Of Pannonia Which Were Established in the Hinterland of the Danube, on the Ro- Man Limes1
A C T A CASTRA A R C AND H TOWNSA E O IN L THE O HINTERLANDG I C A COF ATHE R LIMESP A …T H I C 83A VOL. LII, 2017 PL ISSN 0001-5229 ORSOLYA HEINRICH-TAMáska CASTRA AND TOWNS IN THE HINTERLAND OF THE LIMES DURING LATE ANTIQUITY: PANNONIA AND THE PROVINCES ALONG THE LOWER DANUBE IN COMPARISON ABSTRACT O. Heinrich-Tamáska 2017. Castra and towns in the hinterland of the limes during Late Antiq- uity: Pannonia and the provinces along the Lower Danube in comparison, AAC 52:83–108. The present contribution considers the Pannonian ‘inner fortifications’ in the context of the devel- opment of the infrastructure and urban fabric of selected sites on the Lower Danube. Using Sándor Sopronis’ thesis, which postulates that a multiple defensive system gradually expanded in Pannonia after the time of the Tetrarchy, as a starting point, this study concentrates on the inner fortifications founded in the middle third of the 4th century AD in the hinterland of the Limes (Környe, Tác / Gorsium, Keszthely-Fenékpuszta and Alsóheténypuszta) which, together with towns such as Sopianae, Mursa, Cibalae, Sirmium und Bassianae, constituted an inner line of defence. Whether they functioned in a civil or purely military context is a subject that has been, and still is, much debated. However, they appear to have played a significant role in the storage, distribu- tion, and perhaps production, of the annona. A similar situation can be observed on the Lower Danube, in the provinces of Dacia Ripensis, Moesia Prima and Scythia. Here too a series of castra and towns, which took on similar functions in the course of the 4th century AD, are found some 30 to 50 km from the frontier.
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