Gaál Attila (szerk.): Pannoniai kutatások: A Soproni Sándor emlékkonferencia előadásai - Bölcske, 1998. október 7. (Szekszárd, 1999)

Nagy Mihály: A pannoniai IV. századi burgus-típusok méretei

Mihály Nagy Dimensions of 4

th century A.D. burgus-types in Pannónia According to recent researches, almost all 4

th century A.D. burgi in Pannónia were built during the reign of Emperor Valentianian I. Due to common characteristics regarding their plans and sizes, it is possible that their construction were organised centrally.

1 The analysis of the plans and dimensions of these burgi, helps us to refine their typolgy.

2 Quite a lot of exact data regarding measures of Pannonian burgi stand at our disposal.

3 Charts in this article contain the analysis of such burgi, the sizes of which are known from archaeological literature. If we convert them into Roman feet, we get mainly fractions. The reason for that is that Roman architects had applied not only the 296 mm long pes Monetalis, containing 16 digiti, as a unit of measurement. Converting actual measurements into digiti (18,5 mm long inches), sometimes we get round numbers, but more often numbers which also contain fractions. These latter may be rounded off with the addition of a few millimetres or centimetres into numbers which can be divided by eleven without remainder. From this we may come to the conclusion, that in case of the majority of buildings dated to the reign of Valentinian, not the pes Monetalis, but another unit of measurement, the eleven inches long orthodoron had been used.

4 Comparing the actual measurements converted into orthodorons with the ideal measures of the reconstructed plans, we find that there are only a few millimetres or centimetres difference. These observations reaffirm the conclusions published earlier, according to which Roman master-builders and stone masons followed the instructions of carefully prepared designs.

5 In this period we may reckon with three main forms of ground plan. Towers with rhomboid ground plan are quite rare in Pannónia. The most common form is the square, or an oblong, the shorter side of which (usually the front one) is only a few units shorter than the others. Large sized rectangle shaped burgi make part of military installations of the Nógrádverőce type. Several of the excavated burgi were encircled with a square shaped, oblong, round or oval ditch. The latter ones are infrequent in the province. Very rarely, rhomboid burgi have ditches of similar shape.

6 Sometimes a walled enclosure, narrower than the wall of the burgus, were found between the tower and the ditch. 125