DINOGETIA
(Bisericuţa-Garvăn) Dobrudja, Romania.
In the NW corner of the Dobrudja, about 8 km
SE of Galaţi. Earlier a Geto-Dacian settlement, it was
conquered by the Romans and changed into a boundary
fortress. Ptolemy (3.8.2) places it on the left bank of the
Danube (near the mouth of the Siret), while the
Antonine Itinerary (225.5) places it on the right bank, between Arrubium and Noviodunum. Apparently an earlier
Roman site of the same name was transferred from the
more exposed left bank of the river in the vicinity to the
later site on the right bank of a small rocky island in
the Danube marshes. It is mentioned by
Notitia dignitatum (39.24).
Thoroughly rebuilt by Diocletian, the fortress continued to play an outstanding role during the reign of Constantine the Great, as well as under his successors. The
last important structures, after the crisis of the 5th c.,
were undertaken by Anastasius and Justinian. In 559, it
was burnt down during the attack of the Kotrigurs led
by Zabergan. After this invasion the site continued to
the end of the 6th c., but never again flourished.
Archaeological excavations have uncovered the circuit
wall and the towers, as well as a number of buildings
within and outside the limits of the precinct. These ruins
were heavily damaged by a feudal site built over the
Roman one.
The higher part of the island, an irregularly shaped
plateau of ca. 10,000 sq. m, was protected by the circuit
wall (ca. 3 m wide) erected under Diocletian. Fourteen
horseshoe-shaped towers increased the defensive capacity
of the fortification.
The walls were made of local stone, alternating with
horizontal rows of brick. The main gate of the fortress
was in the middle of the S side of the circuit wall. Two
smaller gates were placed on the W and N sides. The
limited area of the fortress was crowded with buildings,
separated by narrow streets. The praetorium, built in the
same technique as the circuit wall, was near the center
of the citadel. The ruins of a large house, possibly belonging to a local aristocrat, were discovered in the vicinity of the praetorium to the E. In the SW angle of the
fortress a basilica, built in the 4th c., was renovated by
Anastasius (several stamped bricks, carrying the name
of the emperor were found among its remains and in its
pavement). Other large public buildings have not yet
been completely unearthed. The ruins of a Roman bath
(4th c.) were brought to light outside the precinct (ca.
100 m to SE).
Some of the small finds include bricks with the stamps
of the Legio V Macedonica, Cohors I Cilicum, Cohors II
Mattiacorum, cl. Fl. Moesica (2d c.) and Legio I Iovia
(4th c.). A bronze balance carries an inscription with
the name of Flavios Gerontios, great eparchos (praefectus) of Constantinople, during the reign of Justinian.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Ştefan, “Dinogetia, I,”
Dacia 7-8
(1937-40) 401-25; id., “O balanţă romană din sec. VI
e.n. descoperită în Dobrogea,”
Studii şi cercetări de istorie veche, I (1950) 152-62; id., “La legio I Iovia et la défense de la frontière danubienne au IV
e siècle de notre
ère,”
Nouvelles études d'histoire, (1955) 339-46; id.,
“Un miliario dell'epoca di Diocleziano scoperto a Garvăn
(Dinogetia),”
Dacia, NS 1 (1957) 221-27; id., “Dinogetia. A problem of ancient topography,”
Dacia, NS 2
(1958) 317-29; id. et al.,
Dinogetia, (1967); I. Barnea,
“L'incendie de la cité de Dinogetia au VI
e siècle,”
Dacia, NS 10 (1966) 237-59; id., “Les Thermes de Dinogetia,”
Dacia, NS 11 (1967) 225-52; id.,
Dinogetia (2d ed. 1969).
I. BARNEA
