Small fort Benia bel Recheb

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Small fort Benia bel Recheb
Alternative name Augemmi?
Benia des Ouled-Mahdi
limes Limes Tripolitanus
(back line)
section Djebel Dahar
Dating (occupancy) 4th year A.D.
Type Quadriburgium
size 40 m × 40 m (= 0.16 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation Remnants of the enclosure are still clearly visible
place Wadi Bel Recheb / Ksar El Mhadha
Geographical location 33 ° 11 '38.2 "  N , 10 ° 10' 32.9"  E hf
Previous Wadi-Zraia-Clausura
(rear Limes line) (south)
Backwards Talalati Fort (southeast)
Upstream Centenarium Tibubuci (west)
The small fort in the Limes Tripolitanus network
Plan of the small fort with some of the dimensions made by Raymond Donau as well as the naming of the towers made by him

The small fort Benia bel Recheb is a late Roman military camp , the crew of which was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on a section of the Limes Tripolitanus in the province of Tripolitania . The border fortifications formed a deep system of forts and military posts. The fortification secured the Djeffara plain, the fertile coastal land of the province in the east, from attackers from the desert region and at the same time controlled the trade in goods for Rome. In addition, the crew was responsible for controlling the barrages (Clausurae) on Djebel Demmer to the south. The ruined fort, plundered by stone robbery, is located on the upper reaches of the Wadi Bel Recheb between the ridges of the Dahar mountain range southwest of the village of Ksar El Mhadha in southern Tunisia , Medenine governorate . In particular, the remains of the surrounding wall have been partially preserved.

location

The small fort, built on an impressive central slope, dominated the western entrance to the fertile valley basin, in which the Wadi Bel Recheb begins. There an important pass road ran over the mountain ranges of the Dahar into the rich coastal zone of the province. In the actual Wadi Bel Recheb, which begins east of the small fort Benia bel Recheb, there are two further military sites that are important for the control of the region. The western end of the valley was monitored by the small fort Tisavar , from which the immediate border sector of the Limes Tripolitanus along the Eastern Sand Sea was controlled. Between this border fort and the fortification at the upper end of the dry valley , the Roman military built another military base on the edge of the wadi, the small fort Bir Mahalla .

From the location of the small fort Benia bel Recheb, the garrison could see most of the spacious valley floor in the middle of the Dahar. To the southwest of the fortification, the most important main branches of the dry rivers converging there connected at the valley entrance and exit , in order to flow westward into the desert.

Research history

The small system was first described and measured by the French explorer Paul Blanchet (1870–1900) and the French officers Raymond Donau (1862–1930) and Le Boeuf. In 1903, the researchers noted that the fortification's good state of preservation had already attracted visitors, but between the construction stages of 1891 and 1901, destruction could be determined, which continues to the present day in the form of massive stone robbery.

Building history

According to the British archaeologist David Mattingly , the rectangular fort, which is just over 40 x 40 meters (= 0.16 hectares), has many similarities with the likewise late antique Benia Guedah Ceder fort . Benia bel Recheb has the typical 4th century design of a quadriburgium. Its importance as a garrison place is, however, much less than that of the Talalati fort , which was built in AD 263 and was 0.86 hectares in size. Talalati was an important rear position in the eastern area of ​​the Dahar. His parent unit was the Cohors VIII fida equitata , which was responsible for monitoring an entire section of the Limes Tripolitanus , the Limes Talalatensis . This also included the small fort Benia bel Recheb, which can perhaps be seen as an outpost of the Talalati fort. The ostraca from the Gholaia / Bu Njem border fort in Libya , dating back to the third century AD, confirm the involvement of a regular garrison in routine police duties and the surveillance of civilians.

Enclosing walls

Condition of the enclosing wall with corner and intermediate tower before the First World War

The enclosing walls of the small complex consist of carefully hewn rectangular blocks, which may have come from a quarry that was located further downstream in the same valley and was called "Reha Bel Recheb". The cuboids have a uniform height of 0.49 meters, are between 0.50 and 0.60 meters wide and between 0.80 and one meter, maximum 1.50 meters, long. The high-quality craftsmanship had contributed a lot to the good preservation of the building into the early 20th century. The investigations presented by the French archaeologist Jules Toutain (1865–1961) in 1903 showed that the defensive wall in an area between the towers appeared to be intact and was four meters high there. The wall protruded slightly at both the base and the 0.33 meter high cornice. At the cornice this projection was around 0.15 meters. The walls of the enclosing wall had obviously only been grouted with great care in the lower area. The general strength of the structure guaranteed the weight of the ashlars. On the whole, the way they are built gives the wall a rather irregular appearance.

In all four corners there were rectangular towers protruding far from the wall. In its investigations published in 1903, Donau found that at least two opposing intermediate towers, which also clearly protruded from the connection of the surrounding wall, existed. According to Donaus, a third intermediate tower could have existed on the northwestern flank of the facility. According to the observations of the early researchers, the towers still had battlements at that time. The lavishly constructed main gate, which is opposite the intermediate tower in question, consisted of a single-lane driveway, which was flanked by two rectangular towers that also protruded far from the wall. Attackers who had overcome the outer gate were then found in a small, rectangular kinking corridor 2.40 meters wide, which was 8.40 meters long in the access area of ​​the gate - a clavicle. Here the attackers were at the mercy of the defenders. Only after overcoming a gate there, which could not be proven in Benia bel Recheb, was it possible for the enemy to storm the interior of the fort.

Interior development

Some structural structures could be identified inside this fence. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first researchers recognized room units and depot buildings, particularly in the northern corner of the fort. These structures, which consisted of small, roughly hewn stones, were still recognizable in 1964. As at many other sites in the region, the handy, easily transportable stones from the interior of the complex have been a primary target of stone robbers until recently, while the large cuboids of the surrounding wall have been preserved in situ . The apparent emptiness of the interior of the small fort and the allegedly unfinished state, which is sometimes postulated, actually reflect the post-Roman to modern development of the monument and have nothing to do with the original appearance.

literature

  • David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 101.
  • David Mattingly, Barri Jones : A New 'Clausura' in Western Tripolitania. Wadi Skiffa South. In: Libyan Studies. Annual Report of the Society for Libyan Studies . 17 (1986), pp. 87-96, here pp. 92-94.
  • 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 , pp. 95–96.
  • René Cagnat : La frontière militaire de la Tripolitaine X l'époque romaine . In: Mémoires de l'Institut national de France. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , Volume 39, Paris 1914, pp. 77-109; here: pp. 86–87.
  • Jules Toutain : Notes et documents sur les voies stratégiques et sur l'occupation militaire du Sud tunisien à l'époque romaine par MM. Les capitaines Donau et Le Boeuf, les lieutenants de Pontbriand, Goulon et Tardy . In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques . Imprimerie nationale, Paris 1903. pp. 272-409; here: pp. 357-360; Fig .: p. 358.

Remarks

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ fortlet Tisavar at 33 ° 0 '30.97 "  N , 9 ° 36' 58.38"  O
  3. ↑ Bir Mahalla small fort at 33 ° 3 ′ 21 ″  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 27 ″  E
  4. ↑ a b c René Cagnat : La frontière militaire de la Tripolitaine X l'époque romaine . In: Mémoires de l'Institut national de France. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , Volume 39, Paris 1914, pp. 77-109; here: pp. 86–87.
  5. ↑ a b Jules Toutain : Notes et documents sur les voies stratégiques et sur l'occupation militaire du Sud tunisien à l'époque romaine par MM. Les capitaines Donau et Le Boeuf, les lieutenants de Pontbriand, Goulon et Tardy . In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques . Imprimerie nationale, Paris 1903. pp. 272-409; here: pp. 357-360; Fig .: p. 359.
  6. ^ A b David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 101.
  7. ^ Joëlle Napoli : Recherches sur les fortifications linéaires romaines (= Collection de École Française de Rome 229), École française de Rome, Rome 1997, ISBN 2-7283-0371-1 , p. 453.
  8. ↑ Kastell Talalati at 32 ° 59 '13.29 "  N , 10 ° 20' 38.75"  O
  9. ^ Christian Witschel: On the situation in Roman Africa during the 3rd century . In: Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and their reception in modern times . Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , p. 186.
  10. ^ David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 0-472-10658-9 , p. 314.
  11. ↑ Robert Marichal: Les ostraka de Bu Njem . In: Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1979), pp. 436-437.
  12. ^ René Cagnat : La frontière militaire de la Tripolitaine X l'époque romaine . In: Mémoires de l'Institut national de France. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , Volume 39, Paris 1914, pp. 77-109; here: p. 86.