Coordinates | 43°36′46.4″N25°23′39.4″E / 43.612889°N 25.394278°E |
---|---|
Type | Settlement |
Site notes | |
Ownership | Public |
Public access | Yes |
Novae was initially one of the few great Roman legionary fortresses along the empire's border, forming part of the defences (limes Moesiae) along the Danube in northern Bulgaria. The settlement later expanded into a town in the Roman province of Moesia Inferior, later Moesia Secunda.
It lies about 4 km east of the modern town of Svishtov.
The fortress is one of the few along the limes to have been excavated and now open to the public.
Novae is situated on the southern bank of the Danube at Pametnicite near Svishtov.
The legionary fortress ( castra legionis) covers an area of 18 hectares on a slope towards the river-bank, its highest point in the southern part of the site being 30m higher. Its topography resulted in terraced levels within the defensive walls.
At present mainly the central part of the site has been excavated and restored.
Permanent Roman military presence in the Lower Danubian region started after Augustus had established himself as sole ruler of the Roman state in 30 BC and adopted a strategy to move the empire's south-eastern European border from Macedonia to the line of the Danube providing a major river supply route between the Roman armies in the region. [1] Marcus Licinius Crassus fought a successful campaign against the Moesi [2] and Augustus formally proclaimed victory in 27 BC. The region was organised as the Roman province of Moesia in the last years of Augustus' reign, around 6 AD. [3]
Around 45 AD Legio VIII Augusta took part in the suppression of the Thracian uprising, [4] and founded its fortress at Novae. The site was chosen to control a river crossing and the key section of the Danube from the mouth of the Osum River (Asamus) up to the mouth of the Yantra River, near Iatrus, a choice that was justified by later successes. [5]
After the death of Nero, the dislocation of many legions within the Empire resulted in replacement by emperor Vespasian in 69–70 AD of Legio VIII Augusta by Legio I Italica, which stayed in Novae at least to the 430s. In 86 the province was divided and Novae, together with Durostorum, became one of two legionary bases within the borders of Moesia Inferior. During the Dacian wars of Domitian (85–89) Novae did not suffer significant damage, which may indicate that the main operations took place in the western and eastern part of the province. The legion was followed by craftsmen, servicemen, traders and other camp followers who settled down in the fortress vicinity creating the canabae legionis. At the same time another settlement (vicus) emerged ca. 3 km to the east of the camp, in the place Ostrite Mogili [6]
Novae served as a base of operations for Roman campaigns against Barbarian tribes including Trajan's Dacian Wars, and the last time during Maurice's Balkan campaigns. The legion was also responsible for bridge construction over the Danube.
Until the Flavian period the fortress walls were built from earth and wood. During the campaigns of Trajan the walls were replaced by stone wall up to 3m thick with square towers. Apart from the new defensive walls, the monumental building of headquarters (principia) with the new Trajanic basilica, and the new building of a hospital (valetudinarium) were built at the place of the former Flavian baths (thermae). It is possible that during the Antonine period the legion controlled the area beyond the Yantra River. The most prosperous times for Novae, as well as for the province, were during the Severan dynasty.
In 250 Novae was attacked by the Goths of Cniva [7] but escaped damage, although the canabae and the nearby settlements were completely destroyed. In the second half of the 3rd century Novae was systematically attacked and destroyed by barbarians. From the 4th century onwards when the legion was divided into detachments occupying small forts and fortlets, civil buildings constituted the main part of internal buildings of Novae. The new streets with pavements were built from re-used stone, often bearing inscriptions. Many glass workshops were established, both in the town, as well as in its surroundings. At a certain moment the area of 8 ha to the east of the legionary base was surrounded by the new defensive walls.
The latest evidence for the presence of the legion is dated by a series of inscriptions from 430, 431 and 432. [8]
In the late 5th and 6th centuries Novae was the seat of a bishop. The cathedral and neighbouring buildings were built over the legionary barracks west of the former legionary headquarters. The last period of prosperity was during the reign of Justinian (527–565) when the defensive walls were rebuilt and reinforced, but the attacks of Slavs and Avars eventually end the existence of the ancient town. In 9th–11th centuries the church and a cemetery existed in the western part of the town.
Novae is supposed to be the home of the saint named Lupus, who is venerated in Greek and Romanian traditions.
Recent excavations have revealed the via principalis and other buildings. [9] In 2018, possible Roman soldiers' burials were discovered near Novae. [10]
The civil settlement (canabae legionis) were situated to the west of the legionary base. [11] Another civil vicus has been located over 2 km east of the fortress, at Ostrite Mogili. [12] One of the settlements was granted municipal rights, but only one inscription testifies this status. [13] A splendid villa to the west of the defensive walls, within the canabae, could have been an official residence was destroyed by the Gothic invasions in mid-3rd century.
Other minor settlements and places of cult were located but not systematically excavated. [14]
The area to the south-east and east of the fortress was occupied by the necropolis, which was recently excavated., [15] while the military amphitheater is postulated on the north-eastern side of the camp. [16]
Water supply to the fortress, particularly the baths including the nearby nymphaeum and to the town was ensured by three known aqueducts, one of which was at least 9 km long and fed the distribution tank (castellum divisorum) at the south-east corner of the fortress. [17]
During the late Roman period the town was enlarged by a new line of defensive walls and covered 26 hectares jointly with the former legionary base. [18]
Novae (Novae) might have referred to the canabae (canabae legionis I Italicae Novae), when the fortress itself had the name castra legionis I Italicae. Literary sources give the name of Novae or, in accusative form Novas, [19] and the Greek transcription Nόβας given by Procopius, [20] Theophanes Confessor [21] and Anonymous Ravennatis. [22] The Greek form Nόβαι appears rather rare; [23] an earlier form mentioned by Ptolemy is Nooῦαι. [24] [25]
One hypothesis derives the name from Νόης Nóēs, a river mentioned by Herodotus, which is then identified with the stream (now variously known as Dermendere, Tekirdere, Golyamata Bara, or Belyanovsko Dere) at whose mouth the fortress was located. [26]
Carnuntum was a Roman legionary fortress and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of approximately 50,000 inhabitants.
Legio I Italica was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded by emperor Nero on September 22, 66. Originally named Legio Phalanx Alexandri Magni, it was stationed in Italy during the year of four emperors and gained the name Italica. It was later stationed at Novae, near modern-day Svishtov (Bulgaria). There are still records of the I Italica on the Danube border at the beginning of the 5th century. The emblem of the legion was a boar.
Legio VIII Augusta was one of the oldest legions of the Imperial Roman army.
Silistra is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Silistra is the administrative center of the Silistra Province and one of the important towns of the historical region of Dobruja.
Legio XIII Gemina, in English the 13thTwin(s) Legion ; was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was one of Julius Caesar's key units in Gaul and in the civil war, and was the legion with which he crossed the Rubicon in January, perhaps on 10 January, in 49 BC. The legion appears to have still been in existence in the 5th century AD. Its symbol was the lion.
Nikopol is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol Municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, 4 kilometres downstream from the Danube’s confluence with the Osam river. It spreads at the foot of steep chalk cliffs along the Danube and up a narrow valley.
Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality. The town is the second-largest in the province after the city of Veliko Tarnovo and before Gorna Oryahovitsa.
Oescus, Palatiolon or Palatiolum was an important ancient city on the Danube river in Roman Moesia. It later became known as Ulpia Oescus. It lay northwest of the modern Bulgarian city of Pleven, near the village of Gigen.
Troesmis was an ancient Dacian town and later ancient Roman city and legionary fortress, a major site situated on the Danube and forming a key part of the Limes Moesiae frontier system. Around the fortress the Geto-Dacian town developed.
Vindobona was a Roman military camp in the province of Pannonia, located on the site of the modern city of Vienna in Austria. The settlement area took on a new name in the 13th century, being changed to Berghof, or now simply known as Alter Berghof.
Storgosia was a Roman road station and later a fortress, located in the modern Kaylaka Park in the vicinity of modern Pleven.
Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia on the site of the modern city of Chester. The fortress was built by the Legio II Adiutrix in the 70s AD as the Roman army advanced north against the Brigantes, and rebuilt completely over the next few decades by the Legio XX Valeria Victrix. In the early 3rd century the fortress was again rebuilt. The legion probably remained at the fortress until the late 4th or early 5th century, upon which it fell into disuse.
The Moesian Limes is the modern term given to a linked series of Roman forts on the northern frontier of the Roman province of Moesia along the Danube between the Black Sea shore and Pannonia and dating from the 1st century AD. It was the eastern section of the so-called Danubian Limes and protected the Roman provinces of Upper and Lower Moesia south of the river. The eastern section is often called the limes Scythiae minoris as it was located in the late Roman province of Scythia Minor.
Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths encompass the archaeological ruins and sites of the Legionary Fortress of Isca Augusta spread across the town of Caerleon, near the city of Newport, South Wales. Notable for being one of only three permanent legionary fortresses from Roman Britain, Caerleon has provided a unique opportunity to study the archaeology of a Roman Legionary fortress, less affected by the medieval and subsequent urban activity of most such fortresses. Having attracted the attention of eminent archaeologists throughout the 20th century it now has four major public archaeological venues, including the museum run by Cadw, called 'Caerleon Roman Fortress and Baths', featuring the excavated fortress bath-house. Also open to the public is the most complete excavated amphitheatre in Britain, a series of barracks and the National Roman Legion Museum. The fortress and its surrounding civil settlement have been the subject of continuing major archaeological investigations into the 21st century.
Noviodunum ad Istrum was a Roman city that developed around the legionary fortress and naval port near the present town of Isaccea. It was in the Roman province of Moesia and was the headquarters of the Roman Danube fleet located on the lower Danube and, from the 4th century AD, the headquarters of the Legio I Iovia (Scythica).
A canaba was the Latin term for a hut or hovel and was later used typically to mean a town that emerged as a civilian settlement in the vicinity of a Roman legionary fortress.
Roman Dacia was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat. During Roman rule, it was organized as an imperial province on the borders of the empire. It is estimated that the population of Roman Dacia ranged from 650,000 to 1,200,000. It was conquered by Trajan (98–117) after two campaigns that devastated the Dacian Kingdom of Decebalus. However, the Romans did not occupy its entirety; Crișana, Maramureș, and most of Moldavia remained under the Free Dacians.
Novaesium was the name the Romans used for the successive legionary camps and fortress at what is now the city of Neuss, on the west bank of the Rhine, in Germany. The earliest occupations, dating from the late 1st century BC to the early 1st century AD, were a succession of earth and timber camps with the legionaries living in tents. In around AD 43, a large legionary fortress was begun, which was progressively fortified with stone walls, gates, and turrets, along with more permanent barracks, officers' quarters and administrative buildings. As the Romans abandoned an expectation of a continually expanding empire the fortress became a permanent structure, and helped to create the Limes, limits of the Roman Empire, along this stretch of the Rhine Valley. The fortress was made smaller in the early 2nd century but remained an auxiliary base which helped define and defend the north-eastern limits of the Roman Empire for a further 200 years.
Lucius Tettius Julianus was a Roman general who held a number of imperial appointments during the Flavian dynasty. He was suffect consul for the nundinium of May–June 83 with Terentius Strabo Erucius Homullus as his colleague.
The Danubian Limes, or Danube Limes, refers to the Roman military frontier or limes which lies along the River Danube in the present-day German state of Bavaria, in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.