Hârșova (Carsium)

Carsium – Ptol. III, 10, 10; ItAnt 224; TP VII, 4; ND, Or. 39, 22; Proc. De aed. 308, 25; GeogrRav 179, 2; 186, 14; Hierokl. 637; ConstPorph, De Them. 47, 15

Location: Constanţa county (RAN 60810.01; CT-I-s-A-02676)

Auxiliary fort, located on the high bank of the Danube, in the area where Ialomiţa river flows in the Danube, at the point “Dealul Cetătii”. In this area, the Danube’s channels meet, at the end of Ialomiţa island, where the mentioned river flows into the Danube. The site is within the city, with a direct connection to DN 2A-E 60. The terrain from the Hârșova fortress is public property, part of the archaeological material being exhibited in the “Carsium” museum.

The site has been known since the end of the 19^th – beginning of the 20^th century, with sporadic excavations systematically continued relatively recently.

Chronologically, several constructive phases can be distinguished: a supposed earth and wood fort datable between the end of the 1^st – beginning of the 2^nd century AD; the end of the 3^rd – beginning of the 4^th – 6^th century; 10^th century 13^th – 14^th centuries; 16^th century up until the 19^th century. The crossing point that originally connected the Romanian Plain with the West Pontic Greek fortresses was used for 18 centuries, until the destruction of the fortress during the conflicts of the Ottoman Empire, in the first half of the 19^th century.

Construction inscription from the time of Trajan, dated 103 AD, at the time when Q. Fabius Postuminus (ISM V 94) was legatus Augusti pro praetore Moesiae Inferioris. Stamps from the earlier period are attested AL FL (AE 1998, 1145), maybe ala I Flavia Gaetulorum, ala Gallorum Flaviana, or ala Flavia; stamps of the legion I Italica and the fleet (ISM V 113; AE 1998, 1147-1148).). Existing data show that Ala II Hispanorum et Aravacorum (ISM V 95, 102) will have certainly been encamped here in the second half of the 2^nd century (if not even earlier). A military vicus developed around the fortification. The urbanization hypothesis has no documentary support, but it is to be considered. As proof of the importance of this local center and its subsequent development, in the 6^th century AD. Carsium is the seat of Tomis suffragan diocese.

Noteworthy in the current stage of research is the port facility, a massive wall of about 40 m (end of the 3^rd – beginning of the 4^th centuries), with several subsequent reconstructions, up to the Ottoman era, namely the western Roman-Byzantine precinct where a late, U-shaped tower has been identified. The northern gate was identified (2009) and investigated in the last decade; endowed with two symmetrical towers (T1-T2), of the same shape, it is over 300 m from the Danube, towards the interior of the modern city.

Our investigations consisted of collecting a series of data (cadastral plans, 3D modelling, oblique photos), which provide a detailed image of the site.

Part of the study:

Ovidiu Țentea, Ioan C. Opriș, Florian Matei-Popescu, Alexandru Rațiu, Constantin Băjenaru, Vlad Călina, Frontiera romană din Dobrogea. O trecere în revistă și o actualizare, Cercetări Arheologice, Vol. 26, pag. 9-82, 2019, doi: https://doi.org/10.46535/ca.26.01

Bibliography

TIR L 35, p. 30; Suceveanu 1977, p. 65-66, nr. 7; Zahariade, Gudea 1997, p. 79, nr. 42; Gudea 2005, p. 449-451, nr. III. 42; Nicolae 2013, p. 166; Stănică, A.D., The missing fortresses in Dobrogea. Case study: Turkish fortifications, in Dobrogea: coordonate istorice și arheologice (editori A. Stănică, G. Custurea, D. Stănică, E. Plopeanu), Tulcea es. StudIS, 2016, 32, fig. 9 (fortificația turcească); Constantin, N., Șantierul arheologic Hârșova-Cetate, Sectorul ”Incinte Vest”. Campaniile 2000-2007, Pontica, 48-49, 2015-2016, p. 282-304; Constantin, N., Poarta de nord a cetăţii romano-bizantine Carsium, Pontica 51, 2018, 343-363.