Castra of Buciumi | |
---|---|
Founded | 2nd century AD[1] |
Abandoned | 3rd century AD[1] |
Place in the Roman world | |
Province | Dacia Superior |
Administrative unit | Dacia Porolissensis |
Limes | Porolissensis |
Directly connected to | |
Structure | |
— Stone structure — | |
Size and area | 134 m × 167 m (2.2 ha) |
— Wood and earth structure — | |
Size and area | 125 m × 160 m (2.0 ha) |
Stationed military units | |
— Cohorts — | |
I Augusta Ituraeorum, II Augusta Brittonum | |
Location | |
Coordinates | 47°02′54″N 23°02′41″E / 47.048292°N 23.044678°E |
Altitude | 373 m |
Place name | Grădiște |
Town | Buciumi |
Country | Romania |
Reference | |
RO-LMI | SJ-I-s-A-04862[2] |
RO-RAN | 140388.03[1] |
Site notes | |
Recognition | National Historical Monument |
Condition | Ruined |
Exhibitions | County Museum of History and Art, Zalău |
The castra of Buciumi was a fort in the Roman province of Dacia in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[1][2] Remains of the surrounding vicus were also unearthed.[2] The castra's ruins are located in Buciumi, Romania.[1][2]
It controlled the road through the Rag pass and the central area of the NW segment of the Limes Moesiae.
Three construction phases were highlighted:[3]
1. The earthen fort, rectangular plan, 125x160m, wood and earth walls 10 m thick and 1.75 m high; simple ditches with an opening of 9-10 m and a depth of 1.50-2 m; porta praetoria on the S side; traces of barracks in the praetentura. Troops: the I Augusta Ituraeorum cohort was initially and after 114, cohort II Augusta Nerviana milliaria Brittonum;
2. The stone fort, built at the beginning of the 3rd century during the reign of Caracalla (211-217) and occupied by cohort II Augusta Nerviana milliaria Brittonum, which also bore the name Antoniniana (Caracalla); rectangular plan with rounded corners, 134x167 m, with the same orientation as the previous fort; 1.20 thick walls in opus incertum; trapezoidal corner towers, 5.40x5.50x5.50x7m; square curtain towers on the S side; three gates with double entrances; porta decumana simple entrance; apart from the porta praetoria which has quadrangular towers, the others have semicircular towers; inside: Principia 26x32 m; atrium 15.50x16.20 m; basilica with court 8.25x26m; behind aedes princiorum flanked by two chambers; in latus sinistrum two horrea 12x26 m; in latus dextrum, praetorium 28x30m; in the praetentura 6 stone barracks, three on each side of the via praetoria.
3. Probably during the reign of Severus Alexander (222-235), some buildings were built over the via sagularis; on the S side near the porta praetoria, two buildings were built over the wave and over the via sagularis; these buildings seem to date, however, to the late 3rd century.
To the NE of the fort are traces of civil settlements; to the SE were probably the bath.