Beroe
Beroe – TP VIII, 3; ItAnt 225, 1; ND, Or. 39, 5; GeogrRav 4, 51; 7, 13; TheophSim 2, 16;
Location: Ostrov commune, Tulcea county (RAN 161115.01; TL-I-s-A-05872)
The Roman fortification is located at “Piatra Frecăței”, on a tall promontory that advances into the Danube, at the confluence of the river with the Băroi arm, about 3 km south of the centre of Ostrov commune. Access is via the road DJ 222f, on the Dăeni/Ostrov route.
The late Roman fortification is superimposed by a medieval settlement (10th -12th centuries AD). The late Roman fortification housed a troop of cuneus equitum stablesianorum, a troop referred to by another detachment present at Cius as well.
From the description of P. Polonic from 1898, it follows that the late Roman fortification had an irregular rectangular shape, with three sides of 64 m long and a fourth (the W) much shorter, of only 30 m. During more recent archaeological research, it has been found that in the southern and western areas, the Roman-era enclosure collapsed into the Danube. Three levels of Roman and Roman-Byzantine habitation have been discovered (2nd – 7th centuries AD ), mostly destroyed by early medieval complexes.
Our investigations consisted of field reconnaissance, making a 3D model, and taking oblique photographs.
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, 22; Comşa, E., Limesul dobrogean. Cercetări de suprafaţă de-a lungul Dunării între Ostrov (reg. Galaţi) şi Hârşova (reg. Constanţa), Materiale, 5, 1959, 761-768 (761-764); Suceveanu 1977, 65, 101-102, 138-139; Zahariade, Gudea 1997, p. 80, nr. 47; Stănică, A., Câteva aspecte privind aşezarea medio-bizantină de la Ostrov – Piatra Frecăţei (Beroe), jud. Tulcea, în Prinos lui Petre Diaconu la 80 de ani, Brăila, 2004, 357-373.