22. ANCIENT FORTRESS SEXAGINTA PRISTA
Sexaginta Prista is situated in the modern-day northwestern part of Ruse, on a hillside close to the Danube banks. The first Roman military camp (from the end of the 1st to the end of the 3rd century) was probably situated at the mouth of the Rusenski Lom River. The Sexaginta Prista fortress occupied an area of 4-5 ha. The remains on the hill (2nd–3rd century) are believed to belong to civil buildings, probably of a settlement near the camp which operated also as a cult centre.
One of them is the temple of Apollo, which was built in the last quarter of the 2nd century AD (under the command of Comodus or more likely at the beginning of the Severan dynasty). Interesting is the layout of the open-air temple. It is oriented to the northeast - southwest and resembles a Christian temple. Achraeologists have found there four intact votive tablets and also fragments of votive tablets of the Thracian Rider and Apollo, ceramics, coins, a sacrificial altar to Apollo with an inscription and other artefacts. The building ceased its functions at the end of the 3rd century and in the 4th century, during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great, one of the most important buildings in the Roman militarycamp was built upon it - the Principia (the headquarters of the troops in Sexaginta Prista). The building had a rectangular shape and was oriented with its long sides in the direction northwest-northeast. It was built of natural unprocessed stones welded with mortar and had a size of 28.50х16.50 m. It ceased to function as a Principia during the riots caused by the Goths at the end of the 4th century. Then, as well as the territory of the military camp, the building was inhabited during Late Antiquity (5th–6th century) and during the First Bulgarian Kingdom (10th–11th century).
Sexaginta Prista fortress is now an open-air museum where preserved and exposed are about 50 m from the northwestern fortress wall and tower, six buildings, the temple of Apollo and the Principia. The exhibition area also includes a German WWII bunker in which the religious life in the province of Lower Moesia during the 1st and 3rd centuries is presented through votive objects. The museum has an exhibition hall which currently showcases scaled paper 3D models of archaeological sites along the Lower Danube Roman Limes as well as replicas of the most significant finds discovered in them.
DID YOU KNOW THAT...
Traditionally, the name of the fortress is translated as “Port of the 60 ships”. Some archaeologists believe that the castle was named after the successful completion of the Dacian wars of Emperor Domitian (85-89). Then, a Roman legion consisting of approximately 6,000 people was transferred over the Danube River at the mouth of the Rusenski Lom River. Exactly 60 ships of the pristis type were needed for this action. In honour of the victory over the Dacians, the castle received its new name.