Carnuntum and Epigraphy

Stretching back to the reign of Augustus, Carnuntum was one of two Legionary fortresses established along the Danube Frontier¹ , and key to both protecting newly annexed territories and eventually to controlling commercial traffic; the latter was possible because it was situated along the ‘Amber Road,’ so named for some of the trade-goods which flowed into the Empire‘s bounds from the lands beyond, and by this combination of controlling both north-south access through the Moravian Gates and through east-west trade-routes, would come to occupy a unique position in terms of commerce² . It was far afield and a far cry from the seat of power in Rome, yet the community surrounding the fortress would come to be an economic and cultural powerhouse in the region in later centuries. It was both a staging-point for and a pool from which soldiers could be drawn for campaigns ranging from Augustus to the Dacian Wars under Trajan³ , and a melting pot of imperial and provincial cultures. It was a point of conference between the empire‘s rulers in later years, and would see the declaration of Septimius Severus as emperor. Reaching an apex during the Severan period, its wealth and prominence are exemplary of the prosperity seen in region at that time. ⁴

While it fell into decline in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., the artifacts recovered from excavations over the last century cement its role as a treasure-trove of information; these artifacts range from epitaphs and funerary decorations to statues of and altars dedicated to a variety of gods, from the broad, stone-paved streets to the amphitheatre and temples, all of which provide insight into the nature of the empire and changes over the span of centuries. Trends may be observed in the shifts of the style of writing epitaphs and dedications, in how gods like Jupiter and Silvanus were depicted, and in the architecture, which incorporated elements from across the Empire.

At its height, Carnuntum was a cultural nexus on the outer-edge of an empire, but its worth to historians derives not only from its apex, but from its origin and its end. Through the artifacts left behind, scholars have been able to further our understanding of broader fields, including the lives and roles of legionaries and auxiliaries, the introduction, malleability, and long-term worship or abandonment of deities, commercial and military expansion, and the upper echelons of power in the Empire. It is in this way that Carnuntum, and the Danube Frontier more broadly, is situated within its own context as a power in the periphery and an extension of the greater Empire.

If you would like to read more about the historiography of Carnuntum, Bryan Boyette's paper on the subject may be downloaded here