DOI Artikel:
Vagalinski, Ljudmil Ferdinandov: New epigraphical data on auxilia in Moesia Inferior during 1st century AD
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41866#0041
Lyudmil F. Vagalinski
Sofia
NEW EPIGRAPHICAL DATA ON AUXILIA
IN MOESIA INFERIOR DURING 1st CENTURY AD
The reason for writing this article is a fragment of a brick with preserved
measures 17 x 17.5 cm. Only the thickness is certain — 3 cm (fig. 1). The color
is light red, the baking is even and limestone admixtures show in the clay dough.
In the middle of the fragment an engraved stamp is preserved and it is shaped
like a tabula ansata (fig. 2). It measures 11.2 x 3.2 x 0.4 cm (depth). The left
handle of the stamp is missing, so its original length was 12.5-12.8 cm. Under
the stamp an arch-shaped line is engraved carelessly (with fingers?). There are
no traces of mortar on the surface.
The fragment under consideration is kept in the Historical Museum in the
Danube town of Tutrakan, SE Bulgaria (Roman settlement Transmarisca), (inv.
no. 33CK). It was found at the beginning of the 1970’s near two Roman ovens
for ceramics, located about 3 km to the north-east from the village of Dolno
Rjahovo, in the place “Lyaskovets”, which is an even Danube terrace (fig. 3).
The ovens were round (2 m in diameter), of two chambers and built from large
square sun-dried bricks. Nearby, the stone foundations of some (potter’s?) premise
were seen, as well as many fragments from bricks and tiles, among which another
brick stamp was found: Leg(ionis) XI Cl(audiae) F(idelis) Cand(idianae) [3MeeB
1974, 30-31, fig. 4], The inscription of fig. 1, 2 we are interested in is defined as
a seal of an “unknown cohort”.
During field surveys in 1998/1999 a Roman military camp was found in the
same place1, it has a regular rectangular plan with a defended surface of 4.7
decares. Its fortification consists of an earthen rampart and two ditches in front
of it. To the west and north of the camp two synchronous villages are registered.
No archeological excavations have been conducted yet. In this early Roman camp
five fragments of bricks with a stamp identical with the one published here have
been found (fig. 2).2 Taking these into consideration it becomes clear that the
bricks with such stamps were long or wide 42 cm. Probably they were of the
type lydion, which was very popular among the Romans. They used it in the
construction of large walls, floors, as well as of leveling rows connecting the
Sofia
NEW EPIGRAPHICAL DATA ON AUXILIA
IN MOESIA INFERIOR DURING 1st CENTURY AD
The reason for writing this article is a fragment of a brick with preserved
measures 17 x 17.5 cm. Only the thickness is certain — 3 cm (fig. 1). The color
is light red, the baking is even and limestone admixtures show in the clay dough.
In the middle of the fragment an engraved stamp is preserved and it is shaped
like a tabula ansata (fig. 2). It measures 11.2 x 3.2 x 0.4 cm (depth). The left
handle of the stamp is missing, so its original length was 12.5-12.8 cm. Under
the stamp an arch-shaped line is engraved carelessly (with fingers?). There are
no traces of mortar on the surface.
The fragment under consideration is kept in the Historical Museum in the
Danube town of Tutrakan, SE Bulgaria (Roman settlement Transmarisca), (inv.
no. 33CK). It was found at the beginning of the 1970’s near two Roman ovens
for ceramics, located about 3 km to the north-east from the village of Dolno
Rjahovo, in the place “Lyaskovets”, which is an even Danube terrace (fig. 3).
The ovens were round (2 m in diameter), of two chambers and built from large
square sun-dried bricks. Nearby, the stone foundations of some (potter’s?) premise
were seen, as well as many fragments from bricks and tiles, among which another
brick stamp was found: Leg(ionis) XI Cl(audiae) F(idelis) Cand(idianae) [3MeeB
1974, 30-31, fig. 4], The inscription of fig. 1, 2 we are interested in is defined as
a seal of an “unknown cohort”.
During field surveys in 1998/1999 a Roman military camp was found in the
same place1, it has a regular rectangular plan with a defended surface of 4.7
decares. Its fortification consists of an earthen rampart and two ditches in front
of it. To the west and north of the camp two synchronous villages are registered.
No archeological excavations have been conducted yet. In this early Roman camp
five fragments of bricks with a stamp identical with the one published here have
been found (fig. 2).2 Taking these into consideration it becomes clear that the
bricks with such stamps were long or wide 42 cm. Probably they were of the
type lydion, which was very popular among the Romans. They used it in the
construction of large walls, floors, as well as of leveling rows connecting the