BARBOŞI
Moldova, Romania.
Roman castellum on the left bank of the Danube, at the mouth of
the Siret, on the site of a Dacian settlement of the early
1st c. A.D. The castellum, first constructed of earth, was
later replaced by a larger castellum built of stone. A
bridgehead on the left bank of the Danube across from
Dinogetia, it belonged to the province of Moesia inferior, was under the authority of the legion at Troesmis,
and was placed here to protect the road along the Siret
which ran through the Oituz pass into Dacia. in the middle of the 3d c. this castellum was abandoned, but in
the 4th c. a small polygonal tower was built, the last
phase of construction on the plateau of Barboşi. The
castellum enclosed an area of ca. 5000 sq. m and was
defended by a stone wall 1.1 m thick with rectangular
interior towers and by a double ditch, barely visible today. in the 2d and 3d c. detachments of Legio V Macedonica, Legio i italica, Cohors II Mattiacorum and
Classis Flavia Moesica were garrisoned here. Near the
castrum a civil settlement developed where many inscriptions, pottery fragments, and coins were found. Near this
were cemeteries belonging to both the castellum and the
civil settlement. The territory dependent on the castrum
was closed by an earth vallum which crossed S Moldavia
between the Prut and the Siret. Within this territory many
other places with traces of Roman remains have been
identified.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
V. Pârvan, “Castrul de la Poiana şi
drumul roman prin Moldova de Jos,”
ARMSI 36 (1913)
11-31; G. Ştefan, “Dinogetia—a problem of ancient topography,”
Dacia, NS 2 (1958) 317-30; N. Gostar, “Unităţile militare din castellum roman de la Barboşi,”
Danubius, I (1967) 107-13.
E. DORUTIU-BOILA
