AQUAE
(Cioroiul Nou) Dolj, Romania.
A
statio in Dacia inferior, near the sources of the Apa
Cioroiului river. It comprised a civil agglomeration covering ca. 20 ha, a quadrilateral citadel (130 x 235 m) in
the center, and a necropolis at its S end. The earth citadel
was built by the local population after the invasion of the
Carpes in 245-247. The name of this place appears in
the votive inscription of a certain Germanus speculator
leg. VII Claudiae, dedicated to genio stationis Aquensium; and a dedication to Hercules: pro sal. Aquensium
made by M. Opellius Maximus, dec. Montanensium.
It was probably a fiscal customs statio, and was located
in the center of a vast, fertile plain. The archaeological
excavations uncovered a villa rustica, public baths, a
temple, pottery ovens, and foundations of houses. The
coins discovered go from Trajan to Heraclius. The temple, having a naos, a pronaos, and a vestibulum, covered
an area of 6.6 by 17.8 m and was very likely consecrated
to Hercules. In a ditch, buried as membra disiecta, were
37 fragments of statues (Minerva, Mercurius, Bacchus,
Hekate, Apollo, Venus, Matres, Iupiter, Aion, etc.). They
are from a ritual burial performed after the destruction
of the Carpes. (At present, these remains are preserved
with other pieces of the same type in the Museum of
Craiova.) The statio Aquensis was also an administrative
center of an important agricultural area divided among
several large landowners, such as C. Ant. Iulianus, M.
Cassius Herculanus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AnÉpigr (1959) 330-31; (1963) 136;
(1967) 392.
D. Tudor, “Săpăturile arheologice de la Cioroiul
Nou,”
MCA 8 (1962) 547-54; id., Templul şi statuetele romane de la Cioroiul Nou,”
Omagiu P. Constantinescu-Iaşi (1965) 109-15; id., “Aqune en Dacie
inféieure,”
Latomus 25, 4 (1966) 847-54; id., “Şantierul arheologic Cioroiul Nou,”
Apulum 6 (1967) 593-605; id.,
Oltenia romană (3d ed., 1968) 214-20; id.,
Oraşe (1968) 315-23;
TIR, L.34 (1969) 47.
D. TUDOR
