Programme & Abstracts

National, regional, and federal archaeological registers across Europe were not originally designed as research resources or infrastructures, but rather as administrative records and management tools intended for the protection of archaeological heritage.

This paper argues that such registers can be transformed into effective instruments for investigating a complex cultural phenomenon along the Danube, namely the Roman civilisation. Drawing on the experience gained through the Romanian National Archaeological Record, employed here as a case study, we outline the procedures by which heterogeneous information – derived from scholarly literature, archaeological investigations, historical archives, and administrative documentation – is standardised, normalised, and integrated into a relational database, subsequently exported as geospatial datasets for spatial analysis.

These datasets enable both quantitative and spatial analyses concerning settlement hierarchies, frontier systems, and road networks. The transition “from inventory to infrastructure” demonstrates that national archaeological registers can support comparative research at a macro and cross-border scale, providing a replicable methodological framework for the Danubian provinces and ensuring interoperability with European research infrastructures such as ARIADNEplus and Europeana.

The legions and the numerous military personnel stationed along the Roman limes played a pivotal role in facilitating cultural exchange throughout the Danubian provinces. Their presence significantly enriched the cultural fabric of the newly established provinces by introducing new elements and simultaneously influencing local traditions and practices. Mineral springs served as sacred sites for various Mediterranean religions. However, the thermal sites associated with these springs typically possessed limited local or, at most, regional significance and lacked substantial surrounding infrastructure. This situation often changed rapidly with the arrival of the Romans, as evidenced by an increase in votive offerings, which indicated a rise in visitor numbers, coupled with the construction of thermae in the Roman architectural style.

The paper examines the mechanisms underlying the development of thermal sites during the Roman period, providing evidence of the participation of soldiers in this transformative process through several case studies originating from the Danubian provinces.

The architectural solutions that emerged in the Danubian provinces of the Roman Empire are a clear product of serious cultural contacts and interactions. In the military camps founded by the Romans along the river from Noricum, Raetia and Upper Pannonia and all the way to Lower Moesia, the principle of "importing" order solutions and the construction of main buildings in certain styles clearly prevailed. This is the case with the Tuscan order, which definitely goes with the legions of the Roman Empire.

Such examples are the architectural solutions from Carnuntum, Brigetio, and Aquincum to Novae, Durostorum, Noviodunum, etc. Tuscan order was imposed by the colonizers in the borders of Pannonia and Moesia – right up to the mouth of the river. Romans import the architectural models of so-called “military architecture” in most of the centers of Danubian lands, where order systems are previously unknown.

Although the versions of Ionic and Corinthian styles exist, the Tuscan order, built by the Romans, giving us the clearest idea of the cultural exchange in the field of architectural models from the entire Danube Limes area.

Legionary fortress was always considered as the site where military contexts dominate as rough and exclusive, where cold steel annihilates art, luxury and evidence that soldiers were actual people to. Finds at the Viminacium tend to change some of these views. A number of recent finds bring the view of luxury into clear and cold military contexts. One of the finds especially stands out. During the recent excavations of the legionary camp of the legion VII Claudia at Viminacium, a considerable segment of principia was explored. In one of the administrative rooms of this building, together with a coin hoard, weapons and pieces of military equipment, fragments of a luxurious glass vessel were discovered. Fragments of the recipient, and relief decorations have been preserved, the most representative of which is the fish-shaped application. Considering the stratigraphy and other dateable finds from the same context, this vessel is dated to the first decades of 4th century. Vessel fragments can be assigned to the group of so-called Konchylienbecher, or conchylia cups, named after the Latin term for shells – conchylia. These cone-shape goblets are usually richly decorated with embossed sea creatures, namely combination of fish and shellfish. As a unique specimen of this type of vessel on the territory of Viminacium, and even Serbia, this find raises questions of trade routes and artistic trends, but also the status of military officials and the use of luxury goods among military community.

Ausgehend von zwei Textstellen in den Schriften des frühchristlichen Autors Tertullian, die in der altertumswissenschaftlichen Forschung durchaus kontrovers besprochen werden, steht die Bedeutung des Belenus-Kultes im Zentrum des Beitrages: Tertullian bezeugt dabei die Verehrung dieses Gottes in der römischen Provinz Noricum und scheint dabei von einer durchaus prominenten Position dieses Gottes in der Götterwelt der Austria Romana auszugehen. Die wenigen erhaltenen Weiheinschriften bestätigen diese beiden literarischen Zeugnisse allerdings nicht, während hingegen die beträchtliche Menge an Belenus-Denkmälern in Oberitalien durchaus auffällt. Hier ist also nach dem Ausgangsort des Kultes zu fragen. In beiden Regionen wurde jedenfalls in der Prinzipatszeit der Gott im Rahmen einer römischen Kultpraxis verehrt und wurde damals vermutlich nicht als keltischer Stammesgott gedeutet, zumal dessen Quellenbelege kaum in die vorrömische Zeit zurückreichen. Die Zeugnisse seiner Verehrung, wie die Aufstellung von Statuen und Weihealtären, gelten nämich als typisch römische Formen antiker Kultpraxis.