Brigetio, along the Danube limes, was one of the four legionary bases of Pannonia and, thus, one of the most important settlements of the province. The last excavation season so far, conducted by the Eötvös Loránd University and the Klapka György Museum of Komárom, was in 2016. The finds from previous years have been published year by year from 2010. This paper presents a catalogue and evaluation of the finds of the last, 2016, excavation campaign.
Excavations in the 2014 season at the site Brigetio/Szőny-Vásártér were concentrated on unearthing the cellar which had been found in 2012 as well as taking observations in the vicinity of the previously excavatedmetal-workshop nearby. Most important results of the excavations are the complete cleaning and documentation of the cellar with collapsed wooden ceiling, as well as unearthing a large pit in the territory of the metal workshop containing a great amount of metal slags, bronze objects (including the head of a Germanic warrior) and even blue pigment raw material.
The present article introduces a recently started project which aims at studying the topography of the canabae and legionary fortress of Brigetio using non-destructive methods such as aerial photography and different geophysical surveys. After a brief summary of earlier research, the methods and results of the topographical work carried out in 2014 will be discussed below.
While the legionary fortress of Brigetio is one of the key sites in the province of Roman Pannonia, its inner structure and buildings are almost unknown. Although the retentura of the legionary fortress is almost entirely covered by modern buildings, the praetentura can be researched using remote sensing methods. Over the past few years, systematic excavations took place in the praetentura, based on results of the geophysical surveys. A large building complex was identified as the bath of the legionary fortress, with an area of at least 4,000 m2. In the excavation seasons 2021 and 2022, about 1,200 m2 of the bath was unearthed. Several cold and hot rooms, pools, sewers, hypocaust systems and praefurnia were found, yielding abundant find material. In the present state of research, the chronological periods and building phases of the bath are mostly unknown. The only chronological data comes from the in situ stamped bricks of the Legio XI Claudia, dating the earliest period of the bath between AD 101 and 105, which was also the earliest period of the legionary camp. From the Late Roman Period, some tegulae with the names of Lupicinus tribunus and Frigeridus dux have been preserved, which indicate building activity in the last third of the 4th century AD.
Excavations in the 2013 season at the site Brigetio/Szőny-Vásártér were concentrated on unearthing a cellar which had been found in 2012 as well as taking observations in the vicinity of the previously excavated metal-workshop nearby. According to these aims, we opened 12 sections – on both new and already excavated places – on a total surface of 210 m2, where a cellar with collapsed wooden ceiling and remains of other organic materials, and several objects indicating metalworking activity were found.
After the aerial archaeological surveys of the preceding years, a new excavation project has been started in 2017 in the northern part of the legionary fortress of Brigetio. The main result of the seasons of 2017 and 2018 were the unearthing of a large Late Roman apsidal building, which can be most probably connected to the death of Valentinian I.
Although the overall topography of Brigetio is more or less clear, as some of the Roman ruins were still visible in the 19th century, not much was known about the civil town, the munici-pium of Brigetio. The research excavations of 1992-2011 have brought to light the remains of several Roman houses, workshops and two streets. This part of the town was inhabited by the Romans from the very beginning of the 2nd century AD to the second half of the 3rd century AD. At the end of the 2nd century AD the elongated dwelling houses were fit with hypocaust heating systems and richly decorated with wall paintings. Like other cities in Pannonia, Brigetio also had its most prosperous times under the Severan dynasty. The paper presents the architectural results of the twenty years of archaeological investigation of the site. Keywords Brigetio · municipium · roman houses (domus) · archaeological excavations 1 Topography Roman Brigetio, located on the right side of the Danube, was one of the four legionary bases of Pannonia. As with the others, Carnuntum (Bad Deutsch-Altenburg), Vindobona (Vienna), and Aquincum (Óbuda), Brigetio consisted of three parts: the legionary fort (castra legionis), the canabae legionis and the civil settlement (municipium) (Fig. 1). The legionary fortress was built opposite the delta of the Vág river to control this strategically important area inhabited by the Quadi. An early earth and timber auxiliary fort was built in the 1st century AD, which was replaced by a stone construction during the reign of Trajan (98-117) or Hadrian (117-138) at the latest. This stone fortress was built for either the legio XI Claudia or the legio I Adiutrix with the contribution of the vexillations of three other legions: the legio XIII Gemina, the legio XIIII Gemina, and the legio XV Apollinaris. The legio XI Claudia was garrisoned in Brigetio from 101 AD to 104 AD, being replaced by the legio XXX Ulpia Victrix from 105 AD to 114 AD. The legio I Adiutrix arrived at Brigetio around 118-119 AD and stayed until the end of the Roman rule in the area [1, 11, 16]. The rectangular-shaped castrum measured about 540x430 m according to the aerial photographs. Not much is known about its internal structure, for one part of the area now lies under the so-called MOLAJ housing estate (built in the 1940s), the other part is under cropland. As far as we can tell, the fortress was destroyed three times. First, in the Marcomannic Wars around 169-172 AD, but it was soon rebuilt during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180). Construction took place also under the rule of Caracalla (198-217) and Elagabalus (218-222). Around 293-305 the fortress was destroyed for the second time. After that, at the beginning of the 4th century AD, it was reconstructed in a different shape and much lower quality. Under the rule of Val-entinian I the fortress was repaired for the last time. (Accord-ing to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Emperor died in the very fortress of Brigetio.) Not long after the death of Valentinian I, the fortress was again the victim of a m...
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.