamon : Report on the excavations in Pilismarót, Öregek-dülő (1973–1974). In: Communications from the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. 10/11, 1980/1981, pp. 147-161.
  • Gábor Finály : Castra ad Herculem. In: Archaeologiai Értesítő. 27, 1907, pp. 45-47 (in Hungarian).
  • Jenő Fitz (Ed.): The Roman Limes in Hungary (= Bulletin du musée roi Saint Etienne. Series A, Volume 22). Fejér Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Székesfehérvár 1976.
  • I. Pap: Investigation of the Roman and Avar period anthropological material in the Pilismarót burial ground , Öregek-dűlő (1973–1974). In: Communications from the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences , 10/11, 1980/81. Pp. 163-182.
  • Manfred Philipp: Fort baths in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire , dissertation, text volume I, Innsbruck 1999, p. 235.
  • Sándor Soproni : New research on the Limes stretch between Esztergom and Visegrád. In: Roman frontier studies 1979. 12th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies. BAR Oxford 1980. ISBN 0860540804 . Pp. 671-679.
  • Sándor Soproni: The last decades of the Pannonian Limes. CH Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3406304532 .
  • Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akademiai Kiado. Budapest 1978. ISBN 9630513072 .
  • Zsolt Visy , Endre Tóth , Denes Gabler, Lazlo Kocsis, Peter Kovacs u. a .: From Augustus to Attila - life on the Hungarian Danube Limes. Writings of the Landesmuseum Aalen 53. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2000. ISBN 3806215413 .
  • Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Endre Tóth: The late Roman military architecture in Transdanubia . In Archaeologiai Értesitő 134 , 2009. p. 42.
  2. ↑ a b c d Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 . P. 71.
  3. ↑ Endre Tóth: The late Roman military architecture in Transdanubia . In Archaeologiai Értesitő 134 , 2009, p. 35 (footnote).
  4. ↑ Endre Tóth: The late Roman military architecture in Transdanubia . In Archaeologiai Értesitő 134 , 2009, p. 43.
  5. ↑ Endre Tóth: The late Roman military architecture in Transdanubia . In Archaeologiai Értesitő 134 , 2009, p. 50.
  6. ↑ Lazslo Barkóczi: Késõrómai temetõ Pilismaróton (A late Roman burial ground in Pilismarót.) . In Folia Archaeologica 12 , 1960, p. 113. (in Hungarian)
  7. ↑ Endre Tóth: The late Roman military architecture in Transdanubia . In Archaeologiai Értesitő 134 , 2009, p. 42. (footnote)
  8. ↑ AE 1990, 00822
  9. ↑ Literature: RIU 3 No. 802
  10. ↑ Legion brick Dömös at 47 ° 45 '47.61 "  N , 18 ° 54' 42.61"  E ; Márta H. Kelemen: A legio I adiutrix téglavetõje Dömösön - The brick factory of the Legio I Adiutrix in Dömös. In Archaeologiai Értesitő 121–122 , 1994–1995, pp. 97–114; here: p. 97.
  11. ↑ Márta H. Kelemen: A legio I adiutrix téglavetõje Dömösön - The brick factory of the Legio I Adiutrix in Dömös. In Archaeologiai Értesitő 121–122 , 1994–1995, pp. 97–114.
  12. ↑ Route = numbering follows Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary (Theiss 1988) and Zsolt Visy: The ripa Pannonica in Hungary. (Akadémiai Kiadó 2003)
  13. ↑ a b Jenő Fitz (ed.): The Roman Limes in Hungary. Fejér Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, 1976. p. 61
  14. ^ Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest 1978, ISBN 963-05-1307-2 . P. 38.
  15. ^ Sándor Soproni: The late Roman Limes between Esztergom and Szentendre. Akademiai Kiado. Budapest 1978. ISBN 963-05-1307-2 . Pp. 49-50.
  16. ^ Sándor Soproni: The last decades of the Pannonian Limes . Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30453-2 , p. 44.
  17. ^ Sándor Soproni: The last decades of the Pannonian Limes . CH Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30453-2 , p. 30 and 44.
  18. ^ Sándor Soproni: The last decades of the Pannonian Limes . CH Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30453-2 , p. 50.
  19. ^ Zsolt Visy: The ripa Pannonica in Hungary. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 2003. ISBN 963-05-7980-4 . P. 51.
  20. ↑ Kastell Visegrad Gizellamajor at 47 ° 45 '39.3 "  N , 18 ° 55' 50.09"  O .