Rome and the Black Sea Region. Группа авторов
connection, probably founded by Greek-speaking people though so far the site has produced Latin inscriptions exclusively.15 Even in the cemeteries at Capidava and Noviodunum, the only ones on the limes excavated to some extent, only graves of specific Roman provincial types were found including a few funeral assemblages containing military equipment, which was normal considering that some of the deceased were auxiliary soldiers.16
On the seashore the old Greek city-states of Callatis, Tomis, Histria were already established. Another much smaller Greek town was probably Argamum, mentioned in the horotesia of Histria (ISM I, 67-68) and located at Capul Dolojman, but the shortage of evidence prevents any further comments on it.
During the first-third centuries AD, the three major Greek towns of the Dobrudja were civitates peregrinae, i.e. self-governing communities without Roman status. Since the foedus between Rome and Callatis that has been partly preserved attests that the latter was a civitas foederata (ISM III, 1), for the other two cities one has also to consider every alternative status: civitates stipendiariae or civitates liberae et immunes. Nevertheless, the specific juridical status of each city-state was not of paramount importance as in practice the differences between distinct categories of civitates peregrinae had already begun to fade away from the first century AD.17
In Callatis, all the inscriptions set by individual inhabitants are in Greek except one Latin dedication to Trajan and cives Romani consistentes Callatis led by a quinquennalis perpetuus (ISM III, 83). According to the epigraphic evidence, at Tomis and Histria the population still spoke predominantly Greek, but in each of them one encountered a tribe of the Romans (ISM II, 256; I, 142). A considerable part of these Roman citizens, some of them Latin speakers, were veterans. And in both these towns are attested a lot of Latin speaking soldiers on duty or buried in the place of their residence or origin. As Tomis was the largest coastal Greek city of Moesia Inferior, it is no surprise that it produced a far larger number of army-related persons than Histria.18 It may be concluded that among the three Greek city-states of Dobrudja, Callatis best preserved its heritage and was at the same time free of any significant Roman military presence. The special situation of Callatis could derive from its privileged juridical status, from a traditional behavior characteristic of the Dorian colonists or even from its lack of importance to the Romans due to its reduced size and/or remote location. Given the meagre surviving evidence it is impossible to be more specific on this issue.
The inner part of Dobrudja was predominantly a rural area divided into the territories of the military settlements and Roman towns along the Danube frontier and of the Greek cities on the Black Sea shore (Fig. 1). It was only in the extreme south of this zone that Tropaeum Traiani developed, the third town of Dobrudja with Roman status. The Roman settlement near the Adamklissi tropaeum sprang up contemporarily with/or immediately after the inauguration of the monument in AD 109, as attested by a dedication to the emperor by Traianenses Tropaeenses in AD 116/117 (CIL III, 12470). Several mixed vexillations were composed of soldiers from both legions I Italica and V Macedonica (CIL III, 142143; CIL III, 14433) among which the largest, 1500 troops strong, probably worked on the construction of the monument and possibly also the settlement.19 Later, during the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, officers of legio XI Claudia offered dedications at Adamklissi which, together with other undated inscriptions set up by soldiers, prove a continual military activity on the spot (CIL III, 7483; 142141; 142146). Sometimes before AD 170, Tropaeum Traiani was promoted to municipal status (IDRE II, 337). The town had an ordo decurionum municipii Tropaei (CIL III, 7484 = 12461; III, 142144) and the usual series of municipal magistrates and priests: duumviri (CIL III, 142142; 142146 et al.), duumviri quinquennales (CIL III, 14437 = 12462), aediles, quaestores, sacerdotes.20
In the remaining inner part of Dobrudja, one met only rural administrative units, most of them of Roman type: vici and villae rusticae. So, according to recent statistics of all the settlements of the Dobrudja, except the towns, 26 + 2(?) vici are attested, compared with 4 +6(?) komai and 2 pyrgoi + 2 turres (one turned into a vicus).21 In addition, there are at least 68 villae rusticae, 27 cemeteries and 74 isolated graves.22
The vici had the standard Roman organization, i.e. they were led by one or usually two annually elected magistri, and when of larger size they also had a quaestor. Characteristically, most of them had Roman names: Quinctionis (ISM I, 324-341), Secundini (ISM I, 342-349), Casiani (ISM I, 369-370), Celeris (ISM I, 351-352), Clementianenses (ISM II, 134; 136; 191), Narcissiani (ISM II, 133), Nov…(ISM V, 233), Petra (ISM V, 240), Ulmetum (ISM V, 62; 63; 69), Tres Protomae (ISM II, 53), Sc[apt]ia (ISM II, 137), I Urb…(CIL III, 14441), Urbin…23, Rami…(ISM V, 117). Even more significant is the presence of veterani et cives Romani consistentes in the vici: Quinctionis, Nov…, Bad…24, V…(CIL III, 14442), …stro (ISM I, 138). In addition, the site of vicus classicorum obviously settled by veterans of the fleet, but where there are only cives Romani attested proves that one has to consider the presence of the veterans also in other settlements or at least in the sites producing evidence for Roman citizens as the vici: Secundini, I Urb…, Turris Muca (ISM II, 141) and Ulmetum.
The vici settled by veterani et cives Romani, are known mostly in regio Histriae, which is partly due to the existence of better evidence for the rural sites of this area. However it is hard to see the concentration of all the inscriptions specifying veteran communities in the northern part of Dobrudja as purely casual. Therefore it results in one having to consider this region as having been extensively populated by the Roman administration, partly with veterans. An additional proof of the systematic politics of colonization of this area is that in vici Quinctionis and Ulmetum there were, besides the Roman citizens, also attested Bessi consistentes. And if Lai consistentes from vici Secundini and Turris Muca were in fact, like the Bessi, other Thracian colonists and not simply laoi, it means that in this part of Moesia Inferior it was common for people of different origins and social status to settle in the same vicus. The reason for using such a procedure consisted probably in the limited number of men available for colonization during the short period of time assigned by the Roman authorities for the development of the land.
A completely different situation is to be found in the territory of Callatis where neither communities of Roman citizens nor even rural settlements of Roman type were known except perhaps Amlaidina, if its designation as vicus in a single, funerary Latin, inscription was correct (ISM III, 237). So one can infer that the peculiarity of the proper town of Callatis succeeded in keeping its traditional Greek character all over its rural territory.
Everywhere in the Empire the Romans built roads in order to facilitate the military traffic and the running of the imperial post cursus publicus. Hence it must not have been pure chance that the series of milestones known so far in Dobrudja begins in Trajan’s reign when the number of troops quartered in the region dramatically increased and the limes was thoroughly refurbished by the erection of several new fortifications along the Danube.
Determined by the natural conditions, the network system completed by Trajan consisted of three main roads, one along the seashore, another along the Danube bank and the third running from south to the north through the middle of the land, linked together by secondary transversal roads (Fig. 2). Built by the soldiers for meeting the demands of the army and the state administration, the roads were naturally used also for the transportation of civil goods and persons and greatly promoted the economic development of the country to which they came. So it is no surprise that all the settlements of some importance were placed on the main roads, especially where they crossed with other roads. However the impact of the famous Roman roads on the local population was not always positive. On the contrary, we know about the complaints of the people from Laikos Pyrgos and Chora Dagei in regio Histriae, who asked the governors of Moesia Inferior in AD 137-141 and 160 respectively, to be spared from the abuses they