Small fort Gasr Zerzi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Small fort Gasr Zerzi
Alternative name Kasr Zerzi, Qasr Zerzi
limes Limes Tripolitanus
front Limes line
Dating (occupancy) 198/201/209 AD
to 238 AD?
Type Small fort, Burgus
unit Detachment of the vexillation of Legio III Augusta stationed in Gholaia
size 12.80 × 9.20 m
(= 0.012 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation The foundations of the fort area and the cistern have been preserved.
place Gasr Zerzi
Geographical location 30 ° 32 '35.9 "  N , 15 ° 6' 11.6"  E
height 130  m
Previous Gholaia Fort (east)
Subsequently Small fort Gheriat esh-Shergia (west)
Backwards Small fort Gasr Banat
(backward Limes line) (northwest)

The small fort Gasr Zerzi was a Roman military post that was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on the front Limes Tripolitanus , a deep system of forts and military posts in the Roman province of Africa proconsularis . The facility, an outstation of the Gholaia Fort (Bu Njem), which is located almost 30 kilometers east of there, is located in the municipality of Surt in Libya .

location

The Limes Tripolitanus with the small fort
Situation of the small fort with the cistern
Floor plan of the small fort
The cistern in the valley floor of the wadi with a sedimentation basin in the front area and an overflow at the rear

The Gasr Zerzi outpost was built northwest of the small but distinctive group of hills of the Gebel Zerzi. Since important desert passages crossed at this point, the site command of Fort Gholaia apparently considered it necessary to secure the place with a checkpoint. The unit of the small station now observed the route from Gholaia to Gasr el Faschia in Wadi Zemzem and further to the rear small fort Gasr Banat as well as the west-southwest oriented road into Wadi Bay al-Kabir and the fountain of Bir el-Gheddafía, but also a third route heading south towards Giofra . In addition to its role as a road station, the Gasr Zerzi was particularly interested in monitoring the nearby cistern , which was a day's walk from Gholaia at almost 30 kilometers. The small fort is located on a hill above a small dry valley that flows into the mighty Wadi Bay al-Kabir to the west. The narrow, elongated cistern itself was built in the middle of this small dry valley facing west and east. Their barrel vault was a construction made of ceramic vaulted tubes, which made it possible to build light vaults.

Inscriptions

Two inscriptions from the area of ​​the small fort have so far become known, both of which were reported to the Antiquities Service of the Province of Tripolitania at the beginning of 1961 by the then Royal Libyan Ministry of Agriculture. The date of origin of both inscriptions could be 209 AD, when the later Emperor Geta received the Augustus dignity, but inscriptions from Africa testify that he was given this title there before this dignity was awarded, and therefore the origin of the inscriptions as well could start a little earlier.

On the floor in front of the Gasr, the following inscription surrounded by a frame was documented, which contains grammatical errors. The last line with the legion's name was erased in 238 AD on top orders.

Impp (eratoribus) Caes (aribus) L (ucio) Septimio Severo Pio Pertinace ! et M (arco) Aurelio
Antonino et [P (ublio)] Septimio
G [eta] e Caess (saribus) ! Augg (gustis)] toti
usque domus divin [ae]
[leg (io) III Aug (usta)]

Translation: "To the emperors , the Caesars Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( Caracalla ) and Publius Septimius Geta, the Caesar, the exalted and the whole divine imperial house, the 3rd Augusta Legion."

Another inscription stone was discovered near the large Roman cistern near the small fort. It was set into the east side of the cistern, directly above the inlet to the sedimentation basin. The inscription cut into the stone had no border. There could have been a short fifth line. It would then have been filled with a verb, the name of the unit or that of an officer who was responsible for the construction.

Impp (eratoribus) Caess (are) L (ucio) Septimio Severo
Pio Per (tinaci) Aug (usto) et M (arco) Aur (elio) Antonino
Aug (usto) et [P (ublio)] Septimio [Getae] Caes (ari) Aug (usto)
et Iuliae Aug (ustae) matri castr (orum) cister (na?)

Translation: “To the emperors, the Caesars Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax, the sublime, and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the sublime, and Publius Septimius Geta, the Caesar, the sublime, and Julia (Domna) , the sublime , the mother of the military camps, the cistern (?) ... "

Building history

The small fort, built between 198 or 201 and 209 AD by a construction team of Legio III Augusta, consists of a 12.80 × 9.20 meter (= 0.012 hectare) building with 1.50 meter thick outer walls. The complex is thus another example of the small Burgi known from the Tripolitan Limes . The only access is to the north; inside the building is divided into three rooms. The station was by a detachment of the fort Gholaia barracks vexillation occupied III Augusta of Legio. It is possible that daily reports received on Ostraca from Gholaia could provide an indication of the detachment. According to this, stationarii who were commanded by Beneficiarii would come into question . The French archaeologist René Rebuffat assumed that around 12 to 15 men were on duty at the Gasr Zerzi military post.

Chronological order

The small garrison was evidently built as part of the restructuring of the Limes Tripolitanus during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211) and kept occupied until at least 238 AD. At this point the Legio III Augusta was dissolved for political reasons. Because of their loyalty to Emperor Maximinus Thrax (235-238) and his Numidian governor Capelianus , who remained loyal to him, in the suppression of the usurper Gordian I , the subsequent Emperor Gordian III. (238–244) erase the name of the Legion from all accessible inscriptions. The dissolution of this large association had fatal consequences for the security of the Tripolitan southern border, which could only be secured again by the re-establishment of the legion under Emperor Valerian (253-260) in 253/254 AD.

The daily reports recovered in Gholaia show, among other things, that some riders of the Cohors VIII Fida equitata were detached from their ancestral unit in Fort Secedi to Gholaia as dispositi at least in the years 258/259 AD . In 263 AD, the Cohors VIII Fida then built the Ras el Ain fort in Tunisia around 600 kilometers to the northwest of their previous location . The time window in which the cohort was shifted to the northwest is therefore to be set between 259 and 263 AD. The reason for the relocation is apparently the archaeologically verifiable abandonment of the military border installations in the region around Gholaia, which were advanced far to the south, and which occurred during this period. This task probably also affected the Gheriat el-Garbia fort with the associated outpost. Severe defeats on other border sections of the empire, including the final fall of the Limes in the Germanic provinces, internal Roman conflicts, troop shortages and strategic considerations will have forced Emperor Gallienus (260–268) to take this step at the height of the imperial crisis of the 3rd century go and move the Tripolitan border back at least in the area around Gholaia.

Since the previous terminus ante quem at Gasr Zerzi is the erased inscription in 238 AD, a continuation of the garrison at this outpost up to around 263 AD cannot be proven.

literature

  • René Rebuffat : Les citernes de Syrtique occidentale . In: Encyclopédie Berbère 13, 1994, pp. 2017-2025; here p. 2021.
  • Robert Marichal : Les ostraca de Bu Njem (= Libya Antiqua , supplementary volume 7), Tripoli, Département des antiquités, Grande Jamahira Arabe, Boccard, Paris 1992, pp. 108-109.
  • Yann Le Bohec : La Troisième Légion Auguste (= Études d'Antiquités africaines 1989/1), Éditions du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-222-03988-6 , p. 444, p. 447 (illustration ).
  • Olwen Brogan , Joyce Reynolds : Inscriptions from the Tripolitanian Hinterland . In: Libya antiqua 1, 1964, pp. 43-46.

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. ↑ Gholaia Fort at 30 ° 34 ′ 41.51 ″  N , 15 ° 24 ′ 46.84 ″  E
  3. ↑ a b René Rebuffat : Les citernes de Syrtique occidentale . In: Encyclopédie Berbère 13, 1994, pp. 2017-2025; here p. 2021.
  4. ↑ cistern Gasr el Faschia (Fasqiyat as Sayyid) at 31 ° 0 '52.58 "  N , 14 ° 50' 58.23"  O
  5. ↑ Small fort Gasr Banat at 31 ° 27 ′ 42.6 ″  N , 14 ° 42 ′ 16.3 ″  E
  6. ↑ Bir el-Gheddafía at 30 ° 24 '7 "  N , 14 ° 40' 3.66"  O
  7. ↑ a b c Olwen Brogan , Joyce Reynolds : Inscriptions from the Tripolitanian Hinterland . In: Libya antiqua 1, 1964, pp. 43-46; here: p. 43.
  8. ^ Gus Goudarzi: Geology and Mineral Resources of Libya - A Reconnaissance (= Geological Survey Professional Paper 660), United States Government Printing Office, Washington 1970, p. 8.
  9. ↑ Wadi Bay al-Kabir at 30 ° 34 '59.41 "  N , 15 ° 3' 31.62"  O ; 30 ° 32 '39.78 "  N , 14 ° 59' 40.17"  E
  10. ↑ Michael Mackensen: The Severan vexillation fort Myd (---) and the late antique settlement in Gheriat el-Garbia (Libya). Report on the campaign in spring 2010 . In: Communications of the German Archaeological Institute, Roman Department 117, 2011, pp. 247–375; here: p. 301.
  11. ↑ Olwen Brogan , Joyce Reynolds : Inscriptions from the Tripolitanian Hinterland . In: Libya antiqua 1, 1964, pp. 43-46; here: p. 43 (footnote).
  12. ↑ Olwen Brogan , Joyce Reynolds : Inscriptions from the Tripolitanian Hinterland . In: Libya antiqua 1, 1964, pp. 43-46; here: pp. 43–44.
  13. ↑ LibAnt-1964-43.1 .
  14. ↑ cistern Zerzi at 30 ° 32 '34.26 "  N , 15 ° 6' 10.17"  O
  15. ↑ Olwen Brogan , Joyce Reynolds : Inscriptions from the Tripolitanian Hinterland . In: Libya antiqua 1, 1964, pp. 43-46; here: p. 44.
  16. ↑ LibAnt-1964-44.2 .
  17. ^ A b Yann Le Bohec : La Troisième Légion Auguste (= Études d'Antiquités africaines 1989/1), Éditions du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-222-03988-6 , p. 444.
  18. ^ David Mattingly : Tripolitania. Batsford, London 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 131.
  19. ↑ Robert Marichal : Les ostraca de Bu Njem (= Libya Antiqua , supplement 7), Tripoli, Département des antiquités, Grande Jamahira Arabe, Boccard, Paris 1992, p 108-109.
  20. ↑ René Rebuffat: L'armée romaine à Gholaia . In: Géza Alföldy , Brian Dobson , Werner Eck (eds.): Kaiser, Army and Society in the Roman Empire. Commemorative publication for Eric Birley (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies 31), Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3515076549 , pp. 227–259; here: p. 232 with note 44.
  21. ↑ a b Michael Mackensen : Crew accommodation and organization of a Severan legionary vexillation in the Tripolitan fort Gholaia / Bu Njem (Libya) . In: Germania 86.1, 2008 (2009), pp. 271-306; here: p. 286.
  22. ↑ Hans Ulrich Nuber : The end of the Upper German-Raetian Limes - a research task. In: Hans Ulrich Nuber u. a. (Ed.): Archeology and history of the first millennium in southwest Germany (= Archeology and History 1), Sigmaringen 1990, pp. 51–68.