ULMEŢUM
Constanţa, Romania.
Near the
modern village of Pantelimonul de Sus on a high plateau
protected to the SE and NE by deep ravines are the ruins
of a castellum built in Justinian's reign on the site of a
Roman vicus of the 2d c. A.D. The ruins are fairly well
preserved. All that remains of the ancient village, which
was inhabited by Romans and Thracians, are some inscriptions giving information on the organization of the vicus and its magistrates as well as its material development, which was furthered by the nearby Marcianopolis-Tropaeum-Noviodunum imperial highway. From the 3d
c. on there is little information. According to Procopius
(
De aed. 4.7.17) there was a Roman fortress here before Justinian's reign, but excavations have revealed the
phrourion built by that emperor to protect the surrounding territory from the invading Slavs. The 6th c. castellum is trapezoidal in shape (140 x 160 m). The rampart wall, which is fairly well preserved, is 2.6 m thick. Built
of well-beaten concrete, it has an outer surface of squared
blocks and an inner face of opus incertum. There are
13 bastions, all projecting outward; three are round, three
semicircular, and the rest square or rectangular. The curtains all have double staircases on the inside cut into the thickness of the wall. Little remains of the buildings inside the camp. The most important ruin is that of an
apsidal monument (35.5 x 17.7 m). The many rooms
do not connect but open onto two corridors that divide
the building lengthwise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
V. Pârvan, “Cetatea Ulmetum,”
An.
Acad. Rom., Mem. Sect. Ist. 34 (1912) 497-607; 36
(1913) 245-420; 37 (1914) 265-304.
D. M. PIPPIDI
