Praesidium Si Aioun

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Praesidium Si Aioun
Alternative name Praesidium ...
limes Limes Tripolitanus
front Limes line
section western Dahar
Dating (occupancy) from 198 AD
Type Small fort
unit Department of the Cohors II Flavia Afrorum equitata, Numerus Collatus
size around 30 m × 40 m
(= 0.12 ha)
Construction stone
State of preservation Remnants of the system are visible in the area.
place Si Aioun
Geographical location 32 ° 1 ′ 47 "  N , 10 ° 18 ′ 34"  E
height 462  m
Previous Centenarium Gasr Duib (east)
Subsequently Bir Mahalla small fort (northwest)
Backwards Tillibari Fort (north; backward Limes line)
Upstream Cidamus Castle ( Ghadames ) (south)
The small fort (left) in the Limes Tripolitanus network

The Praesidium Si Aioun is a small Roman military camp , the crew of which was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on the Limes Tripolitanus in the province of Africa proconsularis , later Tripolitania . The border fortifications formed a deep system of forts and military posts. The small fortification is now in the mountains of Dahar , around 50 kilometers south of the small town of Remada in the Tataouine governorate , southern Tunisia .

location

The advanced post of Si Aioun was on the north-east sloping terrain to a pass leading over the Dahar. On the opposite side of the mountain range, which extends from northwest to southeast in this area, the Tillibari fort once again secured the way into the densely populated plain of the Mediterranean. Si Aioun is also the last Roman outpost on the caravan route to the Cidamus ( Ghadames ) fort located far inland to be archaeologically identified as a garrison site . Cidamus, which has existed as a garrison site since the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211) or Caracalla (211-217), was the southernmost in this area and thus one of the loneliest outposts of the Roman Empire. Such bases on the edge of the desert possibly served the Roman military as starting points for operational targets further south.

Research history

In 1895, the French officer Étienne de Larminat discovered the site and reported the remains of a high-quality hexagonal mausoleum, the capitals of which were richly decorated. The remains of the military installation were nearby. Later the officer Raymond Donau examined the place and found an inscription on the building. The well-preserved tomb had already been demolished in 1908 with evidently destructive intent, so that only scattered gable fragments and friezes with garlands were found on site. No plan has yet been published for the small fort that has been excavated.

Building history

The command structure on the Tripolitan Limes was revealed to science for the first time during the period of its reorganization in the Severan epoch (193-217). The Tripolitania military zone fell under the jurisdiction of Quintus Anicius Faustus , legate of Legio III Augusta . From the early third century this legate was also governor of Numidia. Some of the earliest of his subordinate commands were of rather extraordinary nature. Aemilius Emeritus, Decurio (squadron leader) of the Ala I Pannoniorum , was raised to the rank of Praepositus and set off as leader of an expeditionary force. Normally only legionary centurions were commissioned with the command of auxiliary troops, but decurions of auxiliary troops also had the option of becoming, for example, legionary centurion after a proposal by the governor and a subsequent appointment by the emperor. The corps of Aemilius Emeritus consisted of the Cohors II Flavia Afrorum equitata (2nd partially mounted cohort of Africans "the Flavian") and a Numerus Collatus , a special unit that had been put together from several existing auxiliary units. Both units built the small fort of Si Aioun called Praesidium . The appointment of auxiliary troops decurions as commanders of smaller troop units is documented several times for this time and this section of the Limes and was accompanied by the establishment of special expeditionary corps.

The construction of the approximately 30 × 40 meter (= 0.12 hectare) complex resembled the Tisavar small fort, which was built at the same time and is better preserved . In accordance with its scale and capacity, it was developed from the construction scheme for Roman garrisons that was unified during the Principate . The only access was on the eastern Praetorial Front . The small principia (staff building) in the center of the Praesidium had collapsed completely when they were found, but appear to have been built in parts from Opus Africanum . There was a cistern in the southern part of the facility.

A total of two mausoleums were located around 300 meters from the fort . An arch made of a pink limestone monolith, which is adorned with a crown by two cupids or goddesses of victory , also comes from there . The arch had a gable, which was also preserved. A large number of other cisterns lay between these and the small fort.

Building inscription

The most important inscribed document of this site was found with the consular inscription dating from 197/198 AD:

Pro salute Impp (eratorum) nn (ostrorum)
L (uci) Septimi Severi Pertinac (is)
et M (arci) Aureli Antonini Augg (ustorum)
et L (uci) Septimi Getae Caesaris
Q (uintus) Anicius Faustus co (n) s (ul) de (signatus)
praesidium poni iussit su [b]
cura Aemili Emeriti dec (urionis) al (ae)
praepositi coh (ortis) II Fl (aviae) Afr (orum) et n (umeri) col (latorum)

Translation: “For the salvation of our rulers Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the Augusti , and Caesar Lucius Septimius Geta . The designated (suffect) consul Quintus Anicius Faustus had the small fort (Praesidium) built under the supervision of the squadron leader Aemilius Emeritus, commander of the Cohors II Flavia Afrorum equitata and the Numerus collatus . "

In honor of Jupiter , Aemilius Emeritus also had an altar built in Si Aioun.

From a military point of view, the term Praesidium does not allow a clear explanation and must always be explained from the respective reference. Among other things, it is used to designate larger and smallest garrison locations, with facilities the size of a small fort or outpost obviously forming the focus. In the building inscription of the small fort Qasr El-Uweinid (65 × 44 meters) built in the Roman province of Arabia Petraea in 201 AD, the castellum et s (uum) praesidium Severianum is mentioned, the praesidium here with the tower in the center of the fort Mittelbau (9.5 × 9.5 meters) can be identified.

Lost property

The building inscription is now in the Capitoline Museums in the Conservators' Palace , Rome , Italy .

literature

  • Raymond Donau: Recherches archéologiques effectuées par MM. Les officiers des territoires du Sud Tunisien en 1907. In: Bulletin archéologique du comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques 1909, pp. 30–50; here: pp. 40–43; Digitized .
  • David J. Mattingly : Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005. ISBN 0-203-48101-1 . Pp. 162-163.
  • 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. 118-120, no. 130.

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. ↑ 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 Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , p. 175.
  3. ^ André Louis: Tunisie du sud. Ksars et villages de crêtes. CNRS Editions, Paris 1975, ISBN 2-222-01642-8 . P. 42 Note 4.
  4. ↑ Léon Pervinquière: La Tripolitaine interdite. Ghadames. Librairie Hachette et Cie, Paris 1912, p. 50 ( online ).
  5. ↑ Emilienne Demougeot: Le chameau et l 'Afrique du nord romaine. In: Annales. Economies, Sociétés, Civilizations 15, 1960, pp. 209-247; here: p. 230.
  6. ^ A b c d David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 . P. 162.
  7. ^ A b c David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 . P. 134.
  8. ^ David J. Mattingly: Tripolitania. Taylor & Francis, 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 . P. 129.
  9. ^ Egon Schallmayer: The Limes. Story of a border. 2nd edition, Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-48018-8 . P. 107.
  10. ^ 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. 116.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ^ Rene Cagnat, Alfred Merlin, Louis Châtelain: Inscriptions latines d'Afrique (Tripolitaine, Tunisie et Maroc). Leroux, Paris 1923. No. 8.
  13. ^ Péter Kovács : Burgus building inscriptions of Commodus from Pannonia. In: Sylloge Epigraphica Barcinonensis 6, 2008, p. 132.
  14. ^ Péter Kovács: Burgus building inscriptions of Commodus from Pannonia. In: Sylloge Epigraphica Barcinonensis 6, 2008, p. 134.
  15. ↑ http://edh-www.adw.uni-heidelberg.de/edh/foto/F009263 Epigraphic Database Heidelberg. Retrieved January 20, 2016.