Qasr eth-Thuraiya

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Qasr eth-Thuraiya
limes	Limes Arabiae et Palestinae
section	Limes Arabicus (front Limes line)
Dating (occupancy)	late 3rd century to mid-5th century
Type	Quadriburgium
unit	unknown
size	37.50 × 34.50 m (= 0.13 ha)
Construction	stone
State of preservation	partly badly collapsed, partly relatively well preserved building remains
place	Qasr eth-Thuraiya
Geographical location	31 ° 25 ′ 18.8 "  N , 35 ° 59 ′ 23.1"  E
height	751  m
Previous	Umm er-Rasas (front Limes line) (northwest)
Subsequently	Qasr Bshir (front Limes line) (south)
Backwards	Muhatt el-Hajj (north) (northwest) ; Muhatt el-Hajj (south) (northwest)

The Qasr eth-Thuraiya , also known as Träyya , is a late Roman military camp whose crew was responsible for security and surveillance tasks on the front Limes Arabiae et Palestinae in the late ancient province of Arabia . The monument is located about seven kilometers southeast of the village of Saliya and the Nabataean- Roman Qasr Saliya at 751 meters above sea level in the Amman Governorate in Jordan .

location

The quadriburium was built on a relatively flat plateau between the upper reaches of the Wadi es-Su'eida on its northern bank and is only about ten kilometers from the Praetorium Mobeni ( Qasr Bshir ) to the south. The wadi is an important tributary to the Wadi Mujib . Despite the clear lack of natural defense points in the flat landscape, the view from the fort over the surrounding plateau, especially to the east, into potential enemy territory, is very good. The climate corresponds to the subtropical- arid zono biom , which is typical for desert landscapes.

A little further south of the fort, along the Limes road to the Praetorium Mobeni, was a checkpoint with the watchtower Qasr et-Tirsa exactly above the north bank of the wadi. Opposite the Qasr et-Tirsa, on the other side of the bank, there were two other watchtowers on the relatively flat plateau there. About six kilometers east of the Qasr eth-Thuraiya an Iron Age fortress has been documented, which was perhaps reoccupied by the Roman military as an advanced post, as the facility with its distant view in several directions could have provided excellent service. It dominates a junction of the flat Wadl es-Su'eida in the south.

Research history

Despite previous studies, the Limes in present-day Jordan was one of the least studied border regions of the Roman Empire in the period that followed until the early 1980s. The decisive contribution to the modern research of the late antique Limes Arabicus was made by the investigations of the American provincial Roman archaeologist Samuel Thomas Parker , who undertook archaeological expeditions from 1980 to 1989 with a team of scientists from different disciplines. As head of the Limes Arabicus Project , he focused on the Roman border in central Jordan.

Building history

The rectangular, 37.50 × 34.50 meters (= 0.13 hectares) large complex has the typical appearance of a late antique Quadriburgium as since the reign of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305) and he founded Tetrarchie has become known . To secure the water supply, which is absolutely necessary in a desert landscape, there were three cisterns outside the fortification, one in the north, one in the north-east and one in the west. The two-shell defense of the fort was made from limestone and chert , which was built into roughly trimmed rectangular workpieces . Smaller stone material was placed in the larger and smaller gaps between the blocks as filler material. Quarry stones were filled in between the two wall shells, which vary in width between 1.70 and 20 meters. The four curtains of the complex were connected by four rectangular corner towers, which, in keeping with the construction type of the quadriburgium , protruded far from the structure of the fence. Of these towers, which cover an area of ​​8.20 square meters, only the northeast tower is better preserved. The only gate is in the east. Although the inside of the fort has been badly damaged, the traces of the room lines built on the defensive wall can still be seen. Parker could still clearly see this structural detail, especially along the western side.

Temporal allocation

Stratigraphies on the Limes Arabicus

During his research expeditions into the late antique Limes Arabicus, Parker set up a stratigraphic scheme which served to simplify the assignment of the secured Roman and Byzantine finds and findings.

Stratum	Time position	approximate dating
VI	late Roman	284-324
VB	early Byzantine I	324-363
VA	early Byzantine II	363-400
IV	early Byzantine III − IV	400-502
III	late Byzantine I − II	502-551

The fortification of the Limes Arabicus in this area began with the annexation of the Nabatean Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98–117) in AD 106. To secure the newly won territories, the emperor left between AD 107 and 114 with the Establish a military road along the Limes via Traiana Nova running from south to north, stretching from the port city of Aila ( Akaba ) on the Red Sea to the legionary camp of Bostra in present-day Syria. The Legio III Cyrenaica stationed there was responsible for building the road. Over the centuries, the Roman army was repeatedly forced to expand the border fortifications. With the aforementioned reforms of Emperor Diocletian and the growing threat from the Sassanids , these efforts reached a climax. The Qasr eth-Thuraiya was on a section of the road upstream of the Via Traiana Nova . Archaeologically verifiable, this connected to the Via Traiana Nova in the north near Amman . In the south, behind the Praetorium Mobeni , the course is still speculative. But here, too, a connection to Via Traiana Nova is clearly to be expected.

Ceramic evaluation

During the field inspection carried out by Parker, 162 ceramic shards and one coin were recovered. 30 pieces of sherds could then be identified more precisely, whereby, according to Parker's stratigraphy, 22 pieces dated late Roman and 7 pieces early Byzantine (I to III). This points to a military occupation of the fort from the late 3rd to the middle of the 5th century. In addition to the ancient material, a singular fragment of the already Islamic Ayyubid / Mameluke period was found . The bronze coin discovered as a surface find, a follis , came from the reign of sea emperor Constantine II (337–340) and supported the dating of the pottery. The coin minted in Antioch bears the inscription GLORIA EXERCITVS - "the glory of the army" on the lapel along the edge . In addition, two soldiers looking at each other can be seen, each carrying a spear and looking at two standards that have been rammed into the ground between them. Here there are close parallels in the timing, planning and troop allocation to the Qasr Bshir fort, which is inscribed between AD 293 and 305.

literature

• Hans-Peter Kuhnen (ed.): Desert border of the Roman Empire. The Roman Limes in Israel and Jordan . Nünnerich-Asmus, Mainz 2018, ISBN 978-3-96176-010-7 .
• Samuel Thomas Parker (Ed.): The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan. Final Report on the Limes Arabicus Project, 1980–1989 (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies 40), Washington, DC, 2006, ISBN 0-88402-298-6 .
• Samuel Thomas Parker: Romans and Saracens. A History of the Arabian Frontier . (= Dissertation Series / American Schools of Oriental Research 6), Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 1986, ISBN 0-89757-106-1 , p. 50.
• Samuel Thomas Parker: Archaeological Survey of the "Limes Arabicus": A Preliminary Report. In: Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 21, 1976, pp. 19-31.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Samuel Thomas Parker: Romans and Saracens. A History of the Arabian Frontier . (= Dissertation Series / American Schools of Oriental Research 6), Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 1986, ISBN 0-89757-106-1 , p. 50.
2. ^ ^{A b c d} Samuel Thomas Parker : History of the Roman Frontier East of the Dead Sea . In: Samuel Thomas Parker (Ed.): The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan. Final Report on the Limes Arabicus Project, 1980-1989 (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies 40), Washington, DC, 2006, ISBN 0-88402-298-6 ; P. 517 ff .; here: p. 549.
3. ^ ^{A b} Samuel Thomas Parker : History of the Roman Frontier East of the Dead Sea . In: Samuel Thomas Parker (Ed.): The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan. Final Report on the Limes Arabicus Project, 1980–1989 (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies 40), Washington, DC, 2006, ISBN 0-88402-298-6 , Table 2.16.
4. ↑ Qasr Saliya
5. ↑ Praetorium Mobeni
6. ↑ ^{a b} Heinz Ullrich Baierle: Vegetation and flora in southwestern Jordan (= Dissertationes Botanicae 200), Cramer / Borntraeger, Berlin, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-443-64112-1 , p. 11.
7. ↑ Qasr et-Tirsa watchtower
8. ↑ Watchtower
9. ↑ Watchtower
10. ↑ Samuel Thomas Parker, John Wilson Betlyon, Michael R. Toplyn: Preliminary Report on the 1987 Season of the Limes Arabicus Project (= Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Supplementary Studies 26). Preliminary Reports of ASOR-Sponsored Excavations 1983-1987, The American Schools of Oriental Research, 1990, pp. 89-136; here: p. 90.
11. ↑ Hans-Peter Kuhnen : Desert Frontier of the Roman Empire - The Fateful Frontier of Rome in the Orient from Augustus to Heraclius . In: Hans-Peter Kuhnen (Ed.): Desert border of the Roman Empire. The Roman Limes in Israel and Jordan . Nünnerich-Asmus, Mainz 2018, ISBN 978-3-96176-010-7 , pp. 1–116; here: p. 76.
12. ↑ Hans-Peter Kuhnen : Desert Frontier of the Roman Empire - The Fateful Frontier of Rome in the Orient from Augustus to Heraclius . In: Hans-Peter Kuhnen (Ed.): Desert border of the Roman Empire. The Roman Limes in Israel and Jordan . Nünnerich-Asmus, Mainz 2018, ISBN 978-3-96176-010-7 , pp. 1–116; here: p. 36.
13. ^ Samuel Thomas Parker: The Limes Arabicus Project. The 1985 Campaign . In: Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 30, 1986, pp. 233-252; here: p. 247.
14. ↑ Hans-Peter Kuhnen : Desert Frontier of the Roman Empire - The Fateful Frontier of Rome in the Orient from Augustus to Heraclius . In: Hans-Peter Kuhnen (Ed.): Desert border of the Roman Empire. The Roman Limes in Israel and Jordan . Nünnerich-Asmus, Mainz 2018, ISBN 978-3-96176-010-7 , pp. 1–116; here: p. 138.
15. ↑ CIL 3, 14149 .