Arheološki vestnik (Arh. vest.) 48, 1997, str. 219-230 219 Northwestern Croatia in the Late Roman Period Vladimir SOKOL To Professor Milan Prelog, under whose guidance I studied. Izvleček Abstract V članku avtor predstavlja arheološko problematiko na This article surveys various archaeological problems in območju, ki je v večjem delu pripadalo provinci Saviji. Analizira an area which was for the most part encompassed within the čas začetka velike krize po smrti cesarjev Valentinijana in Roman province of Savia. The period of the major crisis Valensa, ko so se tu začeli nepovratni procesi zatona antike, beginning after the death of the Emperors Valentinian and za razliko od zgodnejšega obdobja, ko je cesarstvo vedno Valens is analyzed. Irreversible processes of decline then began znova našlo moči za svojo obnovo. Predstavljeni so strnjeni in this region, in contrast to earlier times when the Empire izsledki raziskovanj obravnavanega področja, posebej mest, had always found strength for renewal. The results of the ki potrjujejo zgodovinske vire od znanega teksta sv. Hieronima study of the given area, and particularly its major urbanized o pustošenjih celotne Panonije dalje. To situacijo spremlja entities, confirm data in historical sources, such as St Jerome's tudi stanje v podeželski arhitekturi. Takrat je prišlo do obnove famous letter about the suffering throughout Pannonia as ali izgradnje povsem novih višinskih utrdb na več mestih. V well as later texts. Such circumstances were reflected in the tem smislu so posebno pomembne najdbe z utrdbe na Kuzelinu, rural architecture of villae rusticae. Elevated fortifications kjer so odkrili več prazgodovinskih in antičnih slojev, od katerih or castra were either renovated or newly erected in this period je najbogatejši prav sloj iz časa okoli leta 400. Avtor predstavlja as several sites. Finds from the fortification at the hill of tudi pregled osnovnih cestnih povezav, ki so deloma znane Kuzelin are particularly important in this context. Several itinerarske ceste ter geografijo, v katero se vključujejo najdišča prehistoric and classical strata were discovered at this site, pomembnih naselij, nekropol, središča proizvodnje "artes the one with most abundant finds being the stratum dated minores" in drugo. Redke zgodnjekrščanske najdbe, dve(?) to ca. 400 AD. The article also contains a survey of the basic škofiji znani iz zgodovinskih virov, je vse kar vemo o krščanstvu communication routes, some of which are cited itinerary routes, tega obdobja. as well as related geographical features that contain sites of important settlements, cemeteries, production centers of "artes minores", etc. The current knowledge of Christianity in this period is limited to rare early Christian finds, and the two (?) bishoprics known from historical sources. The area of northwestern Croatia largely cor- Hadrianapolis, an event denoting the beginning responds to the territory of the late Roman province of the migrations of various Germanic peoples. of Pannonia Savia, established by the administrative It destabilized the entire area, as was vividly reforms of the emperor Diocletian (Fig. /). This described by St Jerome in his famous letter: "It administrative system remained in place up the has been twenty years and more now that Roman Migration Period and the devastation ensuing from blood has been shed every day from Constanti- it, followed by a certain revival at the beginning nople to the Julian Alps. Goths, Sarmatians, Quadi, of the 5th century. This survey could start with Alans, Huns, Vandals, and Marcomanni devas- the events prompting the burial of a coin hoard tate, raid, and plunder Scythia, Thrace, Macedo- near Lupoglav, to the east of Zagreb, dated to nia, Dardania, Dacia, Thessaly, Achaea, Epyrus, 375 AD by the latest coin types (Dukat, Mirnik Dalmatia, and all Pannonia" (Jeronim 1990,139). 1978, 201, 205). The deposition was caused by This crisis was to be most harshly felt by the Germanic pressures that increased up to 378 and large urban agglomerations on the territory of Savia resulted in the death of Emperor Valens at with their highly developed economic, cultural and NORICUM MEDITERRANEUM ..••^'peTrua^ ^..•/rKUKEU •iS«-/ toaoR @t±j A O AQUAE IASAE (VAR. TOPLICE) • v. KUZELIN t VELIK* RAČKA MIHOVO.GRADEC Jf VELIKE VELIKI KORINJ MIHOVO MALENCJ ZIDANI C OKIČIPOPOV DOL) PODZEMELJ•KUČAR AQUAE BALISAE / H (DARUVAR)/ OZALJ' \črnomelj SIS CIA ( SISAK ) IUBICA MANASTIRIŠTE ČARAKOVO • ZECOVI RAMIČI an episcopal see in the Roman period ^ early mediaeval Glagolitic inscriptions ^ an episcopal see in the Roman and early mediaeval periods the boundaries of the Roman province of Savia (£-) an early Christian religious area before the 5th century the borders of the mediaeval bishopric of Zagreb J an early Christian church ot the 5th-6th centuries H castrum ^ pre-Romanesque church furnishings or architectural sculpture © cemetery early mediaeval Latin inscriptions a 4th century inscription Fig. 1: The Roman Province of Savia in the Early Christian and Early Mediaeval Periods. religious life. The urbanized settlements of Siscia- extent. Aquae Balisae-Daruvar (Szabo 1934, 82) Sisak, Andautonia-Šč\tar]e\o, Aquae lasae- is known for fragments of Capitoline bronze sculp- Varaždinske Toplice, lovia-Ludbxcg, Aquae Vivae- ture and a defensive wall, while Pirn-Kom in near Petrijanec and, to the north, Halicanum-Martin Zelina is known for monumental elements of grave na Muri have all been studied to a greater or lesser architecture, settlement pottery, and coins from the 1st to 4th centuries (Gorenc 1986). Other gathered earlier (Prelog 1976). We know from settlements known from various Roman sources archaeological finds and historical sources that have not yet been sufficiently researched to al- Sisak continued to exist in the 5th century, as is low their situation in this period of the Roman confirmed by the mentioned reduced revival of state to be established with certainty. the coin mint, which was active further until ca. In the last quarter of the 4th century, after the 423 AD, i. e. the death of the Emperor Honorius. sudden death of the Emperor Valentinian in 375 This transitional period around the year 400 on the northern frontier to the east of present- saw the full development of another type of complex day Bratislava, developments occurred which, in settlement structure, which was semi-urbanized contrast to the preceding period, showed signs at some sites. These were castra, multi-purpose of irrevocable changes. These events appear to fortifications, almost always erected on elevated have been particularly drastic between the Sava locations, sometimes at considerable heights. A and Drava Rivers. In the entire region stretching large number of such sites have been discovered from Andautonia on the south bank of the Sava in the eastern Alpine region, and many have re- River, to Aquae Iasae and Iovia near the Drava cently been investigated to a various extent, most River, and to the larger villae rusticae such as often due to the considerable efforts of S. Ciglenečki the one at Moravče near Sesvete-Zagreb, where (Ciglenečki 1987). In northeastern Croatia, where the last coin found was of the Emperor Valens living conditions were different owing to geographi- (Sokol 1986, 122), coin finds cease at the end of cal features and occasional modifications in the the 4th century and are followed by strata of ruins political status of Pannonia Savia in the late Roman and burning, and even distinct cemeteries (?) in period, only a small number of such sites have central areas, such as at Iovia (Vikič 1983-1984, been discovered so far (Fig. 1). No doubt more 162) (Fig. 1). These urban entities were not re- of them will be discovered in the future. newed, although in previous centuries they had At present, systematic excavation continues at been destroyed and renovated several times, as the castrum of Kuzelin near Zagreb, north of Sesvete shown by inscriptions from Varaždinske Toplice in the Medvednica Range. This is a multistrata (Gorenc, Vikič 1973, 13,15,19). During the reign site with the earliest cultural layers dating to the of Emperor Theodosius, the mint in Sisak ceased Eneolithic, the late Bronze Age, and the La Tene working, in which coins had been minted for two period (Sokol 1994b, 46-48, 52, 85, 86-88, 95-97, centuries in several established officinae (Sipuš 98, 99). It was again restored to life in the Ro- 1985, 80). According to the latest analyses, only man period at the end of the 2nd century when one officina seemingly resumed minting in the 5th the Quadi and Marcomanni threatened the Em- century, and specifically in the year 408 (Šipuš pire from the north, and subsequently in the sec- 1985, 80-85). Of course, life was also reduced in ond half of the 3rd century, when the Goths ap- a large number of other settlements, especially peared from the East. These were, however, all in those which had highly developed urban pub- short episodes, and a more serious function (most lic facilities. Such sites might have been abandoned likely a military garrison) had probably been as- earlier, such as the villa rustica with a thermal signed in the twilight of the Empire for the defense complex at Donja Glavnica near Sesvete, where of the main Salona-Siscia-Andautonia-Poetovio- no coinage or minor material was found dating Carnuntum road (most probably used by the much later than the 3rd century (Sokol 1981,181), Emperor Diocletian while travelling to Carnuntum or the thermae and basilica urbana adjacent to to consult with the other Tetrarchs). Archaeological the forum in Varaždinske Toplice (Aquae Iasae), finds of military equipment suggest such a hypothesis the functions of which were radically changed by (PI. 1), considering the undoubted strategic po- Christianity, as witnessed by a fragment of a dis- sition of the site on the watershed between two covered fresco showing an image of a saint in an distinct geographic regions, as well as its domi- aureole (Gorenc, Vikič 1980,14, Fig.