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Moesian Limes

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Danube Frontier system before 106 AD

TheMoesian Limes(Latin:Limes Moesicus) is the modern term given to a linked series ofRomanfortson the northern frontier of the Roman province ofMoesiaalong the Danube between theBlack Seashore andPannonia(present-day Hungary) and dating from the 1st century AD. It was the eastern section of the so-calledDanubian Limes[1]and protected the Roman provinces of Upper and LowerMoesiasouth of the river. The eastern section (today in Romania) is often called thelimes Scythiae minoris[2]as it was located in the late Roman province ofScythia Minor.

Map of Roman provinces in 150 AD

Characteristics

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See also:Limes (Roman Empire),List of castra by province,andList of castra in Romania

The Moesian Limes[3]includes essentially the linked forts and stations along the Danube fromSingidunum(Belgrade) to the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea.[4]It was not fortified with palisades or a boundary wall but the forts were linked by a road and included eight legionary fortresses, many forts for auxiliary troops and watch/signal towers.[5]Forts along the Danube are 10 to 30 km apart and inter-visibility does not often exist.

The legionary fortresses included:

Other forts on the Danubelimesincluded:[6]

  • Augustae(near the village of Hurlets)
  • Valeriana(near the village of Dolni Vadin)
  • Variana(near the village of Leskowez)
  • Almus(near the town ofLom)
  • Regianum(near the town ofKozloduy)
  • DimumnearBelene
  • Nikopol
  • Dorticum(Vrav)
  • Sexaginta Prista(near the town of Ruse)
  • Scaidavanear the town of Batin
  • BononiainVidin
  • Ad mare Castrumnear Koshava town[7]

The frontier was divided into two major sections by the river Iskar atOescuswhich also marked the border between the provinces of Moesia Superior and Inferior.

The gorge of the river atDjerdapformed a barrier between north-west and north-east Moesia that was difficult to overcome, initially making communication between the Pannonian and the Moesian armies difficult. This problem was solved only by the construction of a 3m-wide road underTrajan,who had theLegio VII Claudiachisel into the rock walls replacing a wooden towpath construction that was susceptible to damage by drift ice. Other improvements for shipping included the construction of a canal nearNovi Sipto avoid the dangerous rapids and shoals there. The two ends of the canal were secured with forts. The best-known building on the Moesian Limes was Trajan's Bridge atDrobeta/ Turnu Severin from the early 2nd century AD, the first permanent bridge connection across the lower Danube which was also guarded on both banks by forts.

Moesian Limes and other linked Roman walls

History

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Further information:Moesia

Establishment

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Augustuswas the first to advance the empire's south-eastern European border from Macedonia to the line of the Danube to increase strategic depth between the border and Italy and also to provide a major river supply route between the Roman armies in the region.[8]The lower Danube was given priority andMarcus Licinius Crassus,proconsul of Macedonia from 29 BC,[9]drove the Bastarnae back toward the Danube.Legion IV Scythicawas initially stationed in Moesia (probably atViminacium) to counter threats from neighbouring Thrace and aggressive peoples north of the Danube. But as a result of the Dacians constant looting that occurred whenever the Danube froze, Augustus decided to send against them some of his proven generals such asSextus Aelius CatusandGnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Augur(sometime between 1-11 AD[10]). Lentulus pushed them back across the Danube and placed numerous garrisons on the right bank of the river to defend against possible and future incursions.[11]These became the Moesian Limes. At this stage forts on the frontier consisted of earth walls with wooden palisades.

Moesia became a separate province in 6 AD. Roman military excursions across the Danube continued over 100 km to the north of the Danube delta.[12]

TheDaciansraided south of the Danube in 68/69[13]and at the end of 85 or the beginning of 86 AD theDacian kingDurasattacked Moesia and caught the Romans by surprise since the governor,Oppius Sabinus,and his forces were annihilated.[14]Just beforeDomitian's Dacian Warthat followed, Domitian replaced the wood and earth walls of Danubian forts by stone walls in 87 AD (e.g. atTaliata)[citation needed].Accompanied byCornelius Fuscus,Prefect of thePraetorian Guard,he personally arrived in Moesia with legionsLegio IV Flavia Felixfrom Dalmatia,Legio I AdiutrixandLegio II Adiutrixand eventually cleared the invaders from the province.

Expansion beyond

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In the winter of 98/99 AD Trajan arrived on the Danube, quartered at theDiana FortnearKladovo,[citation needed]and started Dacian war preparations on theIron Gatesgorges. He extended the road in the gorge for 30 miles, as he stated on the well-known inscription of 100 AD. In 101 he also cut a canal nearby, as he also recorded on a marble plaque nearDiana Fortwhich reads:

“because of the dangerous cataracts he diverted the river and made the whole Danube navigable”: (ob periculum cataractarum, derivato flumine, tutam Danuvii navigationem facit).

Trajan restored stone defences in the area and rebuilt all earthworks in stone. Just below thePontes forta large port and massivehorreawere built.[citation needed]

Between the first and second Dacian wars, from 103 to 105, the imperial architectApollodorus of DamascusconstructedTrajan's Bridge,one of the greatest achievements in Roman architecture.

Full military occupation of the plain between the Carpathian foothills and the Danube may already have occurred by the end ofTrajan’sFirst Dacian War(101/102). The majority of forts here, however, were established after the final conquest of the Dacian kingdom in 106 AD. However, the Romans did remove the garrisons of the Danube Limes because of the need to preserve the control of transport and trade on the danube ([15]and because troops there were a kind of strategic reserve for other fronts if needed.

The abandonment ofMoldovaand the creation of theLimes Transalutanuscan both be tentatively dated to the reign ofHadrian.

After a long period of peaceSeptimius Severusreconstructed the Moesia Superior defences and underCaracallamore reconstruction was done as can be seen at Pontes where, as with many other Iron Gates forts, the original layout was supplemented with the gates and towers. A new fort was built on an island at the Porečka river.

Retreat to the Danube

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The Roman abandonment of Dacia probably occurred during the reign ofGallienus(260-68), before the traditional date of around 275 whenAurelianestablished the new province of Dacia south of the Danube.[16]

In the Late Roman period, the extent of control and military occupation over territory north of the Danube remains controversial. One Roman fort (Pietroasa de Jos), well beyond the Danubian Limes and nearMoldavia,seems to have been occupied in the 4th century AD, as were bridge-head forts (Sucidava,[17]Barboşi,and the unlocated Constantiniana Daphne) along the left bank of the river.[18]

The "Brazda lui Novac de Nord"(or" Constantine Wall ") has been shown by recent excavations to date from emperorConstantinearound 330 AD,[19]at the same time as the "Devil's Dykes"(or" Limes Sarmatiae "), a series of defensive earthen ramparts-and-ditches built by the Romans between Romania and thePannonianplains.[20]

Similarly, although considered 1st century and believed to predate the Limes Transalutanus, the function and origins of a shorter section of bank and ditch known as the "Brazda lui Novac de Sud" remain uncertain. The absence of any evidence for LateRoman fortsor settlements along its course and south of it rather suggests a later, probably medieval, date.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Bulgaria)https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6474/
  2. ^Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube Limes (Romania)https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6446/
  3. ^ROMAN FRONTIER WITHIN THE CROSS-BORDER REGION ROMANIA-BULGARIAhttps://danubelimes-robg.eu/index.php/en/
  4. ^R. Ployer, M. Polak, R. Schmidt, The Frontiers of the Roman Empire. A Thematic Study and proposed World Heritage Nomination Strategy, Vienna/Nijmegen/Munich, 2017, p. 41, 75-6
  5. ^Emil Jęczmienowski, The Fortifications of the Upper Moesian Limes. Topography, Forms, Garrison Sizes, Światowit: annual oF the institute oF archaeology of the university of warsaw, Vol. X (li) (2012)
  6. ^Jęczmienowski, Emil. “The Fortifications of the Upper Moesian Limes on the Eve of Trajan’s Dacian Wars.” Ad Fines Imperii Romani. Studia Thaddaeo Sarnowski Ab Amicis, Collegis Discipulisque Dedicata, 2015.
  7. ^https://vici.org/vici/36068/
  8. ^Res Gestae30
  9. ^Dio LI.23.2
  10. ^R. Syme,Danubian Papers,London 1971, p. 40 andAddendap. 69 ff
  11. ^Florus,Epitome of Roman History,II, 28, 18-19.
  12. ^Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Danube Limes (Romania)https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6446/
  13. ^Tacitus,Historiae,III, 46.
  14. ^Mócsy (1974), p82.
  15. ^Gudea N., Die nordgrenze der römischen provinz obermoesien. Materialien zu ihrer Geschichte (86–275 n. Chr.), “Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen zentralmuseums Mainz” 48, 1–118.
  16. ^I.B. Cătăniciu, Evolution of the system of defence works in Roman Dacia, BAR International series 116, Oxford, 1981 pp 53-55
  17. ^Sucidava photos
  18. ^Archeological research about Romans in Romania during the 3rd and 4th centuries (in Romanian)
  19. ^Wacher.The Roman worldp.189
  20. ^Map showing the Roman fortifications in the 4th century

Bibliography

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  • Mócsy, András (2014) [1974].Pannonia and Upper Moesia: A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire.New York: Routledge.ISBN978-1-317-75425-1.
  • Heather, Peter.The Goths.Blackwell ed. Malden, 1998.
  • Mommsen, Theodore.The Provinces of the Roman Empire.Barnes & Noble Books. New York, 1996ISBN0-7607-0145-8
  • Wacher, J.S.The Roman world.Routledge Publisher. New York, 2002.ISBN0-415-26314-X
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