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ABRITTUS (Razgrad) Bulgaria.

A Roman center covering ca. 10 ha, defended by a fortification wall varying between 2.40 and 2.85 m in thickness, and reinforced by several round towers at the corners, as well as by U-shaped and rectangular towers. In several places near the gate the height of the fortification wall reaches 10 m. As in other Roman sites in Scythia Minor, stones bearing inscriptions, and architectural fragments from earlier ruins, were reused in the repair of the wall. Two gates have been discovered, as well as several posterns. The N and S gates, and also the posterns, were closed up at the time of the city's crisis. The date of the fortifications, like those at Histria, may be fixed after the invasion of the Goths in 250-251. The S necropolis has been identified and partially excavated. It contains tombs datable between the 2d and the 4th c. The funerary material is very meager.

With the identification of Abrittus at Razgrad one of the most difficult problems of Roman topography in the S part of Scythia Minor has been resolved.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

T. Ivanov, “Urkrepitelvrata sistema na Abrittus,” Archeologia 4; Bul. d'Archéologie sud-est européenne (Assoc. Internationale d'Etudes du Sud-East Européen, Commission d'Archéologie) 1 (1969) 44; 2 (1971) 43.

D. ADAMESTEANU

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