Rome and the Black Sea Region. Группа авторов

       Fig. 1. The Roman Dobrudja (first-third centuries AD), after Bărbulescu 2001 with modifications.

      It is clear that the Romans did not need too many troops to control the fords and the traffic on the Danube; indeed, that is all they did, following the principle of linear frontier defence which was the norm during the first three centuries AD. As for the seashore, there is no straightforward evidence that the Romans considered it as a real limes to be defended until the Gothic attacks of the third century. Consequently, all military units of this part of Moesia Inferior were stationed along the Danube.

      The reorganization of the limes Moesiae Inferioris by Trajan accomplished the division of Dobrudja in three different parts: the bank of the Danube, the interior and the littoral. Each of these zones not only represented a geographical unit but at the same time developed administrative features and even ethnic characteristics.

      As the Danube’s bank was a frontier area, it was organized as a military district and became the more Romanised region of Dobrudja. On public land the army erected castra where the military units were quartered, and nearby civilian settlements arose which were organized in Roman fashion as canabae or vici.

      The origin of the soldiers making up these military units was widely different but during their service even those less romanised soldiers assimilated Roman civilization, including the Latin language.

      Among the 16 military men of legio V Macedonica, most of those giving their origo in inscriptions found in Dobrudja came from the Orient: Ankyra (ISM V, 155; 135; 174; 183), Amastris (ISM V, 184; 186), Nikaia (ISM V, 196), Hemesa (ISM V, 178), Laodikeia (ISM V, 179), Nikopolis (ISM V, 158).⁴ Besides, two others hailed from Oescus (ISM V, 188) and castris (ISM V, 160) respectively, and the c. 300 veterans discharged in AD 134 had true citizen names including rare Italic ones, yet very few with Greek cognomina (ISM V, 137). Irrespective of their origin, however, the legionaries and veterans from Troesmis erected only Latin inscriptions.

      All the auxiliary units settled in Dobrudja except cohors I Cilicum were initially raised from European tribes, yet the bulk of the manpower of the fleet seems to have been drawn from the Orient. Since, with the passage of time, vacancies within these units were filled by recruitment within the region where they were quartered, they eventually lost some – if not most – “national” features. So they became typical Roman military units except that according to regulations, until the Constitutio Antoniniana in AD 212, they consisted of peregrines. Reflecting the progressive levelling process between citizen and peregrine soldiers, the inscriptions found so far in the auxiliary forts are similar in content to those of the legionaries, and likewise written in Latin.

      The army was followed by the soldiers’ families and a lot of people who earned their lives by meeting the demands of military men: artisans, merchants, prostitutes. Thus, alongside every fort on the Danube bank civilian settlements soon appeared, two of which developed into towns with Roman status.

      At Troesmis, in the vicinity of the fortress of legio V Macedonica the canabae legionis and another civilian settlement (vicus? civitas?) are attested.⁵ The canabae (ISM V, 154; 141) were under the jurisdiction of the legatus legionis but had their own council named curia (ISM V, 155) and magistrates: magistri (ISM V, 154; 156), quinquennalis (ISM V, 155; 158), aediles (ISM V, 156). Here lived veterani et cives Romani. On the other site ruled by a council termed ordo Troesmensium (ISM V, 143-145) and two magistri (ISM V, 157), only cives Romani Troesmi consistentes dwelled. After the transfer of the legion in AD 167 to Potaissa in Dacia, Marcus Aurelius⁶ or an emperor of the Severan dynasty⁷ promoted one of the Troesmis settlements to municipal status. The municipium had an ordo municipii Troesmensium (ISM V, 150; 152; 153; 165) and the usual magistrates and priests of a Roman town: duumviri (ISM V, 151; 163 et al.), quinquennales (ISM V, 148; 165), aediles (ISM V,148), quaestores (ISM V, 148; 149), flamen, (ISM V, 163), pontifices (ISM V, 148), augures (ISM V, 166; 180). Nevertheless, I believe that the two sacerdotes provinciae (ISM V, 151; 194) known so far at Troesmis, certainly prove the importance of the town in providing priests of the imperial cult of the province, but do not necessarily prove that the provincial assembly met here.

      At Noviodunum, located approximately at mid-distance between Novae and Crimea, that is, at the center of the sector of the naval frontier patrolled by the classis Flavia Moesica, was most likely the residence of the praefectus classis (ISM V, 281) and accordingly the main statio of the fleet. The extensive civilian settlement, probably a vicus, was administratered by a quinquennalis and two magistri (ISM V, 268). Sometimes later, perhaps around AD 200, Noviodunum was promoted to the rank of municipium.⁸

      Near the other auxiliary forts, civilian settlements of lower profile are attested. At Sacidava the site of the civilian settlement is not yet identified, but numerous inscriptions were found in the wall of the fort, set up by veterans who dwelled somewhere around.⁹ Six km north of Sacidava, in the neighborhood of the modern village of Rasova, a horreum of the military type was excavated.¹⁰ Since among the bricks used for this building some bear the stamps Leg. V Ma., Leg. XI Cl.P.F. and Leg. I Ital., it is certain that this was another settlement linked with military activity during the first half of the second century AD. Downstream of Rasova, Axiopolis would seem by its name to have been a civitas of old Greek origin, without a military link, and in fact Ptolemaios mentions it among other poleis (Ptol. Geogr. 3.10.5).

      The civilian site of Capidava is still not located, though some tumuli of the cemetery extending around the fort have been excavated.¹¹ Nevertheless, an inscription informs us of a territorium Capidavensis ruled by a quinquennalis (ISM V, 77) that is, organized to reproduce, on a reduced scale, the municipal administration. At Cius a vicus Verg[ob]rittiani led by a magister who was veteranus legionis V Macedonicae (ISM V, 115) is attested. Unfortunately one cannot determine whether this was the proper civilian settlement of the followers of cohors I Lusitanorum, or merely a village inside the area subject to the jurisdiction of this military unit. Aegissus, originally a native fort, was garrisoned by the Romans quite early, during the first century AD (ISM V, 286). One inscription that probably should be dated to the second century AD mentions a territorium A[eg(yssensis)] with an ordo decurionum, indicating a pseudo-municipal administration as for the territory of Capidava.¹² Further southeast, at Murighiol, quite probably the antique Halmyris, beside the fort manned by the fleet a vicus classicorum sprang up, administratered by a magister and inhabited by cives Romani who in this instance, were obviously veterans of the fleet.¹³

      At the end of this quick survey of the state of the Danubian frontier zone, some general remarks are required. As expected, the names of the sites of the forts and the civilian settlements related to them were overwhelmingly of pre-Roman origin, mostly Geto-Dacian. In the southern part of the frontier, there was a concentration of place-names ending in dava, characteristic of the Geto-Dacian hill-forts, indicating that the Roman army on its arrival in this region found a lot of local tribes dwelling in fortified sites according to their traditional habits. In the limes area, however, there is evidence only for a few, very small native sites surviving until the middle of the second century AD¹⁴ and for some Dacian individuals, who were in any case connected with the Roman army (IDRE II, 332; 336; 338). On the other hand, all over the frontier region there was a compact, cosmopolitan population depending upon the soldiers, sharing the Roman civilization, speaking solely Latin (at least in official circumstances) and living in communities of varying Roman legal status, among which two of the three Roman towns of Dobrudja stood out. As mentioned above, the only exception to this rule seems to have been represented by Axiopolis – apparently a civil