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Galerius, Gamzigrad, and the Fifth Macedonian legion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2015

Dēmētrios N. Christodoulou
Dēmētrios N. Christodoulou*
Affiliation:
Kalosgourou 11, Kypriadou, GR-111 41 Athens
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Extract

The future emperor Galerius was born in a small village in the province of Dacia Ripensis around A.D. 258. His mother's name was Romula. When he was confirmed as a member of the tetrarchy he undertook a building programme in his native village, transforming it into a monumental fortified palace. To honour his mother he gave it a new name, Felix Romuliana. In 311, before this ambitious programme was complete, he died and was buried and deified there.

Romuliana has been securely identified through epigraphic evidence with the impressive remains that exist near modern Gamzigrad (NE Serbia). This fortified palace was built in two phases: first came a fortification wall with 16 small rectangular or octagonal towers, dated in the first five years of the 4th c; then in c.305 this defensive system was partly demolished and a new, bigger fortification wall, strengthened by 20 huge, bastion-like towers (16-, 12- or 10-sided) was erected on the outside, encompassing and enlarging the original plan. This wall has been dated to 306-311. Inside the walls were erected two temples with altars, two palace complexes, a bath, a horreum, and auxiliary buildings. On a low ridge of hills east of the fortified palace two large consecration mounds and two mausolea were excavated in 1993. From the finds as well as the overall nature of the buildings at Romuliana, it was determined that this was where Galerius and his mother were buried and deified in the first years of the 4th c.

Type
Archeological Reports and Notes
Information
Journal of Roman Archaeology , Volume 15 , 2002 , pp. 275 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © Journal of Roman Archaeology L.L.C. 2002

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References

1 For a biographical summary of Galerius's life see Kienast, D., Römische Kaisertabelle (2nd edn., Darmstadt 1996) 283–87Google Scholar; for a generally acceptable chronology of his reign, see Barnes, T. D., The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, MA 1982) 37–38 and 61–64 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, revised by Zuckerman, C., AnTar 2 (1994) 65–70 Google Scholar

2 Epit. de Caes. 40.16; Kienast ibid. 284; Barnes ibid. 64. For a plausible identification of the original name of Romuliana, see Jovanović, A., “Notes to the manuscript De Aedificiis by Procopius,” in Lazić, M. (ed.), The archaeology of eastern Serbia (Belgrade 1997) 259–63Google Scholar

3 See Canak-Medić, M., Gamzigrad, kasnoantička palata. Arhitektura i prostorni sklop (Belgrade 1978)Google Scholar, and Srejović, D. et al., Gamzigrad: kasnoantički carski dvorci (Belgrade 1983).Google Scholar

4 Srejović ibid. 198 and id. (ed.), Roman imperial towns and palaces in Serbia: Sirmium, Romuliana, Naissus (Belgrade 1993) 118–25

5 Canak-Medić (supra n.3) 96-99. A coin found in the mortar of the foundations, beneath the floor of one of the polygonal towers of the more recent fortification, was issued between 308 and 311. Therefore at that place this fortification cannot be earlier than 308. Another coin, issued between 309 and 311, was found in the substratum of the mosaic floor in Palace I. This palace is contemporary with the later fortification and later than the internal fortification. For the dating of the internal fortification see also Srejović 1993 (supra n.4) 125-27.

6 Srejovic 1983 (supra n.3) 37-53, and id. 1993 (supra n.4) 128-47.

7 Srejović, D. and Vasić, C., Imperial mausolea and consecration memorials in Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad, East Serbia) (Belgrade 1994).Google Scholar

8 Srejović 1983, 161-70; Mirković, M., “Romuliana, the Roman army and soldiers,” in Lazić, M. (ed.), Ἀντίδωρον Dragoslavo Srejović (Belgrade 1997) 427–35Google Scholar.

9 Canak-Medić (supra n.3) 31, 89-90 and 111-12.

10 Vasić, Č., Odbrambeni sistemi Gamzigrada (unpublished diss., Univ. of Belgrade 1997)Google Scholar vol. 2, pl. 99-105 (= figs. 3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 here).

11 E.g., Keppie, L., The making of the Roman army (London 1984) 174–76Google Scholar; Coello, T., Unit sizes in the Late Roman army (BAR S645, Oxford 1996) 1 Google Scholar

12 Not. Dig. Or. 39-40.

13 The terms praefectus and praepositus are virtually interchangeable in this period, without any implication of difference between them, whether in duties or in substance. See Simpson, C. J., ” Laeti in the Notitia Dignitatum ,” RBelg 66 (1988) 80–85 Google Scholar, where the laeti in a law of 369 are commanded by praepositi, while in the slightly later Notitia Dignitatum they are commanded by praefecti. For the history of these titles see Smith, R. E., ZPE 36 (1979) 263–78Google Scholar

14 The palace complex along with the mausolea and tumuli was built between 293/4 (the latest issue-date of a coin in the hoard found as an offering inside Romula's tumulus — see Srejović and Vasić [supra n.7] 158-79) and 311 (the latest issue-date of coins found in foundations [see n.5 above]). The stamped bricks all belong to this period.

15 Not. Dig. Or. 41-42. See also Van Berchem, D., L'armée de Dioclétien et la réforme constantinienne (Paris 1952) 89–93 Google Scholar

16 Contra Jones, A. H. M., The Later Roman Empire (Oxford 1964) 99 Google Scholar, and Van Berchem ibid. 89. Thus all archaeological datings that are based on the supposed late (second half of the 4th c. and later) usage of this term must be revised. With respect to the article by Dietz, K., “Cohortes, ripae, pedaturae: Zur Entwicklung der Grenzlegionen in der Spätantike,” in Dietz, K., Henning, D. and Kaletsch, H. (edd.), Klassisches Altertum, Spätantike und frühes Christentum: Adolf Lippold zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet (Würzburg 1993) 315 ff.Google Scholar, one must point out that the tile-stamps from Romuliana belong to a single decade of building and are not spread out chronologically.

17 Similarly, the green ‘gamzigradite’ stones (a local variety of andesite) used as building material were quarried locally. On the quarries see Srejović and Vasić (supra n.7) 45 and fig. 14. On the making of bricks by legionaries, see, e.g, MacMullen, R., Soldier and civilian in the Later Roman Empire (Cambridge, MA 1963) 28–31 Google Scholar; for the local production of bricks by VI Herculia in a Danubian province, see Dušanić, M., Starinar 39 (1988) 90 Google Scholar

18 Pers. comm. Č. Vasić and A. Lalović.

19 Not. Dig. Or. 39-40 for Scythia Minor and Moesia Inferior.

20 Srejović and Vasić (supra n.7) 145-46.

21 Not. Dig. Or. 41-42. Jones (supra n.16) 99 and van Berchem (supra n.16) 95 attribute the re-organization to Constantine, after alleged losses in the Gothic War of 332. In my view, only the defeats of the Gothic War of 376-382 could have triggered this re-organization. This is because the provinces of Scythia Minor and Moesia Inferior, which according to Lydus, Mag. 3.40 were conquered by the Goths during the reign of Constantine, still retain their Diocletianic organization in the Notitia Dignitatum; if the provinces that had suffered during Constantine's war were not re-organized during his reign, there is no reason to expect provinces that had not suffered (such as Dacia Ripensis and Moesia Inferior) to have been re-organized. It was likely that it was only after the destructive Gothic Wars under Valens and Theodosius that the Diocletianic structures of these provinces were dismantled.

22 In the Not. Dig. 42.34-38, XIII Gemina has a number of detachments deployed on the right bank of the Danube along an imaginary line running northeast of Romuliana (Egeta, Transdrobeta, Burgus Novus, Dierna, and Ratiaria). On the wide distribution of limitanei detachments, see Elton, H., Warfare in Roman Europe AD 350-425 (Oxford 1996) 203–4Google Scholar

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24 Tudor, D., “Contribuţii privitoare la armata Daciei Ripensis,” in Studii şi cercetări de Istorie Veche 11 (1960) 340 and 344–47Google Scholar; Popescu, E., Inscripţiile din secolele IV-XIII descoperite în Romănia (Bucharest 1976) 301–64Google Scholar; Bollini, M., “Bolli laterizii di Ratiaria,” Ratiariensia 1 (1980) 93–127 Google Scholar; Inanov, R., “L'armata romane a Ratiaria durante il Principato,” Ratiariensia 3–4 (1987) 25–32 Google Scholar

25 See, e.g., Elton (supra n.22) 94-95.

26 Bowman, A. K., “The military occupation of Upper Egypt in the reign of Diocletian,” BASP 15 (1978) 25–38 Google Scholar; Rea, J. R. et al., “A ration-warrant for an adiutor memoriae ,” YCS 28 (1985) 101–13Google Scholar

27 Bowman ibid. 27, n.11.

28 Thus in Egypt there were two detachments of the two legions under the guise of limitanei during the late 4th c.: Not. Dig. Or. 28.14-15. The Danube legions, even under the Principate, were always deployed in pairs in each province and usually sent pairs of detachments to be incorporated into the main expeditionary forces during a major military campaign.

29 Kennedy, D. L., Archaeological explorations on the Roman frontier in North-East Jordan (BAR S134, Oxford 1982) 177–83Google Scholar, for the inscription; discussion in Eadie, J., “The transformation of the eastern frontier, 260-305,” in Mathisen, R. W. and Sivan, H. S. (edd.), Shifting frontiers in late antiquity (Aldershot 1996) 72–79 Google Scholar

30 Not. Dig. Or. 28.14-15.

31 Barnes (supra n.1) 54-55.

32 Barnes ibid. 62-63.

33 Festus, Brev. 25.1-3.

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35 Festus, Brev. 25.2.

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38 The older fortification wall at Romuliana has been dated to c.300 by Srejović 1993 (supra n.4) 119. There is no serious objection to dating the Arch of Galerius at Thessaloniki immediately after the conclusion of the Persian campaign. For the reconstruction of the original form of the arch as a tetrapylon, see Mentzos, A., “To anaktoro kai hē Rotonta tēs Thessalonikēs,” Byzantina 18 (1995–1996) 339–64Google Scholar For the rest of the tetrarchic phase of the palace complex there the lower chronological limit is 311. See Stephanidou-Tiberiou, Th., To mikro toxo tou Galeriou stē Thessalonikē (Athens 1995/1996) 52–54, nn. 149-63Google Scholar

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40 It was formed in 43 B.C. by Pansa or in 41-40 by Octavian (Keppie [supra n.11] 207) and is still found as limitanei in Egypt as late as A.D. 613/614 ( Zuckerman, C., “Legio V Macedonica in Egypt: CPL 199 revisited,” Tyche 3 [1988] 279–87Google Scholar).

41 In the later Roman army under the magister militum per Orientem there exists a legio comitatensis V Macedonica, but a similar XIII Gemina is not found alongside (Not. Dig. Or. 7.39). However, this does not suffice to prove the hypothesis of a military setback to XIII Gemina, for at Not, Dig. Or. 8.38 there exists under the magister militum per Thracias the tertiodecimani, a legio comitatensis, which must be a detachment of XIII Gemina.

42 For the campaigns against the Carpi and Sarmatians, see, e.,g., Kolendo, J., “Les guerres contre les Carpes pendant les dernières années de la tétrachie,” in Bibauw, J. (ed.), Hommages à Marcel Renard (Brussels 1969) vol. 2, 378–85Google Scholar; Barnes (supra n.1) 51-54, 63-64, 81. For the peace with the Goths, see Brennan, P., “Diocletian and the Goths,” Phoenix 38 (1984) 142–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar

43 Lact., De Mort. Persec. 11.1-2.

44 Ibid. 10.6-11.4.