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Romania, Milesian Greeks, Argamum, Histria , Pontic shores, Pintilie Stefan-Cristian, Iordan Stavar
Argamum – an important piece of the puzzle of an effective defensive system
by Pintilie Stefan-Cristian
We can only imagine the magic which came on the Greeks when reaching Pontic shores, based on the large number of settlements, cities and harbors they founded in Dobrogea. And we can relive the feeling of returning from a trip we made to Greece. As the delta gets closer, the nature gets bored to hide behind the rocks and stands out, brave and willing to wander.
At the end of the 8th century BC, the same Milesian Greeks who founded Histria, arrived to the shores of a bay at Pontus Euxinus (the western shore of the old bay Halmyris – nowadays the shore of lake Razim), founding the first city of our country – the ancient city of Orgame – which became Argamum during the Roman ruling. Orgame is mentioned in the writings of Hekataios of Milet in the 6th century BC.
On the western shore of bay Halmyris there is another smaller bay, with an opening of 7.5 km, in whose curving is the locality Sălcioara and on whose right top - Cape Dolojman – was built the fortress Orgame.
In the years 1909 and 1918 appear the first mentions of the ancient site at Cape Dolojman, in the work of R. Netzhammer. Archeological researches began in the interwar period and discontinued in 1932, were resumed in 1965 at the initiative of the Institute of Archaeology of Bucharest, as response to the complaints regarding the intention to open a quarry (by detonation) on this site. In 1961, upon publication of an important historian epigraphic document, Vasile Pârvan suggested the identification of the ruins of Cape Dolosman with the ancient toponym Argamum, known from the chorothesia of Histria (2nd century AD.). In the first centuries of Roman ruling (after 1st century AD), the opening to the sea was blocked by sediments and the sweet water lakd Razim flooded a part of the narrow strip of land, thereby giving birth to the island Bisericuţa, where traces of another Roman fortification have been identified.
After 1965, the archeologists focused on the areas consisting in the Roman-Byzantine fortress, surrounded by a stone enclosure built in the beginning of the 4th century AD surrounded to the south and northwest by two waves of defense in soil, with ditches in front. Since 1988, researches expanded over the Greco-Roman necropolis which borders northwest and west the whole fortified area. The Roman-Byzantine necropolis of the city extended over the previously inhabited area (1st century BC - IV AC), outside the defense system. The western limit of the necropolis is marked by a paleo-Christian basilica with a single nave discovered in recent years. The last research has been undertaken in 1998-2003 at the corner section N-W of the Roman-Byzantine fortification (6th century AD), 2 annexes of the basilica (V-VI centuries AD) and the basilica 1 (6th century AD).
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Argamum site is referred to as the treasure of Dolojman. Historians have found traces of habitation of milesian colonists a hundred years older than Histria traces. They have dug unique remains in the western side of Pontus Euxinus: an impressive funerary complex dating from the seventh century BC, where was buried a notable person of the first generation of settlers, together with pieces of furniture and pottery specific to Aegean culture, a paleo Christian basilica dating from the first decades of the 1st century AD, with unique underground facilities, arrowhead coins made of bronze – having two edges and were not used as weapons, but as objects of exchange, olbian dolphins, bronze ingots as marine mammals. A massive building called pretoriu shows that Orgame - Argamum was a great city during Greek and Roman times.
On the left head of the bay - Cape Iancina – was discovered a tower, dated from the Roman-Byzantine period (IV-VI century AD). At 5 km N-E from the village Sălcioara, this tower was added to the National Archeological Repertory of Sălcioara area. All discoveries relating to the archeological area Argamum are recorded at Jurilovca – the archeological site Argamum is at a distance of approximately 4 km west from the limits of Jurilovca.
However, during the time of founding the port city Orgame, localities Sălcioara and Jurilovca did not exist. Milesian Greeks not only founded the city but the port Orgame as well – having regard to the trade in grain, salted fish, honey, held between Thracians and Greek metropolis cities – and it can be assumed that the city’s port facilities were located in a protected area, avoiding their building near the city – located at the entrance of the bay, in an exposed but strategic location for a fortress.
In February this year, I focused on the hill found at 2 km to the 5th gate of the City Argamum and 2.6 km N-E from locality Jurilovca. The position of this hill is essential from tactical point of view, at a distance less than 150 m from the bay’s shore, near the city. This hill is completely fortified with two rows of walls on site: one oval and one circular. The walls are castellated horizontally and are especially massive – 4 m thickness (for comparison: at Alba Iulia, the City Alba Carolina has walls made of brick, quarry stone or ruins of the Roman city, their thickness of 3m, and on top of 1.20 m, the Reign Fortress of Suceava - Fort Muşatin – has 2 m thick walls, in Braşov, Bastion Soldisch – 2 m thick brick walls and 10 m in height, the Drapers’ Bastion has 3 m thick walls, and at the Weavers’ Bastion, walls are 3 m thick at the base and 1.50 m on top).
The circular shape of the precinct wall strikingly resembles that of the building recorded at Sălcioara as tower; but different in size: the uphill construction diameter is about 90 m, to the 60 m of the tower. Presumably the city, the fortified hill and the tower at Cape Iancina formed a defensive system extended to the whole bay.
This hypothesis is supported by other three findings.
The first refers to Cape Iancina; outside the tower, other fortifications can be seen throughout the cape’s area – consisting of the same wall with a particular form (horizontally notched), both inside and on the lake’s shore, starting from Cape Iancina, following the outline of the bank to Enisala.
The second is represented by another fortified hill, at a distance of 1.3 km V from the first, to Jurilovca, on whose crest can be seen a section of fortification wall – the same castellated form – with a length of about 50 m, which, by curvature suggests an oval shape.
The third is represented by a whole chain of fortifications: rectangular wall of 5 m thickness, with two towers – of diameters of 25 m and 18 m, which continue to the bay’s bend with a wall of castellated shape.
The reinforced area of the two hills and various fortifications woven around them is over three times higher than the one protected by the Roman - Byzantine precinct wall of the City Argamum. And if in this integrated system and fortified surfaces of Cape Iancina, we have a vision of the tactical effectiveness of the entire complex.
It is not known yet where Port Argamum operated before blocking the road to the sea, but, starting from the strategic position of the two hills and from the multitude and variety of fortifications erected around them bearing in mind that this fortified surface is framed on the right side by City of Argamum and on the left by fortifications built on Cape Iancina, I have issued a personal hypothesis about the location of the ancient Port Argamum, opposite the fortified hills.
In the 60's, the proletarian government intended to transform Cape Dolojman into crushed stone and with it the City Argamum; currently the request filed by ICEM Tulcea of exclusion of the site’s surface from reconstitution of agricultural properties, according to the Law 19/1990, was ignored by the County Commission which means that the land is still registered in the cadastre as arable and pasture plots of land. Over the years, much of the fortification hills disappeared into the foundations of houses of the two villages located near the archeological strings. Today, by operation of the site’s surface, the owners contribute to the continuous degradation of ancient monuments for two and a half millennia. What does the future reserve for the first city of Romania?
All my gratitude and consideration goes to Mr. Iordan Stavar, Director Worldwide Independent Inventors Association – Washington D.C., Platform Coordinator www.inventatori.ro, www.worldwideinvention.com, and www.inventions-license.com. Without the constant support and confidence, these findinas would not have reached readers interested.
by Pintilie Stefan-Cristian
We can only imagine the magic which came on the Greeks when reaching Pontic shores, based on the large number of settlements, cities and harbors they founded in Dobrogea. And we can relive the feeling of returning from a trip we made to Greece. As the delta gets closer, the nature gets bored to hide behind the rocks and stands out, brave and willing to wander.
At the end of the 8th century BC, the same Milesian Greeks who founded Histria, arrived to the shores of a bay at Pontus Euxinus (the western shore of the old bay Halmyris – nowadays the shore of lake Razim), founding the first city of our country – the ancient city of Orgame – which became Argamum during the Roman ruling. Orgame is mentioned in the writings of Hekataios of Milet in the 6th century BC.
On the western shore of bay Halmyris there is another smaller bay, with an opening of 7.5 km, in whose curving is the locality Sălcioara and on whose right top - Cape Dolojman – was built the fortress Orgame.
In the years 1909 and 1918 appear the first mentions of the ancient site at Cape Dolojman, in the work of R. Netzhammer. Archeological researches began in the interwar period and discontinued in 1932, were resumed in 1965 at the initiative of the Institute of Archaeology of Bucharest, as response to the complaints regarding the intention to open a quarry (by detonation) on this site. In 1961, upon publication of an important historian epigraphic document, Vasile Pârvan suggested the identification of the ruins of Cape Dolosman with the ancient toponym Argamum, known from the chorothesia of Histria (2nd century AD.). In the first centuries of Roman ruling (after 1st century AD), the opening to the sea was blocked by sediments and the sweet water lakd Razim flooded a part of the narrow strip of land, thereby giving birth to the island Bisericuţa, where traces of another Roman fortification have been identified.
After 1965, the archeologists focused on the areas consisting in the Roman-Byzantine fortress, surrounded by a stone enclosure built in the beginning of the 4th century AD surrounded to the south and northwest by two waves of defense in soil, with ditches in front. Since 1988, researches expanded over the Greco-Roman necropolis which borders northwest and west the whole fortified area. The Roman-Byzantine necropolis of the city extended over the previously inhabited area (1st century BC - IV AC), outside the defense system. The western limit of the necropolis is marked by a paleo-Christian basilica with a single nave discovered in recent years. The last research has been undertaken in 1998-2003 at the corner section N-W of the Roman-Byzantine fortification (6th century AD), 2 annexes of the basilica (V-VI centuries AD) and the basilica 1 (6th century AD).
Argamum site is referred to as the treasure of Dolojman. Historians have found traces of habitation of milesian colonists a hundred years older than Histria traces. They have dug unique remains in the western side of Pontus Euxinus: an impressive funerary complex dating from the seventh century BC, where was buried a notable person of the first generation of settlers, together with pieces of furniture and pottery specific to Aegean culture, a paleo Christian basilica dating from the first decades of the 1st century AD, with unique underground facilities, arrowhead coins made of bronze – having two edges and were not used as weapons, but as objects of exchange, olbian dolphins, bronze ingots as marine mammals. A massive building called pretoriu shows that Orgame - Argamum was a great city during Greek and Roman times.
On the left head of the bay - Cape Iancina – was discovered a tower, dated from the Roman-Byzantine period (IV-VI century AD). At 5 km N-E from the village Sălcioara, this tower was added to the National Archeological Repertory of Sălcioara area. All discoveries relating to the archeological area Argamum are recorded at Jurilovca – the archeological site Argamum is at a distance of approximately 4 km west from the limits of Jurilovca.
However, during the time of founding the port city Orgame, localities Sălcioara and Jurilovca did not exist. Milesian Greeks not only founded the city but the port Orgame as well – having regard to the trade in grain, salted fish, honey, held between Thracians and Greek metropolis cities – and it can be assumed that the city’s port facilities were located in a protected area, avoiding their building near the city – located at the entrance of the bay, in an exposed but strategic location for a fortress.
In February this year, I focused on the hill found at 2 km to the 5th gate of the City Argamum and 2.6 km N-E from locality Jurilovca. The position of this hill is essential from tactical point of view, at a distance less than 150 m from the bay’s shore, near the city. This hill is completely fortified with two rows of walls on site: one oval and one circular. The walls are castellated horizontally and are especially massive – 4 m thickness (for comparison: at Alba Iulia, the City Alba Carolina has walls made of brick, quarry stone or ruins of the Roman city, their thickness of 3m, and on top of 1.20 m, the Reign Fortress of Suceava - Fort Muşatin – has 2 m thick walls, in Braşov, Bastion Soldisch – 2 m thick brick walls and 10 m in height, the Drapers’ Bastion has 3 m thick walls, and at the Weavers’ Bastion, walls are 3 m thick at the base and 1.50 m on top).
The circular shape of the precinct wall strikingly resembles that of the building recorded at Sălcioara as tower; but different in size: the uphill construction diameter is about 90 m, to the 60 m of the tower. Presumably the city, the fortified hill and the tower at Cape Iancina formed a defensive system extended to the whole bay.
This hypothesis is supported by other three findings.
The first refers to Cape Iancina; outside the tower, other fortifications can be seen throughout the cape’s area – consisting of the same wall with a particular form (horizontally notched), both inside and on the lake’s shore, starting from Cape Iancina, following the outline of the bank to Enisala.
The second is represented by another fortified hill, at a distance of 1.3 km V from the first, to Jurilovca, on whose crest can be seen a section of fortification wall – the same castellated form – with a length of about 50 m, which, by curvature suggests an oval shape.
The third is represented by a whole chain of fortifications: rectangular wall of 5 m thickness, with two towers – of diameters of 25 m and 18 m, which continue to the bay’s bend with a wall of castellated shape.
The reinforced area of the two hills and various fortifications woven around them is over three times higher than the one protected by the Roman - Byzantine precinct wall of the City Argamum. And if in this integrated system and fortified surfaces of Cape Iancina, we have a vision of the tactical effectiveness of the entire complex.
It is not known yet where Port Argamum operated before blocking the road to the sea, but, starting from the strategic position of the two hills and from the multitude and variety of fortifications erected around them bearing in mind that this fortified surface is framed on the right side by City of Argamum and on the left by fortifications built on Cape Iancina, I have issued a personal hypothesis about the location of the ancient Port Argamum, opposite the fortified hills.
In the 60's, the proletarian government intended to transform Cape Dolojman into crushed stone and with it the City Argamum; currently the request filed by ICEM Tulcea of exclusion of the site’s surface from reconstitution of agricultural properties, according to the Law 19/1990, was ignored by the County Commission which means that the land is still registered in the cadastre as arable and pasture plots of land. Over the years, much of the fortification hills disappeared into the foundations of houses of the two villages located near the archeological strings. Today, by operation of the site’s surface, the owners contribute to the continuous degradation of ancient monuments for two and a half millennia. What does the future reserve for the first city of Romania?
All my gratitude and consideration goes to Mr. Iordan Stavar, Director Worldwide Independent Inventors Association – Washington D.C., Platform Coordinator www.inventatori.ro, www.worldwideinvention.com, and www.inventions-license.com. Without the constant support and confidence, these findinas would not have reached readers interested.
posted on 04-05-2010
