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TIBISCUM (Jupa) Caraş-Severin, Romania.

A Roman town and camp at the junction of roads that led from the Danube, from Dierna and from Lederata, towards Ulpia Traiana, the Dacian capital. The ruins are spread over an area of several hectares within the villages of Jupa, Ciuta, and Iaz. The name, of Thraco-Dacian origin, is mentioned in ancient sources (Ptol. 3.8.4, as Tiviscon; Tab. Peut.; Rav.Cosm. 4.14) and in inscriptions.

Excavations have revealed that the earth camp (140 x 160 m) was rebuilt in stone. Several levels were found. The first phase dates probably from the days of the Dacian wars. Cohors I Vindelicorum, Numerus Maurorum Tibiscensium, and Numerus Palmyrenorum Tibiscensium were stationed here.

The civil settlement, developed from canabae, was initially a pagus that belonged to the Ulpia Traiana territory. It is probable that it became a municipium under Septimius Severus, but the title is attested by an inscription from the reign of Gallienus (CIL III, 1550).

Most of the archaeological and epigraphical material—among which are two military diplomas, one from 120 and the other from 156 or 157—is to be found in the Timişoara Banat Museum.


N. Gostar, “Populaţia palmireniană din Tibiscum în lumina monumentelor epigrapfice,” Arheologia Moldovei 2-3 (1964) 37-42; D. Tudor, Oraşe, tîrguri şi sate în Dacia romană (1966) 94-204; M. Moga, “Pagus Tibiscensis, în legătură cu teritoriul rural al Ulpiei Trainana,” Tibiscus 1 (1970) 41-50.


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