Urban and military configurations in the province of Scythia

“Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism

Doctoral School SITT (“Space, Image, Text, Territory”), Bucharest

in cotutelle with

Faculty of History, Bucharest University

URBAN AND MILITARY CONFIGURATIONS IN THE

PROVINCE OF SCYTHIA

[ABSTRACT]

Bucharest

2014

Candidate:

Alexandra Teodor

Supervisors:

prof. dr. arch. Anca Brătuleanu (UAUIM)

prof. dr. Alexandru Barnea (FIB-UB)

Public defence committee

President:

prof. dr. arch. Nicolae Lascu, UAUIM

Advisors:

prof. dr. arch. Anca Brătuleanu, UAUIM

prof. dr. Alexandru Barnea, FIB-UB – cotutelă

Official reviewers:

prof. dr. habil. arch. Hanna Derer, UAUIM

c. ș. I dr. Crișan Mușețeanu, MNIR

conf. dr. Ioan Carol Opriș, FIB-UB

UAUIM, December 17th

, 2014

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1ST

(MAIN) VOLUME’S CONTENT

Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Study’s objectives and theme’s motivation

1.2 Object of study’s definition: thematic, chronological and geographical

1.2.1 Thematic frame

1.2.1.1 Urban history as an interdisciplinary field

1.2.1.2 Main domains involved 1.2.1.3 Secondary relevant domains

1.2.2 Chronological and geographical frame

1.2.2.1 Chronological outlines: Late Antiquity

1.2.2.2 Geographical outlines: Scythia province

1.2.2.3 Excursus: the Roman city in the Classical Antiquity vs. Late Antiquity

1.2.2.4 Excursus: the Roman castrum functional scheme

1.3 General research stage of the of the delimited domain

Chapter 2. The analysed sites and the method used 2.1 The analysed sites and the selection criteria

2.1.1 Main selection criteria’ evaluation

2.1.2 Urban and military centres from Scythia. Selected study cases

2.2 General and particular research issues 2.2.1 General research issues

2.2.2 Particular research issues and its limitations

2.3 Research method and used resources

2.3.1 Research method

2.3.1.1 Urban analysis in archaeology, ideal premises and de facto situation

2.3.1.2 Main research instrument: the study case standard form

2.3.1.3 The study case standard form’s role in the project 2.3.2 An evaluation of the existing sources and main sources used

2.3.2.1 Existing sources

2.3.2.2 Used sources

Chapter 3. Geographical features of province Scythia 3.1 Geographical outline

3.2 Communication network. Maritime, fluvial and terrestrial ways

3.3 Relief, climate, hydrography, vegetation, fauna and soils. General problems concerning the area’s

geography in Antiquity

3.4 Natural hazards

3.5 Natural base resources

3.6 Partial conclusions. Geographical constraints of the urban organism

Chapter 4. Historical frame of province Scythia 4.1 The area’s strategic importance in the political context of the Late Roman Empire

4.2 Relevant historical phases and events for the province’s urban life evolution in Late Antiquity

4.2.1 The first urban (re)construction phase in Scythia (270-378, phase B1)

4.2.2 Goths and Huns’ invasions and their urbanistical outcomes (379-491, phase B2)

4.2.3 The second reconstruction phase in Scythia (491-558/9, phase B3)

4.2.4 The Roman defensive system’s disintegration and the end of the antique urban life in Scythia

(558/9-after 600, phase B4)

4.3 Partial conclusions. Historical constraints of the urban organism

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Chapter 5. General frame of the analysed centres 5.1 The distribution on the province’s territory and the sites’ typology derived characteristics

5.1.1 Maritime centres

5.1.2 Fluvial centres

5.1.3 Interior centres

5.2 Origins and main phases

5.2.1 Origins of the analysed centres

5.2.2 General chronology

5.2.2.1 The Preroman/Greek Period

5.2.2.2 The Early Roman Period

5.2.2.3 The Late Roman Period

5.3 The centres’ functions in the province

5.3.1 Communication and military node

5.3.2 Territorial representation centre: political, administrative, economic, social, cultural and religious

Chapter 6. Configuration of analysed centres 6.1 Special structures: river and sea ports

6.1.1 Short research history and specific issues

6.1.2 Presumed harbours, identified harbours and archaeological investigated harbours

6.1.3 Harbours specific functions

6.2 Defensive systems

6.2.1 The fortifications’ relevance in the urban analysis

6.2.2 Research, publications and relevant sources

6.2.3 Surfaces

6.2.4 Planimetric analysis

6.2.4.1 Shapes

6.2.4.2 The shape’s defensive treatment; open and closed shapes

6.2.4.3 Curtains and tower types

6.2.4.4 Entrances. Gate types

6.2.5 Ensembles and chronology

6.2.5.1 Preroman fortifications

6.2.5.2 Early Roman fortifications

6.2.5.3 Late Roman fortifications

6.2.6 Particular cases: secondary precincts

6.2.7 Supplementary fortifications: earthen fossa and vallum

6.2.8 Graphical restitutions

6.3 Intra muros configuration

6.3.1 Infrastructure

6.3.1.1 Special instalations: bridges, landscape improvement etc.

6.3.1.2 Street networks and urban piazza

6.3.1.3 Water supply systems

6.3.1.4 Drainage systems

6.3.2 Major buildings

6.3.2.1 Representative programs

6.3.2.2 Religious programs

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6.3.2.3 Entertainment, leisure, hygiene and health programs

6.3.2.4 Production, storage and commerce programs

6.3.3 Minor buildings

6.3.4 Military programs

6.3.5 Functionally uncertain programs

6.3.6 Isolated graves

6.4 Extra muros configuration

6.4.1 Infrastructure

6.4.2 Major buildings

6.4.3 Minor buildings

6.4.4 Necropolises

Chapter 7. Contribution of geophysical research to the urban configuration

analysis at Tropaeum Traiani, (L)Ibida and Halmyris 7.1 Brief introduction to applied geophysics in archaeology

7.1.1 Geophysical methods in archaeology

7.1.2 The purpose of geophysics in archaeology

7.2 Case studies

7.2.1 Tropaeum Traiani (Adamclisi, Constanța county)

7.2.2 (L)Ibida (Slava Rusă, Tulcea county)

7.2.3 Halmyris (Murighiol, Tulcea county)

7.3 Partial conclusions

Chapter 8. Construction materials and techniques – sinopsis 8.1 Research background and its importance

8.2 Fortifications

8.3 Streets

8.4 Buildings

8.5 Spolia

Chapter 9. Territories of the analysed centres 9.1 Delimitation and spatial organization

9.2 Roads, settlements, water catchment and transport, and exploitation of natural resources

Chapter 10. Synthesis: configuration and evolution of analysed centres 10.1 Relations between determinant elements and main components of the analysed centres

10.1.1 Fortifications depending on site, the general frame and their evolution in time

10.1.2 Relations between fortifications and street network

10.1.3 Buildings depending on fortifications and street network

10.1.4 Excursus: castrum’s functional scheme in the Late Roman Period – a possible interpretation

10.1.5 Excursus: the joint area tissue, possible key in the interpretation of urban and military centres’ evolution in the Late Roman Period

10.2 Conclusions on the analysed centres’ characteristics and their evolution from the perspective of their

main determinants

10.3 Definition of urban character starting from theme’s coordinates

10.4 Future research directions

Chapter 11. Conclusions

5

Bibliography

Glossary

URBAN AND MILITARY CONFIGURATIONS IN THE

ROMAN PROVINCE SCYTHIA

- abstract* -

The thesis reconsiders a recurrent theme among ancient history scholars’ preoccupations, both

national and international – the city of Late Antiquity1 –, from a perspective quite rarely

approached on systematic basis, the one of their spatial configuration. The theme has been

analysed for an administrative unit of the Roman Empire in the above mentioned period,

respectively the province of Scythia2, a region for which on one side there is available a very

rich local scientific literature, practically unexploited in this direction – and in only a small

amount integrated to the international scientific network –, and which on the other side

presents the opportunity of an important diversity related to the major evolution phases of the

main centres’ built structures. The regions’ urban history began during the Greek colonization

on the Western Black Sea shore (mainly in the VIth

Century B. C.) and it spreads, along

Antiquity, towards the beginning of the VIIth

Century A. D.; some of the former centres are

even today the heart of modern cities (Constanța, Mangalia, Hârșova and Tulcea). The

analysed centres’ timelines vary between about two and twelve centuries, thus although the

period of interest focuses on the about last three centuries from the above mentioned interval,

the general chronology of the study often spans backwards.

The study is organized in three volumes: the first contains the thesis’ main text, the second

collects the written site files (as support for the main text), and the third comprises the

illustration for both previous volumes. Further I’ll present each of them, only detailing on the

content of the first volume.

* Thesis written in Romanian, the official language of the doctoral programme at UAUIM in the period of study. 1 For the region discussed here, it corresponds largely to IV-VI

th Centuries A. D. The concept is presented in the

first chapter, see also below. 2 Today, the Romanian Dobruja (Tulcea and Constanța counties) and a part of the Bulgarian Dobruja

(approximately, Dobrici district).

6

[1] The first volume, thesis’ main text, contains 11 chapters [1a-1c; 329 pages], the

bibliographic section [1d; 30 pages] and a brief glossary [1e; 6 pages]. The first four chapters

address the typical introductive matters for a dissertation [1a], chapters 5-9 expand the main

theme (the studied configurations’ analysis) [1b], and the last two point the main synthesis

directions outlined at the end of the analysis, respectively the main conclusions resulted from

the analysis, in a particular plan, and also from various observations pointed in the thesis, in a

more general plan [1c].

[1a] The introductive chapters occupy a large space in the economy of the first volume

(about one third), thanks to the theme’s complexity, as it approaches issues specific to

different domains and relatively strange one to another, at least locally.

Chapter 1, Introduction, outlines the first thematic borders of the study – (1.1) Study’s

objectives and theme’s motivation, (1.2) Object of study’s definition: thematic, chronological

and geographical and (1.3) General research stage of the delimited domain.

(1.1) The project’s main objective is the analysis, hence a synthetic description on the

physical and functional characteristics of the main urban and military3 centres’ in the

geographical area discussed. The analysis has an apparently static part – characterisation of

structures and their relations –, as well as a dynamic one – their evolution in time, as much as

one can observe in the given conditions, as well as briefly following the cause and effect

relation with the various factors that could influence them. A secondary objective, but also a

central one, was the urban character assessment for the analysed structures. The analysis

itself is covered in the second volume (the site files) and also in the first volume, chapters 5-9;

the synthesis and urban character matter are presented in chapter 10.

The motivation for choosing this theme is both subjective – the approach from architecture as

a basis training domain towards archaeology as an interdisciplinary orientation and also as a

primary source for the analysed structures – and objective, with reference to the large distance

that occurs, at the national level, between archaeology and architecture, respectively the lack

of an institutionalized intermediary specialization able to negotiate with both domains4. From

a different perspective, given the research level in the delimited area, such an analysis was

3 This apparent ambiguity derives from the particular character itself of the Late Roman cities in the studied area

– a border province of the Late Roman Empire. See also below, referring to section 10.2. 4 From this perspective, the thesis joins other recent ones (or ongoing doctoral projects) meant to bring nearer the

two above mentioned domains. PhD dissertations of architects Ștefan Bâlici, Virgil Apostol and Andrei

Cîmpeanu (the last, ongoing) all treat archaeological structures, as well as the PhD dissertation of historian Katia

Moldoveanu in the domain of architecture.

7

considered necessary not only to offer support for a more complex approach and

understanding of the concerned ensembles’ spatial configuration, but also to fundament5

future intervention projects for conservation, restauration and architectural interpretation,

addressed both to the large public and to the specialized one.

Subchapter 1.2, besides defining the object of study (already sketched above, in the abstract’s

introduction), has the purpose of summary explaining the following: the main and secondary

domains involved in the analysed theme and their contribution (1.2.1 Thematic frame, with

sections dedicated to archaeology, history, urbanism, architecture, domains related to the

cities’ human component, geography and, finally, data management); general notions and

issues connected to analysed structures and their context, such as Late Antiquity (1.2.2.1; not

as much regarding chronology, but the concept and its significance); lastly, one excursus for

each of the two following themes, the Early Roman city vs. the Late Roman city on a general

scale (1.2.2.3, as a partial premise towards defining urban character) and the roman castrum

functional scheme (1.2.2.4; interpretation key for understanding military sites pointed out

especially in the synthesis chapter, 10).

Subchapter 1.3 underlines main perspectives from which the theme was approached in the

past – from the most general to the most detailed ones – and also points out the main

unapproached levels in the actual research stage. The conclusion is that by our date the main

defining components of the urban/military centres in the reference time and space were never

approached both in a systematic and integrated manner6, having opened only research

directions towards one main element or another – for example, fortifications or certain

categories of the built structures (Christian basilicas). Still, an ensemble’s configuration

analysis is not simply about understanding its elements, but also the relations between them

and the determining factors – a direction initiated by this project.

All aspects gathered in this chapter, although with an obvious general character, on one side

fundament more or less the criteria for choosing the sites and the actual elements to be

5 This study doesn’t cover the architectural analysis at the detailed level necessary to an intervention project, but

it generally provides a general uniform ensemble image of the known elements in the analyzed sites – obviously,

only for the period of interest. 6 With one exception – PhD thesis of Nicolae Georgescu (1998), having a systematical approach towards

analyzing main urban elements (although more schematically than here); however, by limiting the study to only

three maritime centers and through the scarcity of the graphical support, the study only covered in a lesser

amount the issues treated here.

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analysed, and on another side determine the synthesis directions in the last part of the thesis

(especially chapter 10).

Chapter 2, The analysed sites and the method used, is composed from three subchapters:

(2.1) The analysed sites and the selection criteria; (2.2) General and particular research

issues and (2.3) Research method and used resources.

(2.1) The initial target was analysing the urban settlements of Late Antiquity in the province

of Scythia7, while one of the premises I’ve started from was that they were substantially

different from the main military settlements. But one of the first difficulties was precisely the

attempt to delimit them one from another, a thing that prove itself impossible in the study’s

first phases – and also confirmed by the conclusions. Among the sites selection criteria I

considered, among others, of the archaeological evidence available for the structures and

period of interest, the precinct’s presence (as a mandatory component, although it is also

present in other settlement types) and the Christian basilicas’ presence (aiming for the

important territorial centers, but this wasn’t an eliminatory condition). Other criteria which

theoretically could have been considered, such as the surface closed by the walls, the built

structures’ density, antique sources’ mentions etc. proved to be either very relative (e. g. intra

muros surface), either too limitative (in which case some of the potentially interesting sites

would have had to be excluded from the analysis). I’ve also considered of secondary

importance – but not to ignore – the sites’ consecration in the specialized literature, at least for

a minimum critical control on the terminology currently used (for instance, the use of urban

attribute for surfaces of about 1 ha). Therefore, the criteria used for choosing the sites to be

analyzed largely had a guidance character, very few of them being truly applicable to all sites

(for example, the density of the built structures – which for many cases is barely known) or by

contrary, some of them having a way to general character (such as the precinct’s presence).

After a summary inventorying of the known sites’ relevance for the theme, there resulted 16

sites to be analyzed, which I’ll enumerate here in the order systematically used in the thesis:

(on the Sea’s shore) Argamum, Histria, Tomis, Callatis, Acres (Bulgaria8); (on the main inner

road) (L)Ibida, Ulmetum, Tropaeum Traiani, Zaldapa (Bulgaria); (on the Danube line)

Sacidava, Capidava, Carsium, Troesmis, Dinogetia, Noviodunum and Halmyris9. Among

7 The initial title of the thesis was “Urbanism elements in Scythia Minor, IV

th-VI

th centuries”.

8 For the sites where this aspect was not mentioned, it is considered implicit that they are located in Romania.

9 Axiopolis was also selected as a case-study initially, but it was abandoned because the lack of certain

archaeological data for the known defensive elements chronology and typology.

9

these, broadly the ones located on the Sea shore are esentially civil settlements (urban), the

ones situated on the Danube line are esentially military ones, while the ones located along the

main inner road have a mixt character and are subject to a complex interpretation, as it also

appears out of our conclusions.

(2.2) Beside the general problems in the archaeological heritage research domain (the scratchy

and fragmentary character of archaeological data, the hypothetical and potentially subjective

character of archaeological data interpretation etc.), one of the main issues observed in

relation to the theme is the lack of (archaeological) built structures data systematization,

which is obviously generated by multiple causes – among which I mention here lack of

publication and data structure standards, not only at a qualitative level but merely referring to

the minimal content required. Another identified issue is the disproportionate relation between

the written and the graphic data (especially plans, if we discuss urban scale analysis) of the

documentation describing, even briefly, archaeological built structures at site’s general scale,

may it be urban, quasi-urban or military (in the most frequent situations archaeological

structures and/or sectors are difficult to locate on site plans; sometimes graphical

documentation is completely absent, in which case structures are presented exclusively by

textual description). This approach partially answers to the above mentioned issues, as well as

others, which were mentioned in the text, especially through the research method applied (see

below), based on already published data.

(2.3) The research method (2.3.1) is one of the main contributions of this project, as it has

been conceived and developed with dedication to its theme’s specific issues. The fundamental

condition of the working system was to facilitate both an evaluation/analysis for urban and

peri-urban components (port facilities, fortifications, street network, water supply systems,

drainage systems, built tissue – with its specific functional ramifications – and necropolises)

whether considered isolated as part of an ensemble, or comparative for one or more of the

analysed ensembles, but also the relations connecting them – an analysis which allows

multiple thematic combinations and which implies their “separation”, at least on the

theoretical level. This goal was followed, as much as possible, both for the written and the

graphical part (i. e. plans) of the sites’ documentation. For this purpose, most of the plans

published in the specialized literature were integrated into a unique georeferenced system for

each site and processed in a manner to enable as uniform as possible the known built elements

of the analysed sites. The necessity of this complex solution – in fact difficult to implement

10

equable, at least in the given time limits, therefore it was implemented as an exercise/working

model – opposed to the more or less “straight” classical synthesis approach was detailed

explained in the thesis.

The urban components’ analysis was presented in Volume 2 for each site, while the

comparative analysis and the components’ relation analysis were separately treated in

chapters 5 to 10, in the main volume (1). If the analysis on the different levels was intended to

be as uniform as possible (having still some priorities regarding their relevance for the theme),

in what concerns relations between urban components the analysis was only made for the

most important of them – the relation between the site and the fortifications, between the

fortifications and the street network, respectively between the street network and the built

tissue in its entirety. The purpose of this selective approach was on one side was to test the

working method’s validity – without trying to explore all possible analysis directions10 – and

on the other side to reach some general observations and conclusions concerning the studied

structures.

(2.3.2) The sources used are mostly published materials. As it was explained in the thesis, the

reason of the limitation to this category of resources is by no means the lack of others (archive

documentation materials in the central or local profile institutions), but moreover the limited

accessibility of the last opposed to a large amount of data already published and practically

unexploited in the direction of interest. On field data acquisition in the given time and for the

proposed theme was not possible, on the other hand, from multiple reasons also explained in

the thesis (financial; the destruction in time of some long ago discovered structures or simply

their inaccessibility due to the rich vegetation; data recording intellectual rights etc.);

however, for a minimal acquaintance with the analyzed sites some more field trips were done,

also inventoried in this subchapter.

Chapters 3 and 4 cover fundamental notions referring to geographical and historical

coordinates specific to any thesis with a theme connected to a certain place, respectively

having an important historical component. Both of them had the purpose of very schematic

tracing the context in which the analyzed structures developed and evolved, as well as the

specific conditions which the geographical and historical context have exerted over them.

10

Which become more and more difficult to control as the analysis steps deeper into the urban tissue, hence at

least for the present only few of the analyzed sites are better known on a detailed scale.

11

The chapter dedicated to the geographical setup summary inventories (3.1) Geographical

outline; (3.2) The communication network. Maritime, fluvial and terrestrial ways; (3.3) Relief,

climate, hydrography, vegetation, fauna and soils. General problems concerning the area’s

geography in Antiquity; (3.4) Natural hazards; (3.5) Natural base resources, being closed

with (3.6) Partial conclusions. Geographical constraints of the urban organism. Although

very few of the data mentioned in this chapter are later recalled in the analysis, I’ve chosen to

pay an apparently over dimensioned importance to these matters otherwise isolated in the

thesis especially in order to point out that their role is actually very important, from the most

general aspects (location and physical relations between settlements) to the smallest

architectural details (using certain constructive techniques or a certain finishing owed directly

to the local resources types available and/or the climatic conditions). Likewise, also indirectly

it results that our understanding of the urban organisms and their evolution in time is highly

disfavoured by our relatively limited knowledge in matters of historical geography for the

reference area and, moreover, by the professional barriers which stand up, also in this

direction – this time between archaeology, history and urbanism on one side and historical

geography on the other side, with its (highly) technical specific disciplines.

The chapter dedicated to the historical frame comprises, before its subchapters, a short

introduction in which are mentioned the main terminological conventions used in the thesis,

especially regarding chronological aspects. The first subchapter, on its turn with an

introductory character, 4.1 The area’s strategic importance in the political context of the Late

Roman Empire, bridges the period of interest with the one it follows at the scale of the

analysed area, with an emphasis on its traditional key-role – as it results from the conclusions,

a role which profoundly marks the concerned sites’ configuration, on a general as well as

detailed level.

The second subchapter, 4.2 Relevant historical phases and events for the province’s urban life

evolution in Late Antiquity, is structured in four sections corresponding to the chronological

scheme of the interest period which were presented in the current chapter’s introductive part.

For each of these four phases were presented here global aspects considered relevant from the

perspective of the constructive activity, as usually described by the historians, but not before

presenting summary information referring to political, administrative, military, economic and

social issues – which generated the development or, by contrary, the degradation of life

conditions in general and urban life in particular.

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The chapter ends, symmetrically with the previous one, with a short part of 4.3 Partial

conclusions. Historical constraints of the urban organism. The general observation –

although sort of obvious – is that in the analysed territory and period the urban life was, in the

given historical context, essentially dependent to the presence here of the Roman

administration and that once withdrawn the urban organisms practically succumbed under the

barbarian populations’ increasing pressure.

[1b] The central chapters of the thesis comprise its main analytical part (or the

cumulative/comparative analysis), having as support the site files which compose the 2nd

Volume.

Chapter 5, General frame of the analysed centres, opens the analysis with the main guides

which define the studied centres’ configuration (site/location, general chronology and major

functions). In the first subchapter, 5.1, The distribution on the province’s territory and the

sites’ typology derived characteristics, gains shape the confirmation of the typology based on

the criteria of major topographical localisation; it was empirically used as a premise (i. e. the

sites’ classification into maritime, interior and Danube-line – see above, with reference to

section 2.1.2) and it was successively confirmed on the analysis track in different points (main

functions, fortifications etc.) – a recurrent typology in the province’s specialized literature,

once again confirmed.

The second subchapter (5.2) presents a comparative chronology of the analysed sites – for

which Annex 1 is illustrative (Volume 3; see also below). We’re not speaking here about an

actual analysis, since the purpose was simply to centralize data from literature as it is; in this

respect, a critical approach would have exceeded my own competence and the thesis’s

purpose. This presentations’ role is to allow an easier control of the chronological relation

between the analysed sites, one that often fundaments some correlations (analogies, even

typologies etc.). The discussed chronological palette covers – in a schematic manner,

obviously – the whole functioning interval of the concerned sites in the Antiquity, starting

from the pre-Roman/Greek eras and ending with the Late Roman one, as they were defined in

Chapter 4’s introduction.

The last subchapter (5.3) introduces the problem of analysed centres’ functions at the

provincial scale, with an emphasis in the first section, 5.3.1, Communication and military

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node, on the component which derives from its dominant role, which is its strategic character

(see also above, referring to section 4.1). The second section, 5.3.2, Territorial representation

centre: political, administrative, economic, social, cultural and religious, is a brief

radiography of the territorial centres’ main functions, also having in consideration the

analysed centres which were actually or could have been subordinated to other territorial

centres. The detailing was implicitly made through the actual analysis of the constructions

which serve the respective functions (according to the level of knowledge) in the next

chapters as well as – and often more detailed – in the file sites, which is why at this point I’ve

limited the speech strictly to briefly explaining the relation between the territorial centre

(civitas), territory (territorium) and secondary territorial centres, as well as to enumerating the

centres’ possible functions according to their status (main or secondary territorial centres,

which at the summary level of the discussion also comprise the ones having an uncertain

status, assimilated to the most probable of them).

Chapter 6, Configuration of analysed centres, is the central part of the analysis, where all

urban components inventoried in the site files (Volume 2) were more or less equally treated;

since it gathers information from many discussion levels for all the 16 sites analysed, it is also

the thesis’ largest chapter (92 pages, a bit over one quarter from the first volume). The

chapter’s structure is similar to the site files’ central section (2, The urban structures’

configuration): 6.1 Special structures: river and sea ports, 6.2 Defensive systems, 6.3 Intra

muros configuration, 6.4 Extra muros configuration. I’ve mentioned above “were more or less

equally treated” because the various discussion elements were actually treated proportionally

to their importance from our perspective and also the current archaeological knowledge stage.

Although unable to reach into detail, subchapter 6.1 underlines through various elements and

possible perspectives the high importance of studying harbour installations towards the better

understanding of the corresponding sites’ general configuration, especially having in mind the

fact that their functioning was truly vital for their survival and, on the other hand, that their

configuration is actually barley known.

A higher importance (meaning that the subject was slightly expanded compared to others) was

given to fortifications (6.2) and the built stock’s main elements (6.3) which already comprise

a solid base for urbanistical analysis, especially Christian basilicas. These two architectural

programmes are also key elements in understanding the ensemble’s general configuration (in

these particular cases, the fortifications) and its interpretation (both), also being useful for the

14

evaluation of the analysed centres’ major functions at the provincial scale. In both cases, the

approach was made on several levels, generally on a general scale (urbanistical) and only

isolated at the architectural level11, when the specific typologies (especially referring to

fortifications) were substantially relevant for the ensemble’s chronology and evolution.

Concerning fortifications, the presentation had mainly a trimming role towards the

confirmation or adaptation of typologies and/or already consecrated chronologies (still

extremely relevant on the methodological thread and necessary to be parsed critically), while

in a secondary plan it had the outcome of pointing out contexts necessary to be re-evaluated

(the most difficult situations were observed at Tomis and Carsium, both largely treated in the

site files, of which the first was recently presented in an article12

). The novelty13

here is the

approach of the relation between the Christian basilicas and the context they belong to,

summarily analysed or for which I’ve proposed possible analysis directions, from several

perspectives: their density compared to the intra muros surface, the spatial relation with the

fortification wall and the main14 circulation axes, the orientation in relation to the cardinal

points and the built stock (seeking to establish the way these buildings were inserted in the

urban tissue, see below), the spatial relation with the ensemble formed by the main circulation

axes and the built stock (seeking to establish their distribution mode – by “neighbourhoods”

or random), the relation with the site (the landscape, perception directions of the extra and

intra muros basilicas)15, as well as to establish the insertion type in the pre-existent urban

tissue (suddenly/gradual, indifferent/relative). For the better known sites and based on the

presently available data some interesting conclusions were drawn, all of them requiring future

examination:

11

On one side being unnecessary on this level of the analysis, on the other side because both subjects were

detailed by recent the theses mentioned above, or by others (Virgil Apostol, on fortifications; Irina Achim, Ştefan Bâlici and Ioan Iaţcu, on Christian basilicas). In what concerns the Christian basilicas, the architectural

detailed analysis was considered necessary in the site files (an aspect also detailed in the first volume, section

2.3.1.3), in order to understand their functional scheme and the possible relations to the rest of the built stock, as

well as another aspect considered here (although on a secondary plan) – the one of used construction materials

and techniques, see also below, referring to chapter 8. 12

Teodor, Alexandra, 2014, “The roman defensive systems of Tomis. Some issues in the light of the current

knowledge”, The Postgraduate Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology (ReDIVA), no. 2: 92–146. 13

If they were not also approached in PhD dissertations of Irina Achim and/or Ştefan Bâlici, to which I only had

partial access (many thanks to Irina Achim). 14

For which an hierarchical convention was established (strictly with methodological purpose, but somehow

generally relevant on the interpretative level as well), starting from the analysis of Alan Kaiser on similar urban structures (Roman Urban Street Networks, New York, London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011),

obviously adapted to the context. 15

Undetailed direction – only suggested – since it would have implied unjustified time consumption in relation

to the theme, as well as using specialized software (3D GIS) for which necessary dedicate resources would have

been required. Still, it is a theme for future research, with an interesting potential from the perspective of urban

antique landscape.

15

− in average, in the last important constructive phase (the VIth Century) we can count

one basilica to about 1-3 ha intra muros;

− another estimation indicates that the basilicas’ useful area (considered here the narthex

and the nave, measured inside) occupies between 1 and 3% of the intra muros16

area,

with a maximum up to 5%;

− the report between central placed basilicas and the eccentric ones related to the

fortification delimited ensemble is approximately equal, whether they have episcopal

range or not;

− their report to the main or secondary streets is quite equivalent;

− most of the basilicas have a deviation of about 160-20

0 of the West-East direction, the

maximum reaching to 40-450, while the minumum tend to 0;

− the relevant cases indicate the fact that in the predominantly civil centres with over 2

ha surface (value understood here as a “module”, see above) it is very possible to have

existed a distribution of the basilicas by “neighborhoods”/sectors.

In what concerns the urban scale evolution of the programme, the inventoried data regarding

the main construction phases’ chronology, according to the actual research level, led to the

conclusion that the religious buildings’ constructive activity significantly grew up in the phase

corresponding to the end of the Vth and the beginning of the VIth Century, when almost half

(13) of the intra muros basilicas’ total known number (28) were built, of which three overlap

older basilicas. As for the insertion type at the ensemble’s scale, data regarding both the

fortifications and Christian basilicas’ chronology suggest that the last ones were planned

rather later than the precincts and, implicitly, after the street network’s tracing. Two insertion

types were identified (mainly after their orientation and the spatial relation to the

fortifications): constrained by the existing tissue (10) and compatible with the existing tissue

(where the street network’s orientation corresponds to the canonical orientation, eight).

Finally, in only six cases it is approximately known the overlapped tissue’s character (public

or private buildings, streets), thus a preliminary conclusion would be that, for building new

Christian basilicas, sites previously occupied by major built stock were generally preferred17

.

16

With a certain approximation, these numbers indicate whether the already discovered basilica are or aren’t

close to the number possible to estimate. 17

A difference was made between the “major” and “minor” built stock, argued in the paper (section 2.3.1.2.3),

meaning between usually large(r) constructions, generally assimilable to public properties, respectively small

16

The most important conclusion deriving from the ones above is that generally one cannot

speak of a brutal insertion of this programme in the built tissue – an intervention which could

have meant a West-East orientation indifferent to the street network’s layout, to the already

existing buildings and/or to the functional relations within the city.

Towards the end of the subchapter it was also mentioned the episcopal ensembles’

interpretation issue, often questionable (Histria, Callatis, Tropaeum Traiani), while in other

cases insufficiently explored, starting exclusively from long ago published data (Troesmis).

Subchapter 6.3 ends with a series of conclusions which cumulate the quite detailed analysis’

results, already presented above:

- in its ensemble, the Christian religious programme occupies a proportional surface

compared to the one of intra muros (see above), an observation which consolidates the

empirical general presumption that there existed a direct relation between the programmes

dimensioning and the (Christian) population number;

- the urban insertions were generally made with consideration to the existing tissue, thus not

having such a drastic character as one might think on a first view in the specialized

literature of this problems and the ones connected (urban landscape, various specific

transformations from these centuries etc.); the significant changes generated by this

programme can be observed rather in the plan of urban functions and less in the urban

landscape itself, otherwise said through a powerful visual impact.

Besides the elements described above as being the most important and relevant for the theme,

the same subchapter summary centralized the available data referring to infrastructure (6.3.1:

special installations – bridges, landscape design; street networks and urban squares; water

supply; drainage systems), as well as the other elements of the major built stock (6.3.2,

programmes for: representation; entertainment, recreation, hygienic and sanitary; production,

stocking and commerce).

The minor built stock (6.3.3) only general appreciations could be done considering the urban

insulae’s shapes, the recurrence of the inner courtyard, number of rooms per unit etc. The lack

of a detailed analysis on this segment, which would have presumed a substantial effort, was

partially compensated through indicating possible directions of study. A separated discussion

constructions, which form the unit base of the urban tissue – often residential buildings, theoretically assigned to

private ownership.

17

was made, also summary, referring to the so-called “circular constructions”; their functional

interpretation – yet uncertain – could lead to interesting conclusions regarding the use of

public and semi-private space within the residential areas.

Another subchapter (6.3.4) is dedicated to the military programmes, which occupy an

important place at least within the analysed centres situated on the Danube line. Buildings

identified as principia (the commandment), praetorium (the commander’s residential

building) and horreum (storage house), as well as a possible functional identification

(valetudinarium – military hospital) were inventoried, each of them being presented within

the corresponding site files.

Issues related to the uncertain functional interpretation of some buildings were separately

grouped in the site files, the most important of them being synthetized in subchapter 6.3.5.

The matter was already introduced in the specialized literature for about two decades and

concerns the buildings usually assigned to the main civil functions for urban representation

(civil basilicas), for which the foreign specialists18 increasingly convey a new functional

interpretation (implicitly dismissing to the first) – the one of horreum (pl. horrea, state’s

provisions deposit buildings). The main concern around this matter’s clarification consists in

the functional interpretation of the urban ensembles where such buildings were discovered

(Histria, Callatis, Tropaum Traiani and Zaldapa): either the civil component is predominant

through the presence here of the programme with urban valence by excellence, or, on the

contrary, the predominance ought to be assigned to the military component, through the

presence here of the function most probably correlated to the imperial provisioning system of

the limes fortifications (annona militaris).

The last subchapter referring to intra muros configuration (6.3.6) inventories isolated graves

discoveries19

- a small number in the actual stage of knowledge, respectively situations

difficult to interpret and to explore from our theme’s perspective.

The last part of the volume’s central chapter (6.4) concentrates the information – quite a few –

concerning the extra muros configurations, following a structure similar to the intra muros

one, yet substantially more condensed (given the available data). The most consistent data

18

See the authors quoted in the paper, but especially the most recent of the studies - Rizos, Efthymios, 2014,

“Centres of the Late Roman Military Supply Network in the Balkans: A Survey of Horrea”, Jahrbuch Des

Römisch- Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, forthcoming – a paper which I had the opportunity to consult

thanks to the author’s generosity, to whom I am grateful. 19 As a correspondent o the section referring to necropolises, see below, about extra muros configuration.

18

were gathered around a component apparently remote from the thematic point of view, yet

extremely relevant from the perspective of understanding the general urban dynamic, and

especially of the extra muros residential areas: the necropolises (6.4.4). The purpose of this

short section is to underline the main directions from which the subject may have,

theoretically, a high relevance in relation to the thesis’ theme. In the economy of the project –

more precisely, of the site files – a certain attention was given to this matter in those situations

in which it provided a complementary data set to some uncertain configurations – such as

Tomis and Carsium.

Chapter 7, Contribution of geophysical research to the urban configuration analysis at

Tropaeum Traiani, (L)Ibida and Halmyris, pursued the capitalization of geophysical

research’ results, edited or inedited20, strictly from the perspective of the main theme. For the

three case studies the available magnetometric maps were georeferenced (when they weren’t

already), summary interpreted (exclusively referring to possible built structures, more

precisely their plan) and correlated to the available archaeological data. General site plans

resulted, which integrate the two types of data sets (geophysical and archaeological) and

describe three distinct situations, all corresponding to the last significant urban constructing

phase (end of Vth Century – first part of VIth Century): for Tropaeum Traiani was for the first

time obtained a quasi-complete plan of the ensemble’s intra muros configuration (the street

network and the approximate shape of the built stock); at (L)Ibida it could be reached a

possible confirmation of an hypothesis regarding street network’s possible configuration

(practically unknown through archaeological means, except the orientation of some isolated

elements of the built stock, which also confirmed the proposed hypothesis); finally, at

Halmyris, besides the quasi-complete plan of the intra muros configuration, the extra muros

geophysical research’ results were also integrated in the general site plan, obtaining thus the

first plan for the analysed sites which comprises both intra muros and extra muros structures

on a comparable surface, while the last having also a certain degree of details and

homogeneity.

In chapter 8, Construction materials and techniques – sinopsis, the purpose was to briefly

put together data on the subject inventoried within the site files, as well as to point out the

main relevant analysis directions from the urbanistic point of view regarding these matters,

20

All inedited results to which I’ve had access and was able to integrate in this analysis were realized by Dan

Ștefan, to which I am grateful.

19

and also the main issues observed in relation to the various implications it may have. Among

these issues, one may count: construction materials and techniques as indicator for cultural

and economic parameters; as standard for chronological suppositions (especially here were

observed severe problems of chronological interpretation in some ensembles’ evolution,

implicitly with repercussions over understanding their function entirely or partially); and the

authenticity of construction materials and techniques (concerning here the modern

interventions and the difficulty one frequently has in distinguishing the existent situation by

the one archaeologically discovered). Besides these aspects, treated exclusively in the

introductory part of the chapter (8.1, Research background and its importance) or

punctually recalled in the following sections, four subchapters were summarily developed,

gathering the relevant information recorded in the site files on: 8.2, Fortifications; 8.3,

Streets; 8.4, Built stock and 8.5, Spolia. The last one mentioned – concerning reused

construction materials or with a different initial function (usually named spolia) – introduces

the subject of a particular research direction, quite provocative through the issues implied,

among which one may count the materials’ provenience, their transport and thus the way they

contribute on one side at the chronological interpretation of the structures they were integrated

in, and on the other side to the understanding of construction materials’ general route at the

regional scale, subsequently, through this, the corresponding building costs.

Chapter 9, Territories of the analysed centres, has the role of strictly pointing out the

existence of the main components complementary to the territorial centre (respectively the

ones relevant for this theme), elements which practically ensure the administrative system’s

functioning at the provincial scale – the urban or military centre’s territory itself (territorium)

(9.1, Delimitation and spatial organization), respectively (9.2) Roads, settlements, water

catchment and transport, and exploitation of natural resources. They were summarily treated

in the site files, sometimes only by indicating minimal bibliography – with only few

exceptions which were detailed proportionally to the available documentation (e.g.: the water

supply system of Tropaeum Traiani, the best documented among all corresponding to the

studied cases).

[1c] The synthesis and conclusions chapters count ca 47 pages, summing up about 15% of

the main volume. If the first of them (chapter 10) is practically a synthetic transition between

the analysis and the conclusions, by summing up the main methodological wires followed, the

20

second and last (chapter 11) points out the most important conclusions correlated to the

project’s main contributions, either original, either significant in relation to the ones already

entered in the specialized literature.

In chapter 10, Synthesis: configuration and evolution of analysed centres, an evaluation of

the relations between the main determinant elements and/or urban components discussed in

the previous chapters was performed, while the purpose was to trace common elements and

tendencies in the configuration and evolution of the ensembles they were part of. On the level

of relations between urban components the following directions were pursued, the

conclusions being presented afterwards:

- 10.1.1 Fortifications depending on site, the general frame and their evolution in time –

where information in sections 5.1 and 6.2 were correlated;

- 10.1.2 Relations between fortifications and street network – where information in sections

6.2 and 6.3.1.2 were correlated;

- 10.1.3 Buildings depending on fortifications and street network – where information in

sections 6.3.2 and 6.3.3, on one side, and sections 6.2 and 6.3.1.2, on the other side, were

correlated.

As a response to the issues introduced in the first part of the paper (see above, referring to

sections 1.2.2.3 and 1.2.2.4), in sections 10.1.4, Excursus: castrum’s functional scheme in the

Late Roman Period – a possible interpretation and 10.1.5, Excursus: the joint area tissue,

possible key in the interpretation of urban and military centres’ evolution in the Late Roman

Period, were formulated, as a result of the synthesis above, a series of hypotheses. Both

sections are briefly presented below (when presented chapter 11, Conclusions), as part of the

original contributions brought in the secondary plan of the framing domain.

The conclusions resulted after this both analytic and synthetic path were centralized in section

10.2. The main phenomenon contoured and which had a determinant role in the configuration

of the analyzed centers is the “chain” effect of the strategic factor, which is expressed on all

the three relation plans analyzed above: from the site to the defensive concept, with obvious

effects over the fortifications’ configuration, then from the last one to the street network and,

finally, from the street network to the built stock. By consequence, one can conclude that the

strategic role of the region didn’t only have effects on the constructive/architectural

level, i. e. only in the defensive architecture, but in a certain amount also in the

21

urbanistic setup; in another words, in the Late Roman Period the strategic role of the region

determined the essence of the analyzed centers’ configuration21, while in the previous period

there had been a net distinction, at least from a functional point of view, between the civil and

the military settlements and, at least in theory, this was also reflected in their physical layout.

Regarding evolutions, the most interesting aspect for the analyzed case studies is precisely the

continuous functioning of most of these centers in both phases of the Imperial era. However,

indifferent to this criterion – of their functioning in both phases or only in one of them –, a

possible rephrase, maybe more concise, of the general conclusion is that the authentic roman

urbanism (excluding thus the maritime sites) from the province of Scythia had a powerful

military character, which was identified not only in the actual layout of its spatial structures,

but also in the ideological plan of the larger system they were integrated to, as small pieces of

a very complex mechanism. In this sense, the arguing chain ends with the simple observation

that most of the analyzed centers ceased to function simultaneously with the disappearance of

the impulse which generated their own existence and development: the (sometimes

exclusively) strategic character of the site; once the interest and/or capacity of the Roman

authorities to maintain the Lower Danube border line vanished, their ending became

imminent. The following reactivation recorded for some of these centers in the Middle Ages

or in the Premodern Period had most of the times a temporary character and was also

generated by significantly military circumstances.

Again as a reply to an issue brought up in the introductory part, more precisely defining the

urban character (discussed mainly in the sections 1.2.1.2.3 and 1.2.2.3), although it was not

possible to formulate a general response/definition (which is perhaps impossible), a given-

context definition was proposed – since its based strictly on the available data for the analyzed

sites (10.3, Definition of urban character starting from theme’s coordinates). Thus, for the

reference area and period, the urban character of a settlement – either with civil or military

origin – is first of all conditioned by the presence of both fortification wall and a certain

space configuration pattern. Then, the urban character is proportional to providing the main

conditions of comfort and quality of life (in optimum conditions also generating extra muros

residential areas), and in a certain proportion to its role as a territorial center, frequently

doubled, in the last major constructive phase (end of Vth – first part of VIth Centuries) by the

role of episcopal center. Particularly, through its economical capacities and opportunities,

21 A fact which explains the difficulty of delimiting them (with reference to section 2.1).

22

the urban character of the fundamentally civil centers (as opposed to the predominantly

military ones) is also proportional to its functional, social and ethnic diversity.

In the last subchapter (10.4) the main future research directions were traced, from the

perspective of this project’s domain-frame, the urban history (others than the ones pointed on

the different occasions along the way, generally specific to the theme): the contemporary

context (briefly, the method’s extension and adaptation to other regions of the Empire) and the

overlapped cities: stratigraphy and interpretation, which mainly proposes the analysis of

current structures which may inherit antique structures and the identification of common

elements between the two distanced phases in time, but not in space. The last direction

targets, from the current theme’s perspective, especially settlements which correspond to the

described situation – Tomis/Constanţa, Callatis/Mangalia, respectively Carsium/Hârşova, to

which we might add, if by any chance it could be relevant given the available data (quite

summary), the antique centre from Aegyssus, today overlapped by Tulcea city (which wasn’t

analyzed here because insufficient data).

Since the main synthetic closings concerning the analyzed centers were presented in the

penultimate chapter, the last one, Chapter 11, Conclusions, points out, besides the relation

between the initial objectives and the results (practically covered above, therefore not to be

repeated here), the main general contributions of the project:

- on the scientific/urban history level, it represents the first synthesis dedicated to the

configuration and evolution of urban and military centers from the territory of Late

Roman Dobruja;

- on a methodological/data management level, the main structure of the site files represents

an original contribution resulted from adapting the theoretical understanding of the urban

system to the actual configuration of the analyzed structures, as well as to the general

context (mainly historical and geographical); moreover, the centralization of the data

available in the specialized literature of the analyzed study-cases following the proposed

site file structure led to the constitution of a valuable structured and partially reinterpreted

documentary fund. On one side, it was the basis for the whole analysis from the first

volume and implicitly its conclusions, and on another side it could be the ground for

future research pointing either relatively simple themes, such as analyses for a single

thematic level, either more complex themes, for example the analysis of relations between

various elements (as it allows a large combination palette) or comparative analyses with

23

other data sets, from “external” sources. At the same time, it is an open working system

which allows on one side the update of the already centralized information, as well as the

structure’s adaptation to the particular situations which may interfere. Obviously – and it

has to be underlined here – in this project it was not possible, nor intended, an exhaustive

exploitation of all the data centralized; the intentions were first of all the creation and

adaptation of a methodology starting straight from the case studies, and secondly to reach

observations starting from such systematical organized data and not from the premises

already served by the specialized literature or by hypotheses with uncontrollable origins –

own or others’. The advantages of this approach are that, on one side, it doesn’t tend to

exhaust the subject, as it is usually pursued without justification – but by contrary, to

develop it –, and on another side that it assures the premises of objectivity and developing

grounded working hypotheses, repeatable anytime by following the methodological wire

(possibility conditioned by respecting some conventions, by coherence and transparency

in data recording and their interpretation);

- on a secondary plan, from the area of data management, the integration of different

published plans in the past decades: ensemble plans, yet always incomplete (because of

the limitative nature of the representations on paper), sector or various details’ plans. For

each site these plans were integrated in a single digital environment, using as support

georeferenced orthophotography. It is more than a simple plans catalogue, since they were

all scaled and georeferenced based on the above mentioned support. Furthermore, many

plans were also vectorised in order to obtain 2D representations assembled from multiple

sources. This procedure is the first step towards building an organized database for

graphical archeological documentation available for the analyzed sites; I consider its

utility not only important, but vital in the context of such a large amount of graphic

documentation, extremely mixed, as it has proven to be in the present study;

- in the interdisciplinary/urbanistical plan, both the site files’ structure (which calls a

standard classification – of course, adapted – of architectural and urbanistical programmes

for inventorying known archaeological structures), the technical approach of the

planimetric representation of the archaeological structures, as well as the proposed

solution for correlating the two data sets (text and illustration) are all inspired by the

typical methodologies used for modern urbanism and historical tissue analyses projects.

This approach is new, at least for the delimited theme.

24

In the secondary plan of scientific contributions, more precisely at the subtle intersection

between urban history and archaeology, there is a series of new or reevaluated hypotheses,

(re)generated in relation to the particular situations of some study cases or, by contrary, to

some distinctive features observed as a common element of some more sites. I’ll only mention

here the ones with a character of novelty or significant contribution:

- the demonstration regarding the possible inheritance in the contemporary street network of

Constanţa’s historical center of the Roman street network, in the area between today’s

Ovidiu Square and Ferdinand Boulevard;

- the identification of a possible domus type residential area in the so-called “Cathedral’s

Park” (“Parcul Catedralei”) from Constanţa (Tomis), built after a model-plan; based on the

archaeological structures’ configuration I’ve also proposed a functional scheme. If the

hypothesis is correct, these would be the first identified and recognised structures of this

type in the analysed provincial capital;

- the Zaldapa street network issue resumes, briefly, on pointing out its character, which is

compouned but essentially regulated – opposed to the previous formulated oppinnions,

according to which the city was built starting from an irregular street network. Although

an apparently minor contribution, the observation is essential when it comes to typological

delimitations of spatial patterns for the analysed configurations and wheights a lot in

understanding their evolution;

- from the interdisciplinary area of the study, but also a contribution, one could mention the

available geophisical data’ integration for three of the analyzed study cases (all mentioned

above, referring to chapter 7);

- in the main-frame domain of urban history, but also in the particular plan of the Late

Antique studies on the phenomena which describe it, maybe the most significant original

contributions are pointing out some key-elements, in my opinion, for deciphering and

understanding the urban and military structures’ evolution in their ensemble during the

period of interest – obviously, referring strictly to the studied area; indirectly, though,

these hypotheses render themselves as the main future research directions in this domain

for other areas of the Roman Empire. There are two aspects which arose:

25

o the first is the Roman classical castrum’s functional scheme identification in the

Late Roman analyzed military structures’ configuration, proving thus their

conceptual continuity, with the specific evolutions;

o the second concerns not only the systematical trace of the causes which

determined the Late Roman urban and military centers’ transformations (they are

mainly the already known – defensive and strategic considerations), but also the

identification of the physical elements from which these alterations started from

and the brief indication of the manner they evolved. I’ve named these physical

elements, generically, the joint area tissue, referring especially to the relation

between the city walls and the adjoining urban tissue. Following a very brief

analysis – as part of this paper’s synthesis – two such joint area tissue types were

identified:

� type A joint area tissue, which is “indifferent” to the city wall and it is

characteristic for the classical Roman structures (both military and civil);

� type B joint area tissue, which is “determined” by the city wall and it is

characteristic for the Late Roman structures (both military and civil) –

where the “Late” attribute is symmetrical to the one within the general

concept of “Late Antiquity”.

Overall, the general conclusions which were drawn from the analysis regarding the chosen

study cases are (the are enumerated here indifferent if they were or not pointed out by

previous studies – in which case they are again confirmed –, while the essential contributions

were already listed above):

- the studied centers are grouped typologically, following several criteria (site type,

settlement’s origin, role and functions on the provincial scale, spatial configuration model)

in three categories of distinct structures: the maritime centers (essentially, Greek based),

the centers along the imperial road (the inner centers) and the Danube line centers. The

ones in the last two categories are, essentially, Roman; the exceptions in this typological

structure are very rare and generally explainable – and they were mentioned in the paper;

- the essentially Roman fortifications (for both military and civil centers; the inner and the

Danubian ones) very faithfully reflect the generically named here IVth

Century defensive

architecture and quite little reflect the one of the subsequent centuries from the chosen

26

chronological frame (largely the Vth

-VIth

centuries), a fact which indicates a certain

stagnation of the defensive constructive activity at the provincial scale;

- the main criteria which based the configuration of the roman fortifications (the inner and

the Danubian ones, military or civil), were the defensive and the functional ones; an

efficient compromise between them was pursued, accordingly to the strategic needs of the

period they were conceived (see above). The monumental character, in exchange,

although it was highlighted for both military and civil fortifications, when it exists (quite

rarely, though) it is completely subordinated to the first two; the main centers where the

monumental character of some structures – either defensive, urban tissue or ensemble –

was distinguished are, among the civil centers, the provincial capital (Tomis), (L)Ibida,

Tropaeum Traiani, perhaps also Zaldapa, while among the essentially military we could

count the legionary or fleet centers (Troesmis East and Noviodunum). Neither of the

examples identified does not correspond entirely to the “classical” urban monumentality

concepts, while their expression in the militay cases presents powerful “late” accents, in

the same above mentioned sense;

- from the row of the essentially subjective conclusions, but I believe sufficiently argued in

the paper, the main program born and developed in the analyzed period – the official

Christian architecture –, at least in the analyzed cases doesn’t seem to have the most often

invoked urbanistic impact. Although, undeniable, its presence is noted in all centers,

indifferent to their nature – civil or military – and although (generically/theoretically, this

time) it polarizes or, by contrary, it annuls a large (and significant) part of the previously

known public functions provided by divers and often monumental architectural programs,

the Christian basilicas in the analyzed centers are most of the times subordinated to the

preexistent street network, indifferent to their volume and proportions, and do not

interfere with the previous structures more than other official architecture programs, back

in the Classical Period, would have interfered. It is also to be noticed that despite the fact

that frequently their orientation is different from the one of the adjoining urban tissue,

they do not generate mutations in the city’s configuration (to be more precise, “chain”

effects) – as actually did, for example, the defensive criteria in the joint area tissue

determined by the city wall (see above);

- the study’s limitations – but perhaps also the ones of the general knowledge – did not

allow obtaining a clear perspective (at least as the ones above, for example) on the relation

27

between the civic spirit and the urban character, having as investigation element the

subject of edilitary equipment and construction materials and techniques; on the other

hand, in the given historical context – which was extremely agitated and adverse to a

natural self sustained urban development, a comparative analysis between the two aspects

would be very difficult (and maybe even useless); they were both “classical” Roman

values which fainted when confronted to the main ordinator factors of the urban

configuration and quality: the strategic/defensive and the functional criteria.

Precisely because it is the first synthesis on the theme, it is implicit and assumed the fact that

this approach presents the risks and problems which characterize any beginning. The issues’

scale – on both directions, horizontal (the reach in the involved domains’ “surface”) and

vertical (depth) – was, obviously, proportional to the methodology used, but despite its

complex character it has the capacity to show us exactly what we’ve been looking for in the

first place: an overall panorama, on all relevant dimensions. Such a radiographic perspective,

at the (or some sort of) beginning point – which is actually rather a “node” in which former

endeavors gathered –, has the role of pointing out aspects previously uncovered or

insufficiently analyzed and not to actually “solve” them, even with the necessary reservations.

This approach’s sequel will have to start not so much from the conclusions (which are,

essentially, some “details”), but from its critical evaluation, the method’s improvement and

from pursuing its efficient implementation through a permanent adaptation on one side to the

new data coming from the archaeological research, and on the other side to the current

technical opportunities the vital domain of data management provides.

***

[1d] Presented after the last chapter, the bibliography, as an inventory of the quoted and

consulted (by case: integrally, most frequently titles in section; or partially, titles in sections

1-4), is common to both written volumes (most of the quoted titles corresponding to the

second volume, which fundaments the whole analysis in the first volume) and it is structured

by the quoted titles’ type: 1. Literary and epigraphic sources (volumes) [11 titles]; 2. Guides,

encyclopedia and dictionary [18 titles]; 3. Volumes of studies, syntheses, and monographs

[161 titles]; 4. PhD and master theses [20 titles]; 5. Studies, articles, oral presentations and

brochures (including archaeological reports previous to the periodical, Cronica Cercetărilor

Arheologice - CCA) [463 titles]; 6. CCA consulted reports [for 10 of the 16 sites, selective or

28

integrally]; 7. Web sources [77] and, as a distinctive category, 8. Cartographic sources,

orthophotoplans and cadastral plans [14].

[1e] The glossary presents specialized terms (55) which either:

- were frequently used in the paper, such as the conventional names of historical periods or

correspondents, of more or less direct interest in the paper – e.g.: the Early Roman Period /

the Principate; the Late Roman Period / the Dominate; Tetrarchy; - constructive techniques –

e.g. opus caementicium, opus incertum, opus quadratum, opus signinum – etc.;

- terms which imply interpretative ambiguities, according to current use – e.g.: principia,

praetorium;

- terms considered less usual in the current language – even the specialized ones (in respect to

the period of study), given the fact that their use in the paper was necessary at some certain

context – e.g.: bothros.

The definitions presented were adapted after the ones met in the quoted sources – which are

not always the most relevant, but sometimes are examples of terms’ use in the same way they

were used in the paper, or by contrary (when specified). This material’s purpose isn’t to cover

all terms’ meanings, but to point out the meaning they were used for. At some expressions

I’ve only mentioned the meaning, without ponting out a source, since they are currently used

in the consulted literature and they gennerally don’t bear multiple interpretation (e.g.

orthogonal stret network, poterna).

[2] The second volume, the site files catalogue, comprises the 16 site files corresponding to

the analyzed study cases (mentioned above, [1], referring to section 2.1), in 382 pages. The

number of pages for each study case is proportional to the published and consulted

documentation, but also to the site’s surface. The larger site files count 50, respectively 62

pages (Tropaeum Traiani and Tomis), while the smaller ones count 7, respectively 9 pages

(Acres and Callatis). All were structured by the same skeleton (the site files’ frame-structure),

presented at the beginning of the current volume; the categories for which there were no data

available or eventually the existent sources were not consulted were left uncompleted

(precisely for their visibility and conformity with the common frame-structure). All files send

to the relevant illustration, as well as the spatial identifiers which are marked on the plans (the

grid system).

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[3] The third volume is structured in two parts, totalizing 200 pages plus references and

Annex 1:

- Part I corresponds to Volume 1 and contains illustration (14 tables and 111 figures, A4 and

A3 formats) for the 10 chapters;

- Part II corresponds to Volume 2, the (text) site files, and it is structured similarly to it

(illustration sets corresponding to each text site-file); a number of 125 figures are presented,

most of them plans (A4 and A3 formats). The number of figures is also proportional to the

available documentation and the site’s surface, as the larger site-files were illustrated by 37

(Tropaeum Traiani), 11 (Tomis), 10 (Histria), respectively 9 figures (Noviodunum), while the

smaller ones count only 4 (Argamum, Callatis, Sacidava, Capidava, Carsium, Troesmis) or 2

figures (Acres). The scale of the drawings is random (i. e. convenient, but controlled), in a

manner which allowed easily presenting various frames and detail levels, according to the

integrated spatial data. All plans are georeferenced, with coordinates point presented in the

general site plans; for readability, the Stereo 70 and geographical coordinates were also listed

in the text site-file, in their introductive part;

- The sources of the plans which used in the site-files’ illustration is presented centralized,

in the already familiar order of the sites’ enumeration. All plans which were integrated in the

georeferenced workspace are listed here, either their elements were or not processed

(vectorized and correlated) and presented in the illustration or were simply consulted.

- Annex 1, an A0 format file, contains one large table named Bibliographic data

centralization regarding the chronology, stratigraphy and fortifications of the analyzed

centers. It is structured on two directions: the vertical one – chronological, where the main

dates are noted (emperor’s reign dates, consecrated barbarian attacks etc.) – respectively an

horizontal one, where the 16 sites are distributed, to which four columns correspond for each

of the following criteria: chronological phases, stratigraphy, fortifications (phases and

summary characteristics) and necropolises (phases, eventually name/localization)22.

22

This material was only presented here because it served, in a certain stage of the analysis, to the correlation

between data corresponding to the investigated sites on the different levels mentioned here (basically, the

essential ones at the ensemble’s scale); still, the data centralized here is not necessarily complete or the most

recent, since the chapter was completed during the site files’ edit and their verification abandoned at some point,

because it was an unjustified time-consuming procedure in the project’s general economy.