Novae

This books takes a comprehensive look at the Roman army as a factor which prompted substantial changes and economic transformations in the province of Lower Moesia, discussing its impact on the development of particular branches of the economy. The volume comprises five chapters. Chapter One, entitled “Before Lower Moesia: A Political and Economic Outline” constitutes an introduction which presents the economic circumstances in the region prior to Roman conquest. In Chapter Two, entitled “Garrison of the Lower Moesia and the Scale of Militarization”, the author estimates the size of the garrison in the province and analyzes the influence that the military presence had on the demography of Lower Moesia. The following chapter – “Monetization” – is concerned with the financial standing of the Roman soldiery and their contribution to the monetization of the province. Chapter Four, “Construction”, addresses construction undertakings on which the army embarked and the outcomes it produced, such as urbanization of the province, sustained security and order (as envisaged by the Romans), expansion of the economic market and exploitation of the province’s natural resources. In the final chapter, entitled “Military Logistics and the Local Market”, the narrative focuses on selected aspects of agriculture, crafts and, to a slightly lesser extent, on trade and services. The book demonstrates how the Roman army, seeking to meet its provisioning needs, participated in and contributed to the functioning of these industries.

Abstract
As the investigation of individual complexes progresses, scholars are realizing that their overall layouts incorporate certain facilities of essential importance, including latrines. Among the exposed complexes in Novae, latrines have been identified in five: the house with the peristyle, the Flavian baths, the large legionary baths, the valetudinarium and the episcopal baths. The house with the peristyle and the row of interiors
at the via principalis featuring the latrines are dated to the 70s AD. Two latrines have been discovered at legionary baths (the Flavian baths from the 70s AD and the large legionary baths from the 130s and the 140s AD). Similar was the design and execution of the latrine at the valetudinarium, dated to 100/101 AD. Unfortunately, circumstances had changed by the time of the construction of the latrine at the episcopal
baths in the second half of the 5th century, more crudely designed and executed. Another category of archaeological finds is the clay chamber pots (lasana) from the villa extra muros.
Keywords: latrines, legionary camp, Novae, Moesia Inferior, Moesia Secunda, early Byzantine city, architecture, lasanum

The epigraphic evidence from four Lower Moesian legionary bases provides information about military-civilian society living along the Lower Danubian frontier zone. The inscriptions on stone originating from these four sites informs not only about the names, age or status of the people living in the border zone, but may be helpful in recreating the emergence of Roman provincial society in the military garrisons. The epigraphic evidence collected from Oescus, Novae, Durostorum, and Troesmis includes only the inscriptions related to the people who were not active soldiers and officers serving in the legions. The aim of the paper is to find out whether the epigraphic evidence may bring any additional information concerning the civilian and military families, ethnic and social composition of the inhabitants living near legionary bases, conditions of life, and the nature of the settlement.

Abstract:
The exploration of the town of Novae by the International Interdisciplinary Archaeological Expedition of the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań yielded several ceramic slabs and bricks bearing imprints of footwear. Within this small corpus of finds, particularly striking is a bipedalis ceramic slab discovered in 1997. Preserved in its entirety, measuring 59.0 × 58.0 cm and of the thickness of 7.5 cm, it is marked with stamp reading LEGIITAL. The slab bears a total of five identifiable imprints of footwear and, interestingly, of bare feet and hands. The number and shapes of the imprints on the discussed item suggest that when it had been removed from the wooden mould and was lying on sand awaiting baking in a kiln, four men, presumably brickmakers and their assistants, walked on its surface — two wearing military caligae, one in civilian footwear, and one barefoot. All of the above instances of imprints of soles of Roman military and civilian footwear on building ceramics from Novae come from the large legionary baths (Sector Xz-PL). Among the tiles and slabs with traces of caligae, six bear stamps reading LEGIITAL classified as Type VI according to Tadeusz Sarnowski and Marta Matuszewska. When discussing individual finds, the present writer has attempted to specify the circumstances in which a man left the imprint of footwear, a bare foot, fingers, hands or a knee on a brick or a ceramic slab which had been freshly removed from the wooden mould. Most of these traces fall into two categories: I. resulting from normal manufacturing activity, and II. produced by accidental, non-standard, or even erroneous human behaviour.
Keywords: Novae, Moesia Inferior, building ceramic, Roman military and civilian footwear

Among almost 300 epigraphic monuments from Novae, thirty-five mention women, but only nine of them refer to female family members of the soldiers and veterans of the First Italic legion. The aim of this paper is to attempt to answer questions concerning the status and character of family relationships maintained by soldiers, officers and veterans of the legio I Italica. Therefore, to the group of monuments from Novae I have added evidence from other sites that yielded inscriptions mentioning the legionaries and their female family members. Thus, the list of monuments comprises evidence from other sites in Lower Moesia, Dalmatia and Chersonesus (Crimea), where soldiers of this unit were stationed. To this list I have added attestations of female family members of the high-rank officers (legates and tribunes) who mention the First Italic legion in their careers, as well as of veterans.

Novae and supernovae are rare astronomical events that would have had an influence on the sky- watching peoples who witnessed them. Although several bright novae/supernovae have been visible during recorded human history, there are many proposed but no confirmed accounts of supernovae in indigenous oral traditions or material culture. Criteria are established for confirming novae/supernovae in oral traditions and material culture, and claims from around the world are discussed to determine if they meet these criteria. Aboriginal Australian traditions are explored for possible descriptions of novae/supernovae. Although representations of supernovae may exist in Aboriginal traditions, there are currently no confirmed accounts of supernovae in Indigenous Australian oral or material traditions.

This article is the first systematic attempt for collection and arrangement of the early Roman coin finds from Novae – a large legionary fortress on the Lower Danube excavated without interruption since 1960. It contains a complete identification of all published coins from the site excavations as well as a thorough check of inventory books in Svishtov Museum. No less than 252 coins (total 407 with the suburbia finds) of the Early Principate period (Augustus to Trajan) are catalogued and further analysed. A small hoard of six Claudian and Neronian aes-coins (down to AD 64/5) found in the street sewage by the legion’s Principia is also discussed. A comparative analysis of coin denominations which occur at Novae is applied. Of particular value for the current analysis is the chronological overlapping of small finds (terra sigillata from North Italy and Gaul, imported glass, amphorae, etc.) associated with the Julio-Claudian and Flavian coins excavated in sectors X, XI and XVIII. Paper provides insight for the early phases of habitation and emphasizes on the purely military character of Novae until Hadrian.

Excavations conducted during the years 1997–2001, 2011 and 2015–2019 by the International In-terdisciplinary Archaeological Expedition “Novae” of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań re-sulted in the discovery of an impressive facility, unique in this part of the Roman Empire. It is situat-ed in the latum praetorii sinistrum of the legionary camp of Novae, 35.0 m south of the via principal-is and west of the large legionary baths. The facility consists of two rectangular buildings, each 8.45m wide and 42.6m long, arranged along the long sides of a rectangular courtyard (20.0m × 42.6m). The acquired movable archaeological sources, including numismatic finds, and the results of radiocarbon tests indicate that the facility was probably erected between the years 124 and 129 AD; architectural features suggest that it served as an arsenal until the early 4th century AD.

The paper starts by adding to the corpus of Mithraic monuments the recently (re)discovered monuments, from Carsium, Nicopolis ad Istrum, Tropaeum Traiani, Tomis and Capidava. In the second part it focuses on the differences and similitudes between the cults in Novae and Istros, by analysing Mithraism’s place in their respective communities

Mnemonic rakija. Voyages of a Balkan Cosmopolitan, [in:] K. Narloch, T. Płóciennik, J. Żelazowski, J. Recław (eds.), Nunc decet caput impedire myrto. Studies Dedicated to Professor Piotr Dyczek on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, Warszawa 2021, 3-19

'Computational History' derives history from data and nowadays, therefore, relies on the technologies of the digital humanities. 'Computational History of Science' addresses questions of history by evaluating historical data, e.g. for tracing back copying traditions and conclude on transfer and transformation of data and knowledge. The term 'Applied Historical Astronomy', in contrast, tries to address questions of contemporary science by evaluating historical data in comparison with most recent data. This opens new possibilities, e.g. in the search for stellar transients among historical data.
In the contribution by Hoffmann & Vogt we will focus on the stellar transients among all the topics mentioned above. Philipp Protte discusses the accuracy of magnitudes and positions in ancient star catalogues, Andreas Schrimpf & Frank Verbunt present an analysis of an early modern star catalogue. Victor Reijs analyses the visibility of celestial objects for naked-eye observers, and Björn Kunzmann showcases some important variable stars in the history of astronomy. Rene Hudec presents astronomical photographic archives as a valuable data source for modern astrophysics. José M. Vaquero discusses the studies on solar observations made during the last four centuries. More technical are the contributions of Georg Zotti on 'Stellarium' and Karsten Markus-Schnabel on data-mining and data-processing technologies. Ido Yavetz & Luca Beisel are developing a digital tool of computational history of science for the simulation of pre-modern astronomical models. Gerd Graßhoff focuses more on the application of computational history with regard to Kepler's Astronomia Nova while Tim Karberg presents an analysis of the astronomical orientation of buildings in the North Sudan.

Wolfschmidt, Gudrun & Susanne M. Hoffmann (ed.):
Applied and Computational Historical Astronomy.
Angewandte und computergestützte historische Astronomie. Proceedings of the Splinter Meeting in the Astronomische Gesellschaft, Sept. 25, 2020. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis - Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften; Bd. 55) 2021.
ISBN 978-3-347-27104-3 (Paperback), 978-3-347-27105-0 (Hardcover), 978-3-347-27106-7 (e-Book), (344 pages, 108 pages in colour). ISBN 978-3-949060-02-1 (computational Book), ©OpenScienceTechnology GmbH Berlin.

The objective of this article is to provide a short presentation of the integration process of the areas that formed Lower Moesia. The author aims to present select methods implemented by the Romans in order to place the discussed territories under their complete control. The main differences between the individual parts of Lower Moesia have also been indicated in the article, as well as the ways in which they mutually supplemented each other, ultimately composing a cohesive whole.

In 2015 Professor Tadeusz Sarnowski celebrates his 45th anniversary of scientific work. The Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw decided to honour him with a special book dedicated to Him by his friends, colleagues and former students. Our aim was to publish a book with the articles dealing with the subjects close to his scientific interests. The book contains 39 papers authors from Poland, as well as from other countries.

The First Italian legion produced building ceramics used in the construction of many buildings in the legion’s camp at Novae (Bulgaria), the remains of which have been investigated by archaeologists since 1960. The paper sums up current results of research on the chronology of artifacts of this kind, giving an overall review of the course and development of studies of stamped building ceramics in Novae to date.

Academic debate on gladiatorial combats in the Roman provinces of the Black Sea is almost completely lacking. The issue was recently introduced into the scholarly debate on the region following the published research of Elisabeth Bouley (2001) in France and Lyudmil Vagalinski (2009) in Bulgaria, and the thesis defended by the author in 2015 in the Faculty of History, University of Bucharest. This paper aims to integrate these new research themes, gladiatorial shows and other performances associated with philotimia in the context of research on the Black Sea, by means of approaching, in this case, the buildings that have and could have played host to such events (definitely or more uncertainly). The archaeological evidence of monuments, distribution and typology of specific constructions, their diversity and the transformations undergone, the seating etc. are all elements that will
be presented and debated in order to enhance our knowledge and to understand better both the diffusion of these events in the Roman provinces of the Black Sea and the impact they had after being adopted and practised by local communities.

LRCW 3, Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean. Archaeology and Acheometry Comparision between western and eastern Mediterranean, eds. S. Manchelli, S. Santoro, M. Pasquinucci, G. Guiducci, BAR IS 2185 (II), 2010, 993-999.

C. S. Sommer/S. Matešić (Hrsg.), LIMES XXIII. Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies Ingolstadt 2015. Akten des 23. Internationalen Limeskongress in Ingolstadt 2015. Beiträge zum Welterbe Limes Sonderband 4 (Mainz 2018), 1015-1023

Defining military and civilian spheres in the Roman province of Moesia is no easy task. Although the province's numerous military structures along the Danube Limes (fortified but permeable frontier) and in its inland are well-known, there is certainly some confusion when it comes to the embedment of these structures within Moesia's settlement patterns and particularly their civilian factor. On one hand, epigraphic evidence attests to the common frontier province phenomenon of so-called settlement dualism of canabae (settlement structure featuring soldiers' families and supply units alongside legionary camps and auxiliary forts) and vici (village/civilian settlement structure ranging between urban and rural character) in all the major legionary camp sites of Moesia. On the other, the state of archaeological research in Moesia does not (or not yet) allow a distinct location or spatial separation of canabae and vici at most sites. Instead, the site conditions rather display surprising degrees of mixing military and civilian administration and living spheres contradicting the concept of settlement dualism. By introducing several examples for this situation, this article discusses if it is useful or even necessary in current modes of post-processual, post/-anti-colonial and identity-oriented discourse in Roman Archaeology to spatially divide military and civilian spheres in clarifying everyday life reality and settlement patterns in Roman Moesia.

in: K. Balbuza, M. Duch, Z. Kaczmarek, K. Królczyk, A. Tatarkiewicz (eds.) Antiquitas Aeterna. Classical Studies dedicated to Leszek Mrozewicz on his 70th Birthday (= Phillippika 153), Harrassowitz Wiesbaden, 2021, pp. 185-197.
https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/ANTIQVITAS_AETERNA/title_6959.ahtml

Hoffmann, Susanne M. & Gudrun Wolfschmidt:
Introduction to Applied and Computational Historical Astronomy.
In: Wolfschmidt, Gudrun & Susanne M. Hoffmann (ed.):
Applied and Computational Historical Astronomy.
Hamburg: tredition 2021, p. 12-33.