Zenonov tremis in poznoantična utrdba Gradec pri Veliki Strmici

Abstract

The chance discovery of a note revealing the exact provenience of a tremissis of the emperor Zeno - until then it had merely been known that it had been found near Smarjeta in Dolenjska (Lower Carniola) - led to the discovery of an important late Roman fortification at Gradec near Velika Strmica in 1993. The site, with well preserved remains of the defensive wall, five towers, and an Early Christian church with a cistern belonging to it, lies to the northwest of Smarjeta beneath the village of Velika Strmica on a slope falling towards a meander of the Radulja stream. It was already known more than hundred years ago, but the architectural remains were previously thought to be mediaeval. A surface survey of the site and its immediate surroundings with metal detectors revealed several metal finds (bronze coins, fibulae, belt buckles, a cross pendant, horse equipment, two lead spindle whorls, iron tools, and a rectangular element with two holes). The earliest belong to the 2nd or 3rd centuries, and the latest to the 6th century AD. The most important of them are analysed here. Late Roman hanging lamps are discussed in connection with the cross pendant. The discovery of some fragments of a typical late Roman three-handled glass lamp in the apse, excavated in the presbytery of the Church of St Martin near Tabor nad Knežakom. additionally supports the hypothesis that this apse belonged to an Early Christian church and not to a Romanesque one. The fortification at Gradec near Velika Strmica, the ground plan of which is very similar to that of the hill-top fortification at Korinjski hrib above Veliki Korinj, was in all probability erected at the end of the 5th or at the beginning of the 6th century AD, mostly for strategic reasons. Basic data about two cemeteries of the 6th century, which had already been discovered in the vicinity of Smarjeta in the last quarter of the 19th century (Kicelj near Gorenja vas pri Šmarjeti and Vovkov vinograd on Vinji Vrh), are given in two appendices at the end of the article.