ARMATA ROMANĂ DIN BANAT ÎN SECOLUL IV D.CHR.
ROMAN ARMY FROM BANAT IN THE IVTH CENTURY AD

Summary/Abstract: The Roman military presence in Banat, in the IInd and IIIrd centuries AD, represents a very interesting and important field of study concerning the Roman civilization in Dacia. The withdrawal of the army and the administration to the South of the Danube makes Roman civilization present on both sides of the river, where our historical sources speak about an effective Roman presence. The most important, but the only one written source, which speaks about the Roman army in the IVth century, is Notitia Dignitatum in which are presented the military units from the Eastern Empire in 395, during Theodosius’ I reign (379-395 AD) and from the Western Empire after 420 AD. Another important document, known as Digesta or Pandacte, a collection of rules regarding civil rights, is the work of emperor Iustinian (527-565 AD). Another aspect of the links between the Danube and the South-Central province of Dacia are the roads. Based on Tabula Peutingeriana we consider that the settlement known in literature as Ad Mediam, and interpreted in our historiography as “ad viam media” (the middle way), between the Danube and the Eastern Gate pass, is to be located somewhere near the crossing point of the roads from the spa-resort Herculane and Mehadia. In our view, this location doesn’t represent the halfway between the Danube and the Eastern Gate (Poarta Orientală), because by a simple arithmetic count I found that between VIMINACIUM and Ulpia Traiana SARMIZEGETUSA are 186 roman miles, namely 275 km, and with surprise I realised that the middle of this distance is nowhere else that at Ad Mediam. As regarding the recent archaeological research in Tibiscum, for the first time we can date the IVth century level based on archaeological materials, without needing interpretation or other analogies. In 2008 I resumed researches, opening two areas, with the dimensions 3,5 x 5 m, at 0,50 m from the section researched in 1998. With no great surprise we found that at only 0,30 m, in the last level, along with tiles from the roof, there were two amphoras, known in literature as L.R.Amphorae 2; this type is used beginning with the IVth century. In conclusion, the arguments presented in this new approach prove with no doubt an effective Roman presence in the archaeological sites located North of the Danube during the IVth century. The only thing we can not certify is the presence of military troops in the old Roman forts. We do not talk about the presence of the romanized population, which uses products from the Empire. We refer to the inclusion of this territory in the Roman world by an effective military presence. Until further discoveries, we may certainly discuss about the evolution of the Roman city Tibiscum during the IVth century and even at the beginning of Vth century.

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