Minor Fortifications in the Balkan-Danubian Area from Diocletian to Justinian

Description

The study of constructions and military architecture in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods is refl ected by a rich scientific literature, but the level of knowledge reached is much lower than that in the same field, but for the Early Roman period. Even if the archaeological research during the last decades made significant contributions to the domain, many of the specialized works use a schematic approach by dating the fortifications or analyzing the evolution of military architecture based primarily on the literary and epigraphic sources, but also on an incorrect interpretation of the archaeological data. Th is led, in the absence of clear epigraphic data and without a serious analysis of the archaeological material, to a datation of military or urban fortifications only according to the analogies provided by the specialized literature and without the use of a critical approach. Starting from this situation, the present work tries to systematize the data available for minor fortifications (those with a reduced surface) in the territories of the dioceses of Dacia and Thrace in the 4th–6th c. AD and to establish the chronology for these structures that has started controversies in many cases. The approach we used is a critical one, based especially on the results of the archaeological research (in many cases insufficient or incorrectly interpreted), but also on comparisons with similar situations in different areas of the Empire. Acknowledgements 7 I. Introduction 9 II. The Dioceses of Thrace and Dacia: Administrative and Military Organization 13 Administrative organization: dioceses, provinces, cities 13 Military organization 21 III. Roads and Fortifications in the Dioceses of Thrace and Dacia 25 Roads 25 Fortifications – literary and epigraphic sources 32 Fortifications – archaeological sources 40 1. Large fortifications 40 2. Medium-size fortifications 44 IV. Minor Fortifications During the Late Empire 51 Terminology 51 Hellenistic and Early Roman origins 54 The regional evidence 62 1. Western provinces 62 2. Southern Balkans 77 3. Eastern provinces 78 4. Africa 86 V. Minor Fortifications in the Dioceses of Thrace and Dacia 93 Gazetteer 93 Typology, chronology, architectural elements 161 1. Towers ('turres'/'pyrgoi') 161 2. 'Burgus'-type 164 3. 'Quadriburgium'-type 169 4. Small 'castellum'-type 179 VI. Conclusions 183 List of abbreviations 187 Bibliography 191 List of illustrations 217 Illustrations 231