Galerius, Gamzigrad, and the Fifth Macedonian legion

Abstract

The future emperor Galerius was born in a small village in the province of Dacia Ripensis around A.D. 258. His mother's name was Romula. When he was confirmed as a member of the tetrarchy he undertook a building programme in his native village, transforming it into a monumental fortified palace. To honour his mother he gave it a new name,Felix Romuliana. In 311, before this ambitious programme was complete, he died and was buried and deified there.Romulianahas been securely identified through epigraphic evidence with the impressive remains that exist near modern Gamzigrad (NE Serbia). This fortified palace was built in two phases: first came a fortification wall with 16 small rectangular or octagonal towers, dated in the first five years of the 4th c; then inc.305 this defensive system was partly demolished and a new, bigger fortification wall, strengthened by 20 huge, bastion-like towers (16-, 12- or 10-sided) was erected on the outside, encompassing and enlarging the original plan. This wall has been dated to 306-311. Inside the walls were erected two temples with altars, two palace complexes, a bath, a horreum, and auxiliary buildings. On a low ridge of hills east of the fortified palace two large consecration mounds and two mausolea were excavated in 1993. From the finds as well as the overall nature of the buildings at Romuliana, it was determined that this was where Galerius and his mother were buried and deified in the first years of the 4th c.