Axiopolis. Stadiul actual al cunoașterii

Abstract

Along with several other pre-Roman centers of power along the Lower Danube’s final section, such as Troesmis, Noviodunum, or Aegyssus, Axiopolis (Hinog Hill, Cernavoda, Constanța county) was one of the longest and most intensively occupied archaeological sites on the territory of Dobrudja in ancient times. It was initially a Hellenistic emporium, then an attested strategia of the client Odrysian kings, and later an important military and naval, commercial and religious center in Roman and Middle Byzantine times. During the Principate, the nautae universi Danuvii had their headquarters (collegium) there and it is very likely that a statio portorii of the publicum portorium Illyrici utriusque ripae Thraciae was in place at Axiopolis during the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. During the Dominate, the city with Christian martyrs mentioned by the martyrologies was chosen seat for the pedatura superior of the Scythian legio II Herculia and subsequently raised to the rank of bishopric in the 6th century. Its chronology begins with the hypothetical foundation by Lysimachus and continues to the mid 11th century, under Constantine IX (1042-1055), at the time when the last known coin from Cernavoda dates. The Axiopolis site is located approx. 3 km S of the dobrudjan end of the “King Carol I” bridge at Cernavodă, next to Hinog island, more precisely on a triangular plateau on the right bank of the Danube, at the entrance to a deep valley. It was archaeologically investigated by Pamfil Polonic in 1898-1899 and the results of the excavations were briefly published by Grigore Tocilescu in 1903. Given its importance in ancient times, with its remarkable position on the Danube line and at the mouth of the Carasu valley, Axiopolis remained, unjustly, little known for well over a century. The article aims to systematize the available information and outline the most important moments in the history of the site, based upon the known archaeological data. It includes a systematic description and interpretation of the sequence of the three enclosures of the edifices and artifacts found here, including the numismatic evidence, but also of the limestone quarry that provided building material for the erection of defensive system in the Roman and Middle-Byzantine times.

Keywords

• strategia
• nautae universi danuvii
• legio ii herculia - pedatura superior
• roman quarry
• hercules saxanus