A Bronze Ansate Plate with Owner’s Inscription from Moesia Inferior and the Roman Military Presence in Ibida

Abstract

The Roman settlement of Ibida (today Slava Rusá in the Romanian part of Dobruja) is still little known, although with an area of 24 hectares it is the largest ancient fortification in all of Dobruja. Systematic excavations at the site, which have been in progress only since 2001, are showing ever more clearly, however, that the city, situated at an important crossroads, attained to significance already in the imperial era and not only in late antiquity as the massive, Justinian-era walls suggest. New evidence for this theory is provided by the bronze ansate plate with owner’s inscription published here, which indicates that a Roman military garrison was stationed here at least temporarily.