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Troesmis: From the Legionary Fortress to the Byzantine Fortification

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 Proceedings of the 22nd International
Congress of Roman Frontier Studies,
Ruse, Bulgaria, September 2012

Troesmis: From the Legionary Fortress

to the Byzantine Fortification
Cristina-Georgeta Alexandrescu / Christian Gugl

Lying to the northwest of Dobroudja, the ancient
Troesmis (localized not far away from a former
early modern settlement named Iglița, which does
not exist any more today) occupied a strategic key
position on the Roman Danube limes (fig. 1). The
Roman-Byzantine settlement was situated on the
steep right bank of the Danube, about 15 km to
the south of the modern city Măcin (the ancient
Arrubium) and 4 km to the north of the village
Turcoaia (both in Tulcea County, RO). In front of
Troesmis, the meandering Danube forms a broad
flooding zone. The extensive area of the ruins,
dominated today by two fortifications, extends
from the Danube to the east, up to the foothills of
the Măcin-mountains (fig. 2).
The ancient site became internationally known
around 1864 due to the publication of several in-
scriptions found there, which allowed its identi-
fication with Trosmis/Troesmis, an ancient place
mentioned in Tabula Peutingeriana (segm. VII) and
other ancient itineraries1.
This paper will introduce a new cooperative re-
search project of the Archaeological Institute ‘Vasile
Pârvan’ of the Romanian Academy of Sciences and
the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which deals
with the transformation processes of settlements in
Antiquity on the Lower Danube with main focus
on the case study of Troesmis.
History of Troesmis
For the history of Troesmis the most eloquent sourc-
es remain the inscriptions and the mentions by an-
cient writers, starting with Ovid2. In one of his letters
from Pontus (IV, 9, 78-79) he mentions for about 15
AD raids of the Getai, a tribe from the other side
of the river, against a settlement called Troesmis.
Later, Ptolemy and a large number of inscriptions
from the 2nd century AD attest the fortress of legio V
Macedonica in Troesmis, starting probably with the
reign of Trajan3.
Further several inscriptions mention the
canabae legionis and a civil settlement called
Troesmis4. The exact location and dimensions of
those two settlements in the region are not yet
clarified.
Finally, during the Parthian and Marcomannic
wars the legion leaves Troesmis, thus establishing
a new garrison in Dacia, at Potaissa. After that, at
the end of the reign of Marcus Aurelius between
177 and 180 AD, Troesmis becomes a municipium5.
According to the inscriptions, Troesmis was, at
least for some time, the place where the concilium

1
For an overview on the history of research of the site see Doruțiu-Boilă 1972.
2
For an overview on the ancient sources see Doruţiu-Boilă 1972, 136 note 3.
3
The earliest epigraphic evidence for legio V Macedonica in Troesmis dates in the time of Hadrian: Doruțiu-Boilă 1972, 136 (ISM
V 137). Before the reign of Trajan, the legion camped in the same province, in Oescus: Kabakcieva 1996.
4
Vulpe 1953; Mihăilescu-Bârliba 2012: The following administrative persons are mentioned in the canabae: magistri canabensium
(ISM V 154. 156), quinquennales canabensium (ISM V 155. 158).
5
The newest information on the municipium in Troesmis is given by the fragments of the lex municipalis, dated during the reign
of M. Aurelius and Commodus (Eck 2014). The epigraphic evidence prior to this find attests the canabae in one inscription dated
to AD 170 (ISM V 145), while the earliest mention of municipium Troesmense dated from the reign of Septimius Severus, Geta and
Caracalla, AD 208-211 (ISM V 150) – Doruțiu-Boilă 1978, 247.
252 Cristina-Georgeta Alexandrescu / Christian Gugl

provinciae was held and had a flourishing commu-
nity of people from different areas of the Empire6.
In Late Roman times several written sources men-
tion the presence of the legio II Herculia in Troesmis7,
while the Itinerarium Antonini (225.2) mentions le-
gio I Iovia here. The scholars have postulated more
than one interpretation of the situation on site cor-
roborated to the written sources, without being able
to provide a final and acceptable solution8.
Troesmis is present again in the ancient literature
in relation to the activity of rebuilding the frontiers
during the Byzantine period, under Justinian (Procop.
de aedif. 4.11.33). Numismatic evidence seems to
cease with finds of coins of Mauricius Tiberius, found
in the Western fortification9. The end of the 6th cen-
tury seems to be the end of the ancient settlements of
Troesmis. The archaeological excavations in the 1970s
brought to light small finds, ceramic and coins dat-
ing back to the 10th-13th century (Simion et al. 1980).
This corresponds to the last mention of the place in
the 10th century written sources, by Constantine VII
Porphyrogennetos (de them. 2.47.17).
State of Research
Archaeological research in Troesmis started in the
summer of 1865, when emperor Napoleon III sent
an archaeological mission to the Lower Danube,
with the task of documenting a Roman fortifica-
tion. A. Baudry and G. Boissiere dug up the so-
called Eastern fortification, especially the walls,
several towers and the main gate. From the interior
they managed to bring to light the fundaments of
buildings identified by their shape as basilica and
principia. However, the documentation of the ex-
cavations, with the exception of a plan and a fan-
tasy reconstruction, was not properly published, the
main interest at that time being focused on the for-
tification and the epigraphic material10.
A second French expedition was organized two
years later, led by E. Desjardins, who is known to
have established the plan of the Western fortifica-
tion11, localized 700 m away from the Eastern forti-
fication. This plan was not published. For the time
being, only some elements of the irregular fortifi-
cation wall, several towers and so-called bastions
can be identified in the terrain. The dating of the
Western fortification into (early) Byzantine times
remains a hypothesis.
After 1877, the region became part of Romania
and Gr. G. Tocilescu from the National Museum for
Antiquities in Bucharest, together with his topo-
graphic engineer P. Polonic undertook surveys and
especially further excavations in Troesmis, with par-
ticular interest in the recovery of (reused) inscrip-
tions. Polonic made the first, though very schematic
plans of both fortifications, and also documented
the traces of ancient roads and aqueducts (Ștefan
1971, figs. 6, 7 and 8). His observations were com-
pleted and corrected by A. S. Ștefan in 1971, as he
made use of aerial photographs and also localized a
large number of tumuli (Ștefan 1971).
In the 1970s the project to build an irrigation
pipeline made rescue excavations possible, focused
on the plateau between the two fortifications. The
archaeologists also identified a complex considered
to belong to a thermal building (A. Opaiț in: Simion
et al. 1980, 203), without being able to complete the
research.
The area was declared archaeological reserva-
tion and the modern building activity in the region
was very limited. However, the lack of protection
due to the very large area made it very attractive for
illegal metal detectors. Among the great (known)
losses are two bronze tablets with fragments of the
lex municipalis12. The discovery context of these
valuable finds can not be reconstructed.
The interpretation of the aerial photographs for
the area of Troesmis in the 70s of the 20th century by
A. S. Ștefan (Ștefan 1971; Ștefan 1974) brought to
light new topographical information regarding the
settlements, both on the plateau near the Danube
and at the periphery, towards the line of the moun-
tains. This kind of investigation, as well as archaeo-
logical excavations found however no continuation
in the region, leaving the ancient Troesmis, so far, a
poorly researched site.

6
Epigraphically attested are sacerdotes provinciae: ISM V 151 (AD 218-222) and 194 (2nd century AD).
7
Not. Dign. Or. 39.13.19.
8
Doruțiu-Boilă 1972, 135, 137-138 (with an overview on the discussion); Zahariade 1988, 182-183.
9
E. Oberländer-Târnoveanu, in: Simion et al. 1980, 248, 274.
10
Alexandrescu 2013. The presentation and valorisation of all still available documentation on the French missions – with sub-
stantial addition from the French archives – is under study within our ‘Troesmis Project’ and going to be published in 2015.
11
The West Fortification was the focus of the research started by the Romanian Emil Coliu in 1939. His early death in the same
year stopped the project and almost all the documentation is lost.
12
The reading of this very important document has been shortly presented in Berlin in August 2012 by Professor W. Eck to the
International Congress for Greek and Latin Epigraphy; see also: Eck 2007, 49-64, especially 55 with note 26; Eck 2014.
Troesmis: From the legionary fortress to the Byzantine fortification
The ‘Troesmis Project’
During 2011 the Romanian and the Austrian
Academy of Sciences started with an initial cam-
paign of four weeks, focusing on the topographic
documentation of the visible ruins of two fortifica-
tions13: the so-called Eastern fortification of the 4th
century AD and the Western fortification, presum-
ably erected in Byzantine times. This work included
the mapping of the still visible remains on the pla-
teau, which were either a part of the canabae legionis
or the later municipium14.
The main question for our first campaign was
however the location of the legionary camp and the
civil settlements mentioned in the inscriptions. We
considered that the size of the camp in Troesmis must
have had similarities to the other Roman legionary
camps from the 1st-3rd century AD, like Durostorum
(legio XI Claudia) and Novae (legio I Italica), about
18 to 24 ha15. For the canabae the probable location
is near the camp while the vicus, like in other cases of
double civil settlements near the legionary camps in
the time prior to the end of the second century AD,
may have developped further away from the camp16.
After the legion left Troesmis, the municipium might
have been established on the same place.
We approached this topic by using the geo-
magnetic prospection, carried out in October
2011 over an area of about 7.5 ha by the team of
the Archaeological Institute of the University of
Innsbruck17. This first attempt (fig. 3) delivered new
insights into the settlement structure of the site.
The ditch and two lines of anomalies to the south
are recognizable (fig. 3/nr. 1). The gap in the mid-
dle can be related to the area in which the remote
sensing data localize the main road and the aque-
duct. We therefore assume to have a gate here. To
the north there are also two linear anomalies (fig. 3/
nr. 2), corresponding to the ones on the south side,
but in a straight angle to them.
We consider that those lines represent the wall and
the (sanitary) channel in the interior of the camp.
13
An overview on the actual state of research has been published recently: Alexandrescu / Gugl 2014.
14
For the prior interpretations and postulations on the localisation of the different settlement nuclei see Doruțiu-Boilă 1972, 133-
144; Ștefan 1974, 98-99.
15
Ivanov 1996, 163-166. – See also the situation of the camp in Potaissa, the legionary camp of the legion after leaving Moesia
inferior: Bărbulescu 1987.
16
Doruțiu-Boilă 1972, 140; Mócsy 1953, 179-200; Vittinghoff 1968, 132-142, especially 137; Sommer 2004, 312-321; Doneus et
al. 2013.
17
Gerald Grabherr and Barbara Kainrath from the Institut für Archäologien of the University of Innsbruck using a SENSYS
5-channel-magnetometer.
18
Koenen et al. 1904, Taf. 3 (Nr. a).
19
Ştefan 1974, fig. 2; Simion 1994-1995, 121-149.
253
In the interior, to the west, a massive building
is to be seen (fig. 3/nr. 3). To the east, the prospec-
tions made it evident that the assumed channel (fig.
3/nr. 4) bends over with a straight angle.
For the time being the geomagnetic survey
needs to be extended and we can therefore only
postulate to have localized in this first campaign the
eastern third of the legionary camp in the field. This
hypothesis is also supported by comparisons with
other legionary fortresses, for example with the
‘Koenen-Lager’ in Neuss18.
Prior to the survey in the fall of 2011 we inves-
tigated aerial and satellite photographs as well as ar-
chive materials. Besides the two fortifications and
the ruins on the plateau, we localized a number of
tumuli and tried to identify them in the field. The
intense agricultural activities in the last decades, as
well as the construction of a pig farm, have made
several of them disappear. The dating of the tumuli
needs proper field documentation and excavation.
For the time being we can only rely on the analogy
in Noviodunum19 and the alignment of several of the
tumuli when postulating a date in the 2nd-3rd cen-
tury AD.
The water supply of Troesmis was the second fo-
cus of the campaign. In 1882 Polonic documented
one of the aqueduct lines with the name “Trajan’s
palisade”. Nowadays, we know that this structure
has to be identified with the final part of the water
conduit. This starts in the east, in the higher areas
near the Măcin-mountains and goes in a more or
less straight line to Troesmis. This part of the aque-
duct was partially over the surface and still in use
in the 20th century, being still visible on the aerial
photographs of the 1970s.
With the help of the local people in the village
of Greci we found several ceramic tubes at the west-
ern slope of the Măcin-mountains that came up to
the surface due to the erosion and landslides. This
is probably one area where water sources supplying
the Roman town have to be located.
254 Cristina-Georgeta Alexandrescu / Christian Gugl

Fig. 1. Moesia inferior at the end of the second century AD (© Gugl)

Fig. 2. Digital surface model of the area of the legionary fortress (ditch 3), the Western fortification with the related settlements
(ditches 1-2) and the Eastern fortification. The Airborne Laser scanning flight was carried out in November 2013 by Airborne
Technologies, Wiener Neustadt, A (© Gugl)
Troesmis: From the legionary fortress to the Byzantine fortification 255

Fig. 3. Geomagnetic prospections 2011–2012 (© 2012 Alexandrescu / Grabherr / Gugl / Kainrath. –

Satellite foto: Terra Server/2006-01-30)

Through mapping the field observations and
comparing the aerial and satellite photographs it
was possible to reconstruct the line of the aque-
ducts, even if the technical details still remain to be
investigated (fig. 4). What is relevant is the relief in
the surroundings of Troesmis (which was modeled
here by using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission-
data). Between the sources on the West side of the
Măcin-mountains and the town of Troesmis there
was a sink and several hill-like formations that had
to be taken into consideration when building the
aqueduct along the contour lines.
Since 2010 all the epigraphic material and stone
monuments from Troesmis and the surrounding
areas have been systematically documented in the
frame of the ArheoMedia-project20. We managed
to localize and investigate archive materials of the
19th century French missions and also to undertake
geological analyses of the used stone21. One of the
main results is the observation on the awareness
of the ancient population of Troesmis of the local
stones: they brought limestone and sandstone from
far away (Central Dobroudja) for sculpture and in-
scriptions, ordered specially carved limestone blocks
from Southern Dobroudja for the towers and made
frequent use of the granites from the surrounding
mountains. Imported marble is very rare and until
now identified only for votive reliefs.
The region is very rich in granite quarries but it
was limestone which was needed for building both

20
NCSRHE Project TE 113 (2010-2013) in the frame of PN II (2007-2013) Human Resources “Arheo-Media: formation, transmis-
sion and transformation of images and texts in Greco-Roman era with special regard to the use of polychromy in the Carpathian-
Danubian-Pontic area”: www.arheomedia.ro (dir. Dr. C.-G. Alexandrescu).
21
The monuments from Troesmis are now in various collections in Romania and France. They are going to be published according
to their actual state of preservation and location, together with all new information gained from the archives and interdisciplinary
analysis, within the volume we prepare for 2015.
256 Cristina-Georgeta Alexandrescu / Christian Gugl

Fig. 4. Possible line of the Roman water supply: The headwaters lay in the Măcin mountains, above the modern village of Greci
(1). A fragment of a Roman water pipe was found at (2), in close vicinity to remarkable linear crop marks, indicating the line of
the water conduit. At (3) the Roman aqueduct was attested in the 19th century (© Gugl/Kainrath)

in antiquity and in modern times. The limestone
blocks brought for the early Roman constructions,
votive and funerary monuments of the 2nd and 3rd
century AD22, were simply reused in late Roman
and Byzantine times, when the two still recogniz-
able fortifications – the so-called Eastern and the
Western fortification – were built up. In the same
manner, modern building activities in the late
19th century reused the stone once more and con-
tributed both to the destruction of the ancient
monuments and to the localization of Troesmis.
The very promising results of this first phase of
our project provide the basis for further activities in
the next two years. Despite its very high importance
for the Lower Danube the ancient Troesmis was for
too long outside the interest of the scholars. The
geophysical prospections are going to be extended
and completed by an intensive survey with the aim
of locating the different settlement cores for the 2nd
-3rd century AD.

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