Noviodunum | |
---|---|
Wall section of the fort. | |
Alternative name(s) | Noviodunum ad Istrum |
Known also as | Castra of Isaccea |
Attested by | |
Place in the Roman world | |
Province | Moesia |
Administrative unit | Moesia Inferior |
Directly connected to | |
Structure | |
— Stone structure — | |
Stationed military units | |
— Legions — | |
— Classis — | |
Moesica | |
Location | |
Coordinates | 45°16′12″N28°29′30″E / 45.27000°N 28.49167°E |
Place name | La pontonul vechi |
Town | Isaccea |
County | Tulcea |
Country | ![]() |
Reference | |
RO-LMI | TL-I-s-A-05804 [2] |
RO-RAN | 159696.05 [2] |
Site notes | |
Recognition | ![]() |
Discovery year | 1955 [2] |
Condition | Ruined |
Website | www |
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 (Classis Flavia Moesica) located on the lower Danube and, from the 4th century AD, [3] the headquarters of the Legio I Iovia (Scythica). [4]
From 46 AD the fortress was part of the Moesian Limes frontier defensive system on the Danube. In Late Antiquity the Imperial Road from Marcianopolis ended here.
Noviodunum passed under Roman control with the annexation of Thrace in 46 AD and then being attached to the Roman province of Moesia.
The strategic position of the fort allowed the Romans to supervise and control the border of the entire Moesian Limes along this section of the Danube.
It became the main port of Classis Flavia Moesica [5] and a military centre of the region under Domitian, and after the conquest of Dacia by Trajan. Some vexillationes of Legio V Macedonica were detached here, [6] at least until the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Then followed vexillationes of Legio I Italica. [7]
The civil settlement became a municipium during the late second century.
It was probably destroyed during the second half of the 3rd century during the period of heavy invasions of Goths and Heruli. Under Diocletian (r. 284–305), Legio I Iovia was created and based here. [8]
It was rebuilt during the reign of Constantine the Great (after 324) during the military campaigns and placed under the command of the Dux Scythiae . [9]
In 369 Emperor Valens crossed the Danube from Noviodunum and fought the Battle of Noviodunum against Athanaric and the Tervingi, [10] in which Valens was victorious and took the title Gothicus Maximus.
Between 434 and 441 the city with its naval base was occupied by the Huns and then went back under Roman rule to be part of the Byzantine Empire.
The city survived until the 7th century.
The area has been subject to recent excavations, which have highlighted its importance.
The area enclosed by walls is about 9 ha divided into two distinct enclosures, at least before the 4th century, consiting of the headquarters of the Danube Fleet, and the walled city from the late 2nd century. [11] A second civil settlement of at least 7 ha depending on the military garrison would be inside the three huge earth ramparts. [12]
In the 1990s three towers on the southern curtain wall were revealed; a fan shaped tower on the corner, a U shaped tower and the Large Tower, one of the largest towers ever built by the Romans. These towers connected by the curtain, almost 3 m wide, extend for 80 m. [13]
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. Moesian Province was first administered by governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballia'. It included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Albania, northern parts of North Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobruja and small parts of Southern Ukraine.
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 III Italica was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in 165 AD by the emperor Marcus Aurelius for his campaign against the Marcomanni tribe. The cognomen Italica suggests that the legion's original recruits were drawn for the defence of Italy. The legion was still active in Raetia and other provinces in the early 5th century.
Isaccea is a small town in Tulcea County, in Northern Dobruja, Romania, on the right bank of the Danube, 35 km north-west of Tulcea. According to the 2021 census, it has a population of 4,408.
Novae was initially one of the few great Roman legionary fortresses along the empire's border, forming part of the defences along the Danube in northern Bulgaria. The settlement later expanded into a town in the Roman province of Moesia Inferior, later Moesia Secunda.
The naval forces of the ancient Roman state were instrumental in the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean Basin, but it never enjoyed the prestige of the Roman legions. Throughout their history, the Romans remained a primarily land-based people and relied partially on their more nautically inclined subjects, such as the Greeks and the Egyptians, to build their ships. Because of that, the navy was never completely embraced by the Roman state, and deemed somewhat "un-Roman".
Legio V Macedonica was a Roman legion. It was probably originally levied in 43 BC by consul Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. It was based in the Balkan provinces of Macedonia, Moesia and Dacia. In the Notitia Dignitatum records from beginning of the fifth century, the legion was still stationed in Dacia, with detachments stationed in the east and Egypt.
Legio IV Flavia Felix, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in AD 70 by the emperor Vespasian from the cadre of the disbanded Legio IV Macedonica. The legion was active in Moesia Superior in the first half of the 5th century. The legion symbol was a lion.
Legio I Iovia was a Roman legion, levied by Emperor Diocletian (284–305), possibly together with II Herculia, to guard the newly created province of Scythia Minor. The cognomen of this legion came from Diocletian's attribute Iovianus, "similar to Jupiter". According to Notitia Dignitatum, at the beginning of the 5th century I Iovia was still in its camp on the Danube. The legion may have even survived the fall of Rome and continued to serve the Byzantine empire.
Dinogetia was an ancient Geto-Dacian settlement and later Roman fort located not far from the right (southern) bank of the Danube near the junction of the Siret River. The Dinogetia site is situated in Northern Dobruja, Romania, 8 km east of Galați and 2 km north of Garvăn, a village in Jijila commune.
Domitian's Dacian War was a conflict between the Roman Empire and the Dacian Kingdom, which had invaded the province of Moesia. The war occurred during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, in the years 86–88 AD.
Ratiaria was a city founded by the Moesians, a Daco-Thracian tribe, in the 4th century BC, along the river Danube. In Roman times it was named Colonia Ulpia Traiana Ratiaria.
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.
Diana Fort is a Roman fort located near the hamlet of Karataš, 8 km northwest of Kladovo, in eastern Serbia in the Karataš archaeological site. It is located on cliffs of the Đerdap, above the Danube, on a strategic location overlooking the Danube frontier. It has been extensively excavated, is one of the best explored forts of the Moesian Limes, and can be visited today.
Capidava was originally an important Geto-Dacian centre on the right bank of the Danube. After the Roman conquest, it became a civil and military centre in the province of Moesia Inferior and part of the defensive frontier system of the Moesian Limes along the Danube.
Sacidava was a fort in the Roman province of Moesia near the Getic settlement and later Roman city of Sacidava, Moesia that developed around the fort. It is located at Musait between the villages of Rasova and Dunareni, on a high hill on the right bank of the Danube. It is included in the Tabula Peutingeriana as Sagadava and the Notitia Dignitatum as Sacidava.
The Classis Flavia Moesica was the Roman Empire's fleet on the lower Danube river, near the Black Sea.
This section of the timeline of Romanian history concerns events from Late Neolithic until Late Antiquity, which took place in or are directly related with the territory of modern Romania.
In Roman Dacia, an estimated 50,000 troops were stationed at its height.