ORLEA
Olt, Romania.
The most important
Roman vicus of the territorium Sucidavense on the banks
of the Danube. The site was inhabited from the Neolithic period to the 13th-14th c., almost without interruption. The Dacian and Roman settlement was built
along the bank of the river. The stamped amphorae of the
Hellenistic period, as well as the Greek and Republican
Roman coins, disclose economic ties with the Aegean
Islands and Italy dating back to the 4th c. B.C. There are
two deposits of Republican Roman coins.
Between Orlea and its Bulgarian counterpart, the village of Vadin, are the ruins of a bridge supported on
both ends by masonry foundations and having wooden
piles. It has been attributed to Cornelius Fuscus, who is
said to have built it when he crossed the Danube during
his expedition against the Dacians in A.D. 87. The Roman
village occupied an area of ca. 40 ha. It is surrounded
by several villae rusticae and a necropolis along the
Roman road on the river bank. Traces of Roman dwellings are very frequent. Many of the small islands of the Orlea marsh, S of the village, were likewise inhabited (from Neolithic times to the Byzantine period). The
slope of the plateau on which the Roman settlement was
built has yielded, on the Danube side, the remains of
several potter's ovens and brick kilns. Pottery vases and
terracotta lamps have been found (the local potter was
Marcus Martinus: 2d c. A.D.), and a terracotta bust representing a Moor. A stone altar dedicated to I.O.M. mentions the name of the landowner, P. Iul. Vitalianus.
Engraved stones, one of which bears the inscription
ANICETUS, imported from Romula, were discovered there.
After the abandonment of Dacia (271), the settlement
continued to belong to the Empire until the 5th c. as
proven by the pottery and coins. An abraxas attests to
the presence of Christianity in the 3d c.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AnÉpigr (1959) 335.
D. Tudor, “Şapte pietre gravate de la Celei şi Orlea,”
SCN 3 (1960) 378-92; id., “Un pont romain ignord dans la region du Bas-Danube,”
Latomus 20 (1961) 501-9; id.,
Oltenia romană (3d ed., 1968) passim; id., Oraşe (1968)
335; J. Winkler, “Circulaţia monetară în aşezările antice de pe teritoriile comunei Orlea,”
Acta Musei Napocensis 8 (1971) 161-72.
D. TUDOR
