…fort of the Roman Empire.
"Nationalism is resurging across Europe, and with it has come increasing attention on the vulnerable outer edges of nations: borders, frontiers, and other marginal zones. Today, some of the frontiers of the Roman Empire are now national boundaries, but in antiquity these spaces functioned very differently from how we understand borders today.
I am part of a large team currently excavating one of these sites, a fort called Halmyris in modern-day Romania. Halmyris was the easternmost fort on the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire, and the first port of call for anyone sailing up the Danube river from the Black Sea. Rather than a place of exclusion and defence, our digs are uncovering how the border of the Roman Empire was also home to sites of cross-cultural encounter and exchange.
The Roman frontier on the lower Danube was one of the most heavily fortified frontiers in the Roman Empire, but it was designed as a permeable boundary, allowing the movement and peaceful interactions of different cultural groups. The frontier was defensive, with hundreds of military installations from legionary fortresses, auxiliary forts and watchtowers, but it also supported trade and large civilian settlements…"
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