Gârliciu (Cius)

Cius – ItAnt 224; ND, Or. 39, 14

Location: Constanţa county (RAN 61817.01, CT-I-s-A-02665)

The fortification was built on a promontory, which advanced into the Danube (whose course is now more than 4.5 km to the northwest), as a narrow split, delimiting today to the northwest lake Hisarlyk. The site can be located 4.5 km south of Gârliciu village, with access via DJ 222F, which intersects with DN 22 A.

Early Roman fortification, in which the cohort I Lusitanorum Cyrenaica (ISM V 118) was probably encamped. The fortification was restored to a smaller scale, probably in 369, according to an inscription discovered at Gârliciu (ILS 770 = IGLR 233). The late fortification certainly was in use in the second half of the 4^th century AD, probably by cuneus equitum stablesianorum. We do not have data for the following centuries, but some numismatic finds in the area suggest continued habitation in the 5^th – 6^th centuries, until the fall of the limes.

In the absence of systematic archaeological research of the site, two stone enclosures of unequal size could be identified on the terrain: the first measures approx. 120 x 120 m, and the smallest (inside the large one), from the late Roman period, measures approx. 85 x 60 m. Both fortifications are protected by a trench and rampart defence system. An ancient tumular necropolis (not researched), probably from the Roman era, was identified in the perimeter of the present-day Gârliciu village.

Based on data collected with the drone and field observations, by integrating them with P. Polonic’s plans, the plan of the fortifications was partially recreated, by reconstructing the enclosures and some buildings following the ditches from the removal of the walls.

The connection between the early fortification at Cius and the two toponyms attested epigraphically in the area, vicus Rami [ – – -] (ISM V 115) and vicus Vergobrittiani (ISM V 117), and the eventual early fortification, however, is unclear.

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

Polonic 1935, 18-26. TIR L 35, p. 33, 78 (vicus Vergobrittiani); Zahariade, Gudea 1997, 79, nr. 43; Gudea 2005, 451, nr. III. 43; Matei-Popescu, Falileyev 2007 – Matei-Popescu, Fl., Falileyev, Al., Notă asupra ISM V 115, Tyragetia, s.n., vol. I [XVI], nr. 1, 2007, 323-325; Băjenaru 2010, 128, nr. 42; Opriș, I. C., Rediscovering roman Cius (Gârliciu, Constanța county, Romania). From Emperor Valens to Grigore Tocilescu, Theodor Mommsen and beyond, Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology No. 7.1/2020, 5-18.