Újabb római vicusok Aquincum territoriumán

Abstract

We already know several vici on the territory of Aquincum, but the name of the pagus and the vicus together is only found on a newly excavated altar-stone from Budaörs. The name of three vici is visible on the inscription. On the main place, most likely as the location of the Terra Mater sanctuary, the vicus from Buda­örs, Kamaraerdei-dűlő, named vicusTeuto(...) is located, and can be called the leading vicus of pagus Herculius. I would like to try to connect the new vici names with excavated settlements. Based on the only definitely identifiable vicus of Budaörs, examining if there are other Roman settlements with similar size and structure in its vicinity. After having regard to the Roman road system and the hydrology of the area, two larger settlements with several stone buildings can be considered in Páty and Biatorbágy. The comparison of these settlements’ excavation results can shed some light to the civilian vici’s inner structure, periodization and the composition of the population. With this the possibility arises to separate them from the smaller autochthonous villages without stone buildings, called vici beforehand, and the villas with stone buildings. We can summarize that the three vici, what lies in a nearly same distance to each other (6 km), has a similar location (next to the stream and the road), age and periodization. All of them has Celtic origins and a continuous development through the 1st century. The construction of stone buildings started early, in the first third of the 2nd century under the rule of Hadrianus. They were destroyed during the Marcomannic Wars and after the rebuilding in the Severus era the former vici continued its existence, getting even stronger, instead of establishing a villa in the location of the autochthonous village. In the 250s a Barbarian attack occurred as the coin hoards show (Biatorbágy and Budaörs), then the settlements life continued from the last third of the 3rd century to the end of the 4th century with a continuous development.The destruction of the settlements is signified by the skeletons found in pits, and other finds that can be dated to the beginning of the 5th century, such as bone comb, polished pottery, etc. Based on the stone inscriptions and jewellery, the population consists of the local elite as well as the veterans and other elements from the western part of the Empire in the early Roman period. After the Marcomannic Wars the inscriptions show the leading significance of the magistrates and soldiers from Aquincum. In the beginning of the 5thcentury foreign, most likely Germanic, elements are present mixed with the surviving Roman population. The structural characteristics of the vici, like inner paved roads, stone curtains, are present in all three settlements. We can assume the presence of shrines as well based on the altar-stones, but public building can be found only in Buda­örs. In the construction culture, structure and the population composition surpasses the villages without stone construction, but their size and legal standing doesn’t reach the standard of cities. They are definitely not villas. The richest of the three was Budaörs, the central vicus of pagus Herculius. The Roman settlement excavated in Budaörs – Kamaraerdei-dűlő, standing for nearly 400 years, is aenw evidence for the existence of the Roman established administrative units pagi and vici in Pannonia.